COMMERCIAL

Southland Times, Issue 19822, 19 March 1926, Page 2

COMMERCIAL

FINANCE AND TRADE

LOCAL MARKETS. Times Office, March 18, 1926. GRAIN AND PRODUCE. Oars.—So far no new season’s grain has appeared on the market with the exception perhaps of a line or two of autumn-sown Duns. Apparently no threshing has yet been done of white oats, and it will be probably a week or two yet before samples make their appearance on the market. The inquiry at present is not keen and stocks | of old season’s oats are fairly well cleared up. Even the demand for forward oats which was keen for some time, seems to have slackened off, and only occasional inquiries are coming through. Invercargill merchants do not seem to be disposed this season to quote for forward shipment as there has been so much trouble in the past between merchants over the delivery of these paper oats. General quotations at the present time are about 4/8 to 4/9 for A grades and 4/5 to 4/6 for B’s. Buyers seem to want to purchase at rather less money. On these values the prices to farmers would work out at about 3/10 for A and 3/7 for B. There is a fair inquiry for good dark heavy Duns and these would probably bring 4/- on trucks or perhaps slightly in excess of that figure for special samples. Wheat.—Up to the present new season’s wheat has not been offering, but it is expected that some will be threshed within the next day or two, when there should be a fair demand both for fowl and milling wheat. Values to farmers will probably be in the vicinity of 6/9 to 6/10 per bushel, on trucks. Chaff. —The market is fairly well supplied with old chaff, and there are now a few offerings of new season’s chaff which has been in stack for a week or two. Past experience has shown, it to be advisable both from the farmers’ as well as the merchants’ point of view that chaff should be in stack at least a month before being cut, and even then the sheaf requires to be in really good condition to avoid danger of heating. It is probable, therefore, that there will be no new season’s chaff available for a fortnight to a month yet. The value to farmers for old season’s is about £5 5/- on trucks at country stations, while it is reported that sales of new season lots have been made at £5 per ton. ■ Ryegrass. —A number of samples have been offered by farmers, and several sales have taken place. Really good samples of heavy-weight seed are reported to have been sold up to about 4/7 to 4/8 with fighter lines commanding from 3/6 upwards. Merchants, however, are finding difficulty in disposing of the dressed seed at the prices which have been offering and. are finding that the loss in dressing this season is much higher than it has been during the past two seasons. The result is that the seed is costing more than the price at which it can be sold for shipment. As a consequence the merchants’ ideas of values of farm samples are easing somewhat. Potatoes. —No business has been done up to the present by shipping merchants, transactions being confined to the sale of early lots for local consumption. Probably main crop potatoes will find their way on to the market towards the end of next month. It is reported that one or two sales have been made to Australia at slightly over £8 per ton, but it has to be remembered that potatoes for shipment there have to be packed in new cord sacks, and that the conditions regarding their acceptance in the Commonwealth are very stringent. A good deal, however, will depend on the future of the Australian market as to the price which will rule to farmers in New Zealand, and it is rather early yet to predict the price for main crop lines. Hemp—The Home market is very quiet, and it is difficult to secure offers from London in the meantime. The reasons for this state of affairs are uncertain, as the position seems to be statistically strong. It is possibly due to the uncertainty in connection with Continental affairs as a good deal of New Zealand hemp has found its way through London to European ports. High fair to-day is probably not worth more than £3O 10/- per ton, on trucks, and low fair about £3 per ton less. There is a fair demand for second grade tow, but third grade is difficult to dispose of. Second grade tow is worth up to £l6 per ton, on trucks. FRUIT AND VEGETABLES. The volume of business during the week has been good. Tomatoes are coming forward in increased quantities and prices are easier in consequence. Supplies of all classes of stone-fruits are fighter and apricots are practically finished for the season. Freestone peaches are now coming forward, but reports point to short supplies. The market was glutted with Bon Chretien pears, but these have now been cleared, and any late consignments are realising high prices. Dessert and jam plums are only coming forward in limited quantities. Nectarines are in falling supply. The market is well supplied with Italian oranges and lemons, and prices are ruling very low. Supplies of Raratongan bananas and oranges are expected this week-end, and ought to realise satisfactory values. Grapes are coming to hand in increased quantities as also are cucumbers. Dessert apples are now arriving freely. Current prices for the week are as follows: — Peaches. —Best desserts up to 6d per lb; boxes 2Ad to sd. Apricots.—Similar values to peaches. Nectarines. —From 3d to sd. Plums.—Desserts to 4d, jams lsd to 2sd. Grapes.—l/- to 1/5 lb. Tomatoes—ld to 4d lb. Apples. —Cox’s Orange Pippins 14/- case; White Permains 12/6; Gravensteins 9/6; cookers to 2 Id. Pears. —Desserts to 3d; cookers to 2d. Oranges.—4o/- for double cases. Lemons.—3o/- double cases. Cucumbers. —2/- to 6/6. Cauliflowers. —3/- to 7/-. Cabbages.—l/6 to 2/6. Carrots.—l/- dozen bundles. Lettuce.—l/- dozen. DAIRY PRODUCE. Butter. —For some time past this market has been steadily declining, until it reached 166/- to 168/-. At the present time, however, it has improved slightly, the quotation being 170/-. As there are no New Zealand steamers arriving Home for the nextfew days it is possible this market may show further improvement, but several factors have to be taken into consideration in viewing the future of this market, namely, the large quantity of butter that is stored in England on account of New Zealand, Australian and Argentine factories. Quite a number of these have placed a reserve on this butter, and when the Home market reaches this figure it is more than probable that a lot of stored butter will be released with the result that the price will again go down. From the end of this month onwards there will be a considerable quantity of New Zealand butter arriving in England, and this together with the stored butter will probably help to keep the price low. Meanwhile Home buyers are only purchasing supplies from hand-to-mouth, which is only to be expected when the amount of stored butter is taken into consideration. Cheese. —This market is very quiet, and spot stocks are worth from 96/- to 98/-. At the present time Home buyers are showing no inclination at all to buy for forward shipment, whereas a fortnight to three weeks ago factories could have sold at prices ranging from Bsd to 9d f.o.b. Meanwhile there is some inquiry from Australia for medium and loaf cheese, the price offered being round about Bsd for medium,

and 9id for loaf. Quite a number of satisfactory sales have been made as a result. So far as Southland is concerned the back end make gives promise of being larger than that for several years, past on account of the abundance of feed available here. LOCAL CURRENT PRICES. —Wholesale. — Eggs, 2/-. Bacon, 1/2. Pollard, £lO 5/- per ton. Butter, factory 1/7s, farm 1/-, separator 1/2. Bran, £9 5/-. Flour, £l9. Oatmeal, £3l 10/- to £35. —Retail.— Eggs, 2/4. Bacon, 1/6. Pollard, 12/6 per 100. Butter, factory 1/9 nett cash, 1/10 booked; farm, 1/3; separator, 1/5. Bran, 11/6 per 100. Flour.—2s’s, 6/-; 50’s, 11/9; 100’s, 23/-; 200’s, 44/-. Oatmeal.—solb 19/6; 251 b, 9/3; 100’s, 37/6; 200’s, 69/-; loose ssd lb. Cheese, 1/2; matured 1/4. Onions, 3d per lb. MARKET REPORT. The Wingatui leaves Auckland at the end of this week with sugar and general cargo. The Calm arrived on Wednesday with samples of Army Club cigarettes; this popular line has been very short of late. According to advice received from the agents, regular monthly shipments may be expected. New season’s prices for Mildura fruits are to hand, which are on about the same level as last season, but a sharp rise may be looked for in the near future. The onion market is still soaring and buyers are acting with caution. The local famine in preserved ginger will soon be relieved bv shipments near at hand. Prussian Blue Peas are very short, but a plentiful supply will be here in about a fortnight. BALFOUR STOCK SALE. YESTERDAY’S MARKET. (From Our Correspondent.) There was a large attendance at the Balfour stock sale yesterday, and sheep prices generally showed a firming tendency, values being slightly above those obtained at recent Eastern District sales. There were 1453 sheep forward, the bulk of the offering consisting of breeding ewes and a few store lambs. The top price for breeding ewes was obtained by the National Mortgage and Agency Co., for a line of 80 particularly good sorts off the Glenure Station. These were purchased by Mr F. W. Edge (Waikaka), at 37/6. Sound-mouth ewes realised from 27/- to 33/8. This latter price was obtained by Wright, Stephenson and Co., Ltd., for a line of 33, also off the Glenure Station. Older ewes realised up to 21/1, poorer sorts making from 14/to 17/3. Store lambs realised up to 21/6. Sales were as follow: —National Mortgage and Agency Co., Ltd.: 34 m.f. lambs 19/10, 143 f. and f ewes 22/1, 121 do. 14/4; 80 two-tooth ewes (Glenure) 27/6; 197 soundmouth ewes, 28/11; 14 f. and f. ewes 17/3. Passed in: Eight Border Leicester rams (no bid).

ight, Stephenson and Co., Ltd.: 143 four, six and eight-tooth ewes 27/-; 33 sound-mouth ewes 33/8; 48 f. and f. ewes 18/9; 46 do. 16/7; 59 m.s. lambs 21/6;

78 f. and f. ewes 14/-; 100 f. and f. ewa 17/1; 4 three-shear Romney rams (Ladbrook breed) 2£gns; 5 four-shear Romney rams (Scott breed) 3gns. BURNSIDE MARKETS. EASTERN DISTRICT VENDORS. Eastern District vendors of fat stock at the Burnside sale on Wednesday realised the following prices:— Fat Cattle.—J. Tripp, Heriot, cow £8 12/6; J. Hegarty, Heriot, cow £8 17/6; H. Potter, Pukerau, heifers £l3, £lO 5/-, £7 17/6, £7 2/6, cows £9 2/6; J. S. Fleming, Titiroa, bullocks £l7 17/6, £l5 15/-, £l5 2/6, £l4 17/6, £l4 12/6, heifers £ll 7/7, £lO 17/6 and £8 12/6; W. L. Milne, Gwe, bullocks £2O 15/-, £l7 10/-, £l5 10/- and £l3 5/-, cows £7 2/6 and £5 17/6. Store Cattle.—A Black, Heriot, steer £5 12/6; H. Potter, Pukerau, cows £3 2/6; J. C. Roas, Wendon, cows £5 5/-, £4 2/6, £1 17/- and two vealers 30/-. Fat Sheep—W. White, Gore, wethers 30/6, 29/9 and 27/-; A. F. Kirk, Tapanui, ewes 25/3, 23/- and 20/9; A. S. Edgar, Tapanui, ewes 20/9 and 18/6; A. Black, Heriot, wethers 29/-, ewes 18/6 and 13/6; T. Golden, Fortrose, ewes 23/6, 21/9, 18/and 16/-; W. Roxby, Pomahaka, wethers 36/-, 33/- and 31/-; F. Fraser, Edendale, wethers 36/-, 33/- and 32/3, ewes 24/9; T. Adamson, Kelso, wethers 34/9, 33/- and 31/6; W. Ayson, Waikaka, wethers 33/3, maiden ewes 18/-, ewes 32/9; C. J. Hall, Popotunoa, wethers 28/-, 27/6, 26/3 and 20/-; A. S. Holms, Waimahaka, wethers 36/-, 35/9 and 33/-; A. S. Fleming, Titiroa, wethers 30/3, 28/9 and 27/3; A. Black, Heriot, ewes 17/9 and 15/3; M. Clare, Waipahi, wethers 27/6, 27/- and 25/-; W. Waddell, Waikaka Valley, fat lambs 30/-, 27/3 and 26/9. THE SHAREMARKET. YESTERDAYS TRANSACTIONS. Auckland, Mar. 18. Sales on ’Change: New Zealand Breweries Debentures 25/10; Bank of New South Wales £44; National Bank of New Zealand £5 14/6; Bank of New Zealand 59/9; Union Bank of Australia £l4 17/6, £l4 8/-; South British Insurance 47/-; Auckland Gas 22/4 (two sales) ; Kempthorne Prosser New Zealand Drug 67/6; Taranaki Oil 8/6. Christchurch, Mar. 18. Sales reported: Union Bank of Australia £l4 18/-. Sales on ’Change: Australian Bank of Commerce 31/6, 32/-; Bank of New Zealand 59/7, 59/8; Christchurch Gas 24/-. Dunedin, Mar. 17. Sales on ’Change: St. Rathans A 6/-, 6/6 (two), 7/11, 8/-, 8/1, 8/3; St. Bathans B 8/3, 8/5, 8/6, 8/7; New Zealand Hardware (ord.) 11/9. FOREIGN EXCHANGE RATES. London, Mar. 15.

The exchange rates are as follows:— Feb. 11 Mar. 15. Paris, fr to £1 125.75 134.80 Brussels, fr to £1 106.95 116.75 Oslo, kr to £1 .. 23.85 22.44 Copenhagen, kr to £1 19.58 18.54 Stockholm, kr to £1 .. 18.10 18.14 Berlin, reichmkn to £1 29.38 20.42 Montreal, dol. to £1 .. 4.85} 4.87 1-16 New York, dol. to £1 4.85} 4.86 1-16 Rome, lire to £1 120.12 121.45 Yokohama, st to yen .. 21} 22} Calcutta, st to rupee . 18 5-32 18} Hongkong, st to dol. .. 28} 27} Amsterdam, gldr to £1 12.06} 12.134 Batavia, guilder to £1 11.99 12.14}