A NORTH ISLAND TALK.

Otago Witness, Issue 3117, 10 December 1913, Page 16

A NORTH ISLAND TALK.

(From Ocr Own Correspondent.) ■ PALMERSTON N.. December 4. A weekful of rainy days lias made us all too wet, and wo are extending a very hearty welcome to the sunshine, which is now trying to break through the dispersing cloudiness. The coldness and excess of the rain somewhat lessened its benefit; but it is the general view that it has been worth thousands'of pounds. Phenomena! milk cheques continue to prevail, and the stock markets are fairly buoyant. v AT THE PRODUCE SALES. Wellington is busy with spring goods just now. Though lemons arc almost extinct, oranges and .apples have arrived from abroad in fair quantities to meet the growing demand of Christmas time. Nelson is doing big things in tomatoes, and sending fair lots of cherries and cold-store Stunners. Hawke's Bay is sending red currants. The vegetable market is peculiar. Cabbages are almost unsaleable, and cauliflowers are declining. Rhubarb is dearer, and the Huit district chiefly is reaping the benefit. Green pens from Nelson and elsewhere are at low prices. This is a favourite spring crop with many small people, in spite of the fact that the prices for some seasons past have scarcely jepaid them for the tedium of picking. The day of old potatoes is past for this season, good, sound tubers of that description fetching only £3 a ton, while nobody is looking for sprouted and badconditioned sorts at any price. New potatoes are quite cheap for this period of the year—about 5s 6d to 6s per cwt. There fiaa lately been a scarcity of good onions throughout the country. Californian repacked are quoted at Wellington at 14» 6d per case. In the grain departments flour *tands at £ll per ton, ex store; wheat, 4s Sd to 4s 8d per bushel; maize (slow inquiry), 4s 9d to ss; bran (heavy supplies), £4 iOs to £4 15s per ton; pollard (scarce), £6 10s to £7; chaff (light stocks carried), £5 Ids to £6. sacks in; blue peas (slow), to 5s 6d; partridge peas (dull), 4s 6d to 4s Bd. Farmers’ butter is moving at 9d to lOd. and eggs at Is. Poultry are fetching good prices, as usual in the month preceding Christmas. The oatmeal market has bMomo bare; but shipments arc due. Values are about £l3 10s. THEI WOOL FALL. The fail In wool values, indicated in the lower prices at Auckland and Napier, cpaifared with the prices of last December, Is orhaps more apparent than real. A decline seems to be indisputable, even when the heaviest grease of the wool and its poorer condition aie allowed for; but the Causes so far visible for that decline do

not seem to ho of the sort to warrant unoasincss. The Auckland sale was the fiist hold since the changed American tariff. I'annors, we know, expected that the fivepence taken off by the tariff would be put on to the.prices paid here, and the pricking of this iitile dreamy bubble has no doubt hurt us somewhat. How is it (we are asking in our stunned astonishment) that the Americans are not rushing up the prices? One answer seems to be that the change of the tariff has unsettled the great American public to an extent we had not realised, and wool-buyers are operating with watchful caution till they discover the real now level of things. Another reason is that enormous, quantities of wool have been held in store in America awaiting the removal of the tariff', and this has yet to find its market. Some of the Americans at the present, sales have expressed the view that some years will pass before the American people will learn to doff their national cottons and don the woollens which we want to persuade them to wear. Possibly, if the tariff on manufactured woollens is removed or reduced. America may buy the wool ready made up straight from England; consequently we shall look to the Bradford buyers in particular to race up the wool prices for the American trade. The lower quality of the wool this season is partly due to the dry autumn, particularly north of Auckland, where no heavy August and September rains fell to wash out the grease The wool is on that account really worth id to 2d less than hist year’s wool, so that there is very little left to represent a genuine fall in prices. Fine woofs were down id to 2d. But this is in comparison with the prices of last December, which we must remember were phenomenally high. We do not always expect to “go one bettor.” The strike is not blamed for the fall, though it lessened the offering, which at Auckland amounted to 7000 bales, as against 8500 last December. PIGS AND DISEASE. The Eketahuna Branch of the Farmers’ Union recently proposed to various bacon companies to reinstate the former insurance scheme for pigs, instead of leaving the risk on individual pig-raisers. The reply received from the Woodville Bacon Company said: “We have given this matter consideration, and regret that wo cannot see our way to make any alteration in the meantime. Under the system of insurance you suggest it appears to us you would penalise the man who grows sound pigs to make provision for compensating the grower who has his pigs . condemned by the Government inspector. We are pleased to be able to Inform you that in the districts where- the suppliers have been standing their own risks the percentage of condemned animals has been very materially reduced, end wo are quite satisfied that, a little extra care f and attention. it is quite possible to entirely eliminate the disease.’

RIGHT SORT OF PIGS. TRe right and wrong sort of pig for the farmers to market are described in detail in the second annual report of the Waikato Farmers' Co-operative Bacon Company. The report says: "Light, heavy, and insufficiently fat pigs are very unsatisfactory to the company. Light and inferior pigs make second-quality bacon, and have to be sold at lower prices. Heavy bacon, though first class in quality, does not suit the storekeepers, and has to be sold at a reduction. We want the farmers to keep tin's in mind, and try to produce a pig that will bring top money when cured. The best pig the farmer can produce is a lengthy pig with good hams, and not too thick in shoulder. Storekeepers object to a short, dumpy side of bacon with a heavy shoulder. The shoulder is the least valuable part of the pig. and when sold separately generally realises from 2d to 3d per lb loss than the balance of the bacon. We should like farmers to remember this when selecting their bredeing stock. Your directors would point out to pig suppliers that in districts where co-operative bacon factories exist the price of bacon nigs, as far as they cm ascertain, is higher than in districts where there is no co-operative lxicon factory. For instance, there are cooperative factories in Inglewood and Waikato districts, and bacon pigs there brought per lb from May to November, while in Hawke's Bay and Wellington provinces, from information received, sid was the top price paid by the ba.con companies." « THE MILK YIELD. Dairy farmers who may like to compare their own herd's performance with that of other dairymen may do so by the aid of these figures. They show some details of the November returns of the Testing Associations of Ma.sterton and Cheltenham respectively. The fiist figures are from

WHAT IS A WARRANTY? The Hamilton magistrate was startled by some views on tho warranty question expressed before him on Monday. The case was one in which the Farmers' Co-ope*a-t:ve Auctioneering Company (Ltd.) sued 'J'. B. Insoll for £il 10s. the price of a heifer bought at auction. The defendant counterclaimed as follows: — 1. That on the day mentioned in the statement of claim the plaintiffs offered to sell defendant, a heifer, and in order to induce him to purchase it warranted it to be in calf to Chain's Lord Twyh'sh. 2. The defendant was induced to buy the heifer for £3l 10s. relying on the plaintiff's said warranty. 3. The heifer was not in calf to Chaw's Lord Twylish. 4. By reason of that, the value of the heifer did not exceed £5. 5 The defendant offered to return the heifer to tho plaintiffs, who refused to take it back, and the defendant incurred trouble and expense in keeping it. 6. Defendant claims damages to the amount of £25. During the hearing Mr Mac Diarmid, solicitor for plaintiffs, produced a newspaper containing an advertisement of fie .sale (Mr H. Ross's stock, of Bruntwood). and said he could bring 100 witnesses to .say that the advertisement could never be read as u warranty. The Magistrate: I am surprised to hear that. Mr Swarbrick (defendant's solicitor): Even :000 witnesses would not alter the facts of the ease. Mr Mac Diarmid: Firms who put these advertisements in have a clause in their conditions of sale that they repudiate all guarantee. The Magistrate: Do you mean, to say the statement docs not am'ount to a warranty ': Mi- Mac Diarmid : Yes. At the time of writing the magistrate's decision was not to band. CANTERBURY MARKETS. CHRISTCHURCH GRAIN AND PRODUCE REPORTS. (Lyttelton Times, December 6.) Although the ports have been " opened," business in grain and produce continues unusually slow, shipments being virtually nil. As far jus farmers' lines are concerned, business is quite exceptionally small, and, as has been the ca.se now for several months, trade is almost exclusively confined to parcels, ex store, for local consumption. In some quarters the restriction of business is attributed to tho trade disorganisation as a result of labour' troubles; but , this complaint docs not appear to bo well grounded, as before tho trouble commenced business had already shrunk' almost to the vanishing point, arid a couple of months ago most merchants freely predicted that there was little chance of a revival until the advent of the New Year. Tho strike certainly had some effect on the potato market, preventing shipments northwards, from which some inquiries wore received, but it is not likely that any great amount of business would have resulted even under normal conditions. Prices are unchanged for all classes of produce except chaff, which realised £3 10s to £3 15s at country stations. The following quotations are for purchases from farmers, net cash, sacks extra, delivered at. country stations: Wheat. —Tuscan 3s 5d to 3e 6d, Hunters 3s 8d to 3s 9d, Pearl 3s 9d to 3s lOd. Oats. —Gortons 2s Id to 2s 2d, Duns la lOd to 2e Id, Danish la 9d to 2s 2d, Algerian U lid to 2s Id. Barley,—Majtlng 3s od to 3s 9d per bushel, according to quality.

Partridge Peas.—3s 4d to 3s 5-d. Chaff. —£3 10s to £3 15s. Potatoes.—£l, nominal. Flour.—£9 per ton, 1001 b bags £9 10s, 50!b bags £9 15s, 251 b bags £lO. Bran. —Local £4 ss, f.o.b. £4. Pollard. —£6 per ton. Oatmeal. —£14 per ion. Seeds.—Ryegrass (Italian and. perennial), machine-dressed parcels, 3s 3d to 3s 9d; cocksfoot, 131 b seed sgd to 3|d; white clover, machinsMressed lid to 13d. farmdressed 7d to lOd, cowgrass 7d to Bd. Dairy Produce. —Cheese, dairy, large s|d, loaf fid; factory, large 51d to 6d. Butter, fresh local factory prints Is Id, farmers’ separator 9d farm dairy Bd. Hams Is, sides rolls rolled hams lid; lard, pats ll|d. Eggs lOd to lid per dozen. TIM ABU. (Tiinaru Herald, December 6.) Further inquiries from southern millers have given the local market for wheat a very firm tendency, though it cannot be said that prices have' actually advanced. Comparatively little of this cereal now remains in farmers’ hands. Several sales have been made during the week at late rates. For fowl wheat there is a very keen demand at up to 4s, f.0.h., sacks in. Very few sales arc being made in oats, but values range from Is 9d for B grade to Is 10<J for A grade Cartons, at country stations. Bright oaten sheaf chaff is quoted at £3 IDs per ton on trucks. Old potatoes are now unsaleable but new ones arc fetching 2d to 3d per lb.

Mastcrton : — Herd 1— Lbs milk. Test. Lbs. fat Best cow .. 1215 4.8 58.3 Worst cow .. 645 3.2 20.6 Average 953 3.8 36.9 Herd 2— Best cow- .. 1185 4.0 47.4 Worst cow .. 720 3.6 25.0 Average 960 3.7 85.8 Herd 3— Best cow 990 3.G 36.6 Worst cow .. 510 3.7 18.8 Average 751.5 3.6 27.1 Association— > Average .. 889.9 3.8 33.2 The Ohclteni dam figures may bo summaried thus: — Lbs. milk. Test. Lbs, fat. Best herd — Average .. 1050 4.82 50.61 Worst hard — Average 600 3. SI 22.86 Association — Average 887 3.06 35.12 Best cow .. .. 1401 7.0 98.70 Worst cow 225 3,1 8.61 Most milk .. 1800 — — Least milk .. 225 — — Highest test .. — 7.3 — Lowest teat .. — 2.6 —