COMMERCIAL

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13638, 4 July 1908, Page 4

COMMERCIAL

ST. ANDREWS SALE*. Tie usual fortnightly sale was held at above yards yesterday, when the consisted of 2300 sheep and 14 cattle. In sheep the bilk of the yarding comprised wethere and lambs. There was a splendid -demand for wethers, and every■ I<J offered elicited keen Lambs and ewes were not so keen.y sought after, but for all that good prices were obtamed Sal® were niado as follows:—4U wethers at 16s, 87 do. at 16s, 8 do. at, 14s Id, 30 do- at IS*, 50 do. at 14s 6d, 103 lambs at lis 9d, 100 do. small M Sb, 141 do. at 8s 9d. 200 do. at lis, 30 do. small at 7s 9d, 20 do. at 8s 9d, 36 forward ewes at 9s Id, 26 do- at 7s Bd, 40 do. at 10s, 40 fat ewes at 14s 3d, 20 do. at lis 3d; a very nice line of 4bJ 2-tooth ewes were passed in at auction at 19e 4d. TIMARU GRAIN MARKET. Wheat. —As was to be expected the further drop in the price of flour, making this commodity £lO 10s per ton, has had a. depressing effect on the wheat mark->, that is if the. market could be any further depressed to what it was last weet; and no sales are reported. News jb to land that a. parcel of 2000 tons of Australian flour recently landed at Auckland is stuck on the market, and has been put into 6tore unsold. It is not thought, however, that this is because the drop in New Zealand flour has made this shipment "a financial failure, because some merchants here say that flour can be prorur«»d ■ it-Melbourne at £8 2s 6d per ton, and can be landed in Auckland for at least the same price as that of the local ariicte; but it is said the quality of the shipment is not of the beet. At anyrate, should the price of local flour advance, ■the northern merchants still have this 2000 tons to fall back upon. In the absence, of bnsinees here wheat is given a nominal, value of 4s delivered in Timaru. Oats. —Absolutely nothing is doing in ttis : cereal, and a merely nominal quotation of & per bushel is given. Potatoes. —These are not in great demand, all the basinets being done in small lots of-two or three tons. It is 6aid that I?rge stocks are being held in -Christchurch, Dunedin and Invtrcargill, and that in the* first-named town four merchants- alone hold 600 tons between them ■which they are unable to quit at satisfactory .prices. The current quotation here is 70s per ton on trucks at country stations, sacks in. THE CHRISTCHURCH MARKETS. Per Press Association. . CHRISTCHTJRCH, July 3. In view of • the imports of Australian flour and the.reduction in the price of the locaUy;manufactured article, a decline in the.,price, of wheat was to be expected. "Very. Ifttle business has been done in this cereal for some time past, and at present there is'no enquiry beyond those millers who ar& working on small stocks. Most of the large millers are well supplied, and the cutfauriienfc of the' output consequent upon of Australian flour coming to hand lias made stocks hold out longer than they otherwise would h*ve done. It is "reported that wheat has changed hands at 4s at a country 6tation, and this is. the nominal value that buyers generally place upon it. The only other business reported is a better enquiry for potatoes, 3nd Derwents and Up-to-Dates are, again equal in price, namely £3 10s per-ton at country stations. There is • very 1 little enquiry for seed at present.