COMMERCIAL.

Patea Mail, Volume X, Issue 1315, 2 March 1885, Page 2

COMMERCIAL.

PATEA RETAIL PRICES. , Buying Selling. ; - Butter (perlb) ; - 10d : - ; Is - , . Cheese (colonial) * 7d , lOd . • Eggajper doz. Is 4d Is 6d Potatoes (per bag) 4s. ; 6s. Butchers’Meat — , . . ■ ’ ‘ Selling. : ; ' - Beef ' ... 2d to 3d Steak ... ! 3d , Mutton-. ;.. ! 3d Pork- ... . \ 4d Veal ... 4d to 6d Flour, local, 13s por lOOlbs ; Oamaru, 14s per lOOlbs ; chick wheat, 2s 9d per. bushel ; oatmeal, 4s 6d per 25 lbs ; bread 4d 21b loaf, LATEST MARKETS. [TELEGRAPHED BY REUTER] ; LONDON— February 25; Money Securities .—3 per cent. Consols now at 98$. New Zealand securities are quoted as follows:—s per cent 10.40 loan, 104| ; 4$ per cent 1879-1904 loan, 4. per cent, inscribed stock, 99. Bank rate of ; discount reduced to 4 per cent, and market rate is now 3J per cent. Total'reserve in the Bank of England in notes and bullion has risen to £15,900,000, am increase of £1,000,000 the week. Proportion of reserve to liabilities has risen from 46 to 48 percent. Bbeadstuffs. Adelaide wheat, ex store, has risen, and is at 36s per .4961 bs; New Zealand wheat, ex store, 28s to 345,; Adelaide flour, ex warehouse, remains at 265. ... Tallow. —Australian tallow, average quality, beef, 33s ; and 34s for mutton. Leather.—Best sides Australian leather are worth lid. - Flax. —The New Zealand flax ,market continues quiet at the following quotations :—Fina quality, £2B per ton ; medium, £26; common, £22. Frozen Meat.—New Zealand frozen mutton, prime quality, remains at 4|d to 6d per lb. MELBOURNE— Friday. Bbeadstuffs. —The Melbourne manager of the National Mercantile Agency Co of New Zealand (Limited) reports the local grain market as follows : Wheat neglected and quoted at 3s 7d to 3s 8d ; malting barley, quiet, at 3s 9d to 4s 9d ; New Zealand oats, feeding qualities, quiet, at 2a 9d to 3s id * milling, quiet, at 3s 3d to 3s 6d ; Kauri timber steady, but not active. SYDNEY. (N.S.W.)— Friday. Bbeadstuffs. —New Zealand oats, 2s 7d per bushel ; New Zealand wheat, 2s 8d per bushel ; maize at 3s 8d per bushel. Sugar,—Sugar Go’s No 1 pieces, £26 per ton. Produce. New Zealand potatoes, market supplied ; New Zealand butter, 8d to lOd per lb. market well supplied ; N.Z. cheese, no inquiry at 5d to 7d ; onions, 3a 6cl per cwt; New Zealand bacon, in cloth, Is ; hams, lOd to Is per lb. ATTnTTT.A'MT)—FIiiDAY . Produce —Butter (fresh), 10d per lb,; 'Sd to lOd ; eggs, Is 6d per doz ; bacon and haras, provincial, 6d to 8d ; hams, 8d to 9d; canterbury hams and bacon, 9d; in cloth, hams only, lid; cheese (good local), 5d to 6sd per lb ; lard, r per -bladder, 7d ; fowls, per pair, 2s 6d to 4s ; ducksj 'each, 2s to 3s; geese, each, 5s to 7s ; turkeys,, each, 5s to 8s 6d ; feathers, baked, clean and selected, Is 6d to Is 9d per lb. ; Fodder—Mr Buckland reports that at the Haymarket on Friday (Feb 20) fodder was at late values ; best oaten chaff, £4 10s per ton ; loose fodder from 2s 9d to 4s per cwt; oats, 2s 2d to 2s 9d ; maize, 3s 5d per bushel. The sales of fodder on Tuesday (Feb 24) showed a considerable increase, and prices were similar to those ruling on Friday. . Horse Stock —At the Haymarket on Friday (Feb 29) at the horse sale small and inferior horses brought from 20s and upwards ; useful stock horses from £lO to £ls ; medium harness horses, from £l2 to £2O; heavy draughts, from £lB to £46. Wool, Hides, Skins, &c.— At Haymarket on Tuesday (Feb 24) 29 bales of wool, mostly merino dr merino cross, brought • from 8d to nearly 9d per lb ; long wool and crossbred, from 4fd to 6d ; pelts and skins, from Is to 4s lOd each ; tallow; 22s 9d to 26s 6d the cwt; hides, 4d to 4sd the lb; inferior, for 2d and upwards. Cattle, &c. Mr Buckland reports that at the special sale held at Wairoa on Saturday (Feb 21) there was a numerous attendance and satisfactory prices ; and at the regular monthly sale at Papakura, on Wednesday (Feb 25) there was a larger muster of grown steers than usual sold at current values,—At Bemuera on Thursday (Feb 26) dairy and store cattle were at late values ; fat cattle advanced in price about 10s each, particularly for well-bred' 4-year-old steers ; smaller steers were not so freely competed for; prices ranged from 18s to 22s per lOOlbs. Sheep were also slightly better worth; wethers were steady at 2£d per lb ; and lambs, if of good quality, shared in the advance ; the store Jambs brought an average of 3a 6d, Pigs ©f all classes maintained their late values. WELLINGTON— Friday . Produce, &o.— Flour, from £8 10s to £9 in fair demand ; oatmeal, firm at £l4 10s per ton in sacks ; wheat, 2s 9d to 2s lid ; potatoes active, at £3 to £3 10s, and further decrease is expected ; oats, 2s 9d to 3s ; maize (scarce), 5s 3d per bushel; cheese at ssd ; hams, llsd per lb ; bacon, 9d ; country-cured, 6d ; fresh butter (no

demand), 6d to 7d ; salt butter (without enquiry), nominally 7d per lb ; eggs come in slowly, worth Is 6d to Is 7d per doz ; onions steady, at £8 10a to £9 10s per ton. •• • ;■ CHRISTCHURCH— Friday . Produce.-— There have been some business transactions in the- new crops, more especially in oats and grass-seed. For old wheat: Tuscan, 3s; early Pearl, 3s 2d ; Hunter’s, 3s 8d ; new wheat nominally 2s 9d f.0.b,; flour, £8 to £9 per ton ; oatmeal, £l3 per ton ; oats, at 2s for old, and Is lid to 2s for new ; for barley, 3s 6cl to 4s ; Cheese quite neglected, at per lb ; butter (salt), 5d to 6d ; fiesh, 7d to 7|d ; eggs, Is 3d per dozen ; hams and bacon, 8d to 9d per lb ; rye-grass seed,_ 2s 6d fo 3s per bushel ; cocksfoot—there is a wide - difference between the views of buyers'and sellers, the former will not spring on 3d, whilst the latter are looking for 3Jd to 4d f.o.b. Lyttelton. Live Stock.— Beef is quoted at 17s to 20s per lOOlbs ; mutton, 2d to2£d per lb. Bacon pigs at 60s to 60s;; porkers, 27s to 38s 6d. ■< . .- , ■ : Horse Market. —Medium draught, £ll to £l4; good draught, £22 to £3O ; 3-year-old unbroken cart colts, £ls to £21.; 2-year-olds, £7 to £l2; hacks, from £6 to £10; well-bred ditto, £l2 to £l6. Plough horses, £lB to £26. The supply of. three and four-year-old draught colts and fillies is rather below the demand ; also broken farm horses not over six years old.

MR NEWTON KING’S WEEKLY AUCTION AND PRDDUCE REPORT. : New Plymouth. At the mart, on Saturday, fowls made Is, ducks Is, onions lsd, chick wheat 3s ;• tea 17s, soap 8s 6d. Haymarket Yards—At these yards on Saturday pigs were slacker than they have been for some time ; slips made 6s to Bs, small ditto, 4s 6d. Horses were dull, 6 were sold, varying from 20s to £9. Fruit —Prices were easier at Monday’s sale. Apples (cooking) made 4s 6d to 5s 6d, eating 6s to Bs, half cases 4s 3d to ss, plums 9s to 10s, sound poaches 10s 6d, damaged 2s to 3s, pears 10s 6d. Cattle —At Stratford on Tuesday the. yards were better filled than usual, ami nearly all sold at satisfactory prices. Calves made 17s, yearlings £1 4s to £1 10s, 18-months to 2-year steers £2 15s, springing heifers, £4 6s. At the Waiwakaiho on Thursday the yards were full up, many coming forward that were not booked. A very fine lot of steers were penned, The attendance was good, exceptionally so for this busy season ; but bidding was not so brisk, and settlers-were obliged to ease down reserves in many, cases. Calves were not much lower, and dairy stock quite maintained late rates. ; The sheep market was decidedly bad ; a few of Hon Major Atkinson’s Leicester rams were sold, but few other rams. Ewes and store sheep were very dull. 2 quiet calves 20s to 245, yearling steers and heifers (bus reared) 265, 18-raonths heifeis 355, 18-months steers £2,7s 6d, 3-year-old. steers £4 10s to £4 lls, 2s-years to 3-years, £3 12s, 3-years (fat) £4 19s to £5 ss, 2 years and over, good steers £3 14s 6d, springing cows £6 6s to £7, fat cows £4 to £5, Leicester rams, lls to 255, 7 ram lambs, 5s 3d to 5s 6d, ewes culls, ss, fat sheep, 10s, bullocks, £8 to £l2 10s per pair. A cable from Sydney on Wednesday runs t] ius —« Butter moving slowly ; 9d to lOd ; market sick.” By this it will be seen there is no market at present over the water. Cocksfoot. —Outside buyers are exceedingly cautious this year, owing to so much blighted seed being sold last season, and 3£d is likely to be the top price for this seed.

The New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Go’s report, under date the 25th February, reports : Wool. —Since our last review the first series of Colonial sales in London has been brought to a close, and the following cablegram from our head office indicates the position of the market at the termination of the sales :—“The sales closed firmly. The market for superior greasy, superior combing washed, and good scoured cross-bred is unchanged : medium and inferior greasy, washed, and scoured clothing have declined $d to Id per lb. There is much irregularity in the biddings for lambs’ wool. ! Seedy and heavy wools are neglected. Foreign buyers are operating with confidence, Home buyers are not operating with spirit- The sales comprise about 180,000 bales ; 40,00(| bales have been held over for further disposal ; 110,000 bales have been taken for export.” Sixty-one per" cent of the total sales having been taken for export is a remarkable feature of the series. The large quantity carried forward may be taken as evidence that an improvement in the market is anticipated, though it may be the means of producing .a contrary effect, especially if the arrivals to 17th March be heavy. Tallow and Fat. —A further decline in values is recorded from London which is reflected in the Colpniol markets by a similar depression in ; prices. Shipping parcels are wholly neglected and all going forward are on Jmelters’ account.