COMMERCIAL.

Temuka Leader, Issue 3463, 8 July 1899, Page 4

COMMERCIAL.

TIMAKU SKIN SALES. I At the skin sales at Timaru on Wednesday the usual good catalogues were submitted to auction. All the buyers were present, and the sale as a whole was a very good one, all the skins selling quite up to the usual prices. Merinos went up to 5.,d per lb, best butchers (halfbred) up to sd, coarse crossbreds (difficult of sale) up to 4d, station skins (dead) merino ud, crossbreds and halfbreds up to 4 : Jd, butchers’ crossbreds up to 4s 2d each. CHRISTCHURCH MARKETS. There is very little change to report in either the grain or produce markets since Saturday. A little more wheat has been offering from country stations and stores, and there has been a fairly active demand for local milling at quotations, but only a few little lines have changed hands. The market at Ashburton has been more active than at Christchurch, and one or two lines of prime seed Tuscan have changed hands at prices a penny above quotations. At Timaru a block has occurred, owing to the wet weather, and on Monday over 150 trucks of grain were waiting for shipment; at Lyttelton a good number were in the same predicament. There has been no outside demand for feed oats, and the local market is sluggish, with plenty offering without meeting any demand. There has been a fair inquiry for oatsheaf chaff locally, at quotations, but the N orth Island this season appears to have been supplied from Blenheim, and little or nothing has gone from Canterbury. Merchants here do not seem to care to touch Derwent potatoes, even at the low price of 15s per ton at country stations, and the outlook is a very noor one. The Sydney market is glutted with New Zealand tubers, no fewer than 26,000 sacks having reached there from this colony since June 16, and with a steady stream pouring in from Tasmania there is little probability of any improvements. The quality of the bulk of onions sent to the Sydney market this season has been disappointing to shippers and the New Zealand product has got a bad name there, nearly all having arrived in bad condition and forward sales are now very hard to effect. Local buyers are therefore very careful in their operations. The following are quotations : Wheat .Prime milling pearl and tuscan 2a4£d, average quality 2s 3d, prime milling hunters 2s 3d, fair average quality 2s 2d. Barley—Prime malting (nominal) 3s, secondary parcels 2s 3d to 2s 6d delivered. Capa Barley—2s to 2s 2d. Oats—Milling Canadians, Is 6d ; short feed, Is 3d to la 5d ; duns, Is 4d ; danish Is 3d; tartarian, Is 31,d. Flour—Millers quote roller £7, stone £6, sharps £3 10s, bran £2 15s. Oatmeal—£Blos. Oat-sheaf Chaff—32s 6d at country stations. Potatoes Derwents, 15s at country station a. Onions —50s at Christchurch. Beans—2s Cd to 2s 7d. p eas —Blue Prussians, 2s 9d to 3s. Ryegrass—Farmers’ dressed lines, Is 3d to Is 9d for fair, and up to 2s Gd for prime heavy farmers’ seed. Cocksfoot —Farmers’ dressed lines, 3d to 34d for bright seed. Cowgrass —sd to 6d. White clover, farmers’ lines, 5Jd to7d. Cheese —3Jd to Id ; loir, 4d to oo ; factory, large, 4d to 4^d. Butter Fresh local factory, Is Id ; North Island do, Is; ditto m boxes, 9d to

10d ; bsst dairy, 8d to 9d j salt, in boxes, 7d, for prime. Bacon and hams, 7|d to 81d ; factory Jd per lb higher. The above prices, except where otherwise stated, are those paid to farmers f.o.b. Lyttelton.—Lyttelton Times. CHRISTCHURCH STOCK MARKET. At the Addington yards on Wednesday there were fair cutties yarded. Fat Cattle—The 209 head of fat cattle, with the exception of a few good bullocks which brought from £7 to £S, were mostly light-weight steers and heifers. There were very few cows. Beef was slightly easier. Ordinary steers brought .£5 5s to £0 15s, heifers £3 17s 6d to £6 10s, and cows £3 12s Od to £5 10s. Per 1001 b, best beef 17s to 19s fid,, medium I4s to Kis sd, and cow and inferior down to 12s. Fat Sheep—With the exception of a few lines of freezers the fat sheep were mostly butchers ewes. Freezing sorts about held their own, selling at from 15s to ISs lid, and up to 19s 3d for extra good. Butchers’ ewes showed considerable improvement and the market closed very firm. Prime ewes sold at 14s to 16s, others 10s to 13s 6d. Fat Lambs—ln fab lambs anything fit for export met keen competition at from 14s fid to 17s 9d, and up to 19s for extra quality, others selling down to 10s. Store Sheep—ln the store pens breeding ewes met a ready sale and shotved a further rise, selling from 11s 3d for aged, up to 15s 2d for good young sorts; turnip wethers 14s fid, mixed sexes 13s 2d, and lambs from 10s 4d to lls 3d.

Pigs—Bacon pigs were about the same as last week, 3}d per lb. Porkers met a ready sale at 4Jd, and stores, especially the smaller sorts, were much in demand. Per head baconers sold at 42s to 535, porkers 28s to 40s 61, stores 20s to 31s fid, weaners 13s 9d to 19s. DUNEDIN PRODUCE MARKET. The following is the report for the week ending Wednesday: Wheat —This cereal has improved somewhat, and is firm, but there is nothing to indicate a further advance. Prime 2s (id to 2s 7d, good sound 2s 4d to 2s sd, fowl feed up to 2s. Oats are very dull, and outside enquiry is poor. Prime milling meets with most attention at from Is 4,d to Is sd, good feed Is 3Jd to Is 4d, ordinary Is 2d to Is 3d. Barley is a drug in the market, ordinary quality ranging from 2s 3d to 2s 9d, milling Is 9d to 2s. Potatoes—Supplies heavy, and demand slow. Sales not easily made at 20s to 27s fid Chaff—Only prime quality has any inquiry, and 42s fid to 47s fid is about present value ; other kinds practically unsaleable. Sheepskins —At auction on Tuesday last catalogues were cleared at very satisfactory rates, and demand is good for all classes at 3d to 5d per lb, according to quality. Hides —Buyers are keen, and it is not difficult to place all sorts at recent prices, 2Jd to 4Jd. Tallow —The usual outlet absorbs all offering at full market value. DUNEDIN STOCK MARKETS. At the Burnside Market ou Wednesday the following business was transacted : Fat Cattle —235 head of fat cattle were yarded, a fair proportion being good to prime beef. Sales were dull and only the best quality kept up to recent rates. Best

bullocks sold at £7 10s to <£B 10s, two extra £'9 17s 6d, good £4 to £5 10s, best cows £4 to £5 10s. Pat Sheep—lß24 fat sheep were penned, which proved quite sufficient for requirements. Business was fairly firm at about last week’s rate s. Best wethers brought 14s 6d to 16s 6d, a few pens of extra prime 17s, best ewes 12s 6d to 14s Gd. Pat Lambs—676 lambs came forward, all the prime lots being eagerly competed for. Best brought 13s to 15s, a few extra prime 15s 6d, good 9s 6d to 12s 6d. Higs—72 pigs were yarded and all eagerly taken up at enchanced rates. Suckers sold at 11s 6d to 16s, slips 20a to 225, stores 28s to 325, porkers 37s to 425, light baconers 44s to 48s, heavy do. 50s to 655, extra heavy 68s to 80s. AUSTRALIAN MARKETS. Sydney, July 5. Wheat, 2s 5d to 2s Gd; milling, 2s lid to 3s. Flour, £6 15a to £7; Manitoban, £9lss. Oats, prime New Zealand feeding, Is 7 Jd to Is 9d ; Tasmanian, Is 6d to Is 8d ; tartarian seeding, la lOd to 2s. Barley, Cape and English, 2s 3d. Maize, 2a 9d. Peas, Prussian blue, 3s 6d to 3s 9J. Bran, BJd to B|d. Pollard, 8d to BJd. Potatoes, Circular Head, £2 10s; iSew Zealand detwent, £2 to £2 ss; early rose, £4 10s. Onions, Victorian, £4 15s to £5 5s ; New Zealaud, £4 15s to £5. Butter, factory-made, 10d ; dairy-made 8d to 9d. Cheese, largo,4Jd to 4;Jd ; loaf, sjd. Bacon, Gd to Bd. Melbourne, July 5. Wheat is firm at 3s. Oats, Algerian, Is 4d to ls7d; stout and tartarian, Is Gd to Is Bd. Barley, Chevalier,4s Gd to 4s 9d ; Cape, la 9d to 2s. Maize, 2s 4d to 2a 7d. Bran and pollard, 7fd. Potatoes. £1 5a to £2. Onions, £4 10s to £5. Adelaide, July 5. Wheat, small sales have been made at 2s 10id , sellers want 3s. Floor, £7. Oats, bran, and pollard are unchanged. MONETARY AND COMMERCIAL. London, July 4. Wheat—The Robert Duncan’s cargo sold at 29s 4Jd. Tin is strong at £122155, Copper —the mouth’s statistics show that the supplies to England and France were 17,925 tons; deliveries, 13,077 tons ; 5t0ck5,29,004 tons. The quantity advised from Australia is 3000 tons. London, July 5. The total quantity of wheat and flour afloat for the U uited Kingdom is 2,822,000 quarters, and for the Continent 1,400,000 quarters. The Australian and New Zealaud Mortgage and Agency Company’s 4£ per cent, debentures, 90-£. At the tallow auction 850 casks were offered, and 149 sold. Quotations are—mutton, fine, 29s Gd ; medium, 255. Beef, fine, 25s Gd ; medium, 24s Gd. Ac the wool sales the Maopo clip sold at 12|d. Prices for merinos were well maiutaiued, and considerable quantities were withdrawn. St. Petersburg, July 6. The Russian Government are subsidising fast refrigerating steamers to Great Britain, Napier, July 6 Tho Colonial Consignment and Distributing Co. cabled toNelaor Bros, to-day —Best Canterbury mutton, 4|d per lb; Dunedin and Southland, 31d ; Napier and North Island, 3d. Lamb, first quality, ofd ; market dull. The stocks of frozen meat of all kinds are very heavy.