COMMERCIAL

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13846, 6 March 1909, Page 4

COMMERCIAL

L ,?■ STUDHOLME SALE. • Tlie usual fortnightly sale was held at :Studholme yards yesterday,, when 3220-sheep and 42 head of cattle we re ' submitted to - auction. The bulk of theslicep yarding comprised sound to failrrig-moutii ewes and lanibs; for the former enquiry was very limited, and the-majority.- of the lots offered were passed in s the latter met with a fair demakd } arid almost' every lot ivas wild.' Sales resulted as follows: —Pat ewes, 22 at 10s Id/ 42 at 10s 3d, -10 at :Los ,4d, Bat -1i5,,7 at 1.35. sd, 20 at 10s 3d, 43 at 10s sd, 3G at lis; forward ewes, 10 at 8s 9d,. 30 at 8s; breeding ewes,' pen aged 7s-9d, pen at 7s, pen at. 4s 2d to. 4s 10d, 80 fonr, six and eight-tooths at 16s 7dj 305 six and eight-tooth at. lis, • pen at lis lOd; store j lambs, 20 at 10s 3d, 50 at s)s 6d, "143 at 9s 7d,' 172 at 12s, 264 at 12s od, 90. at lis lid j cull lambs, us 3d to, 6s 4d. • ; TIIE GRAIN MARKETS. ~ln Spite of the quantity of grain that has bberi,threshed -during the past, week or'so, business in oats has not been veiry_ brisk, as the. farmers are holding back a~nd wafting Fpi- the prices to show a.. hardening . tendency. The trans"actipns in wheat : havc- brightened up a Uttie,- though the 'fact that large parcels' of Tuscan."arc on offer have tended to_cnsc the price for that particular fclass oF grain.- Velvet, on the contrary, is in good demand, and is very scarce and a big line changed liands a day or so ago at the fairly satisfactory price of 3s 93d on trucks at a Id' station; ; sacks 5Ad. - This line was bought by a Dunediu' linu. J?riiric dry Tuscan is still firm at about 3s t)d, and farmers who hold lines oi this description seem inclined to hold for a."rise, being encoixraged to do so. by . the state of the Australian and foreign markets. The greater >p:«rt of the Tuscan oft offer is a trifle soft, and in bad condition,, arid transactions in this 'quality of grain daring the past week show prices ranging from 3s Td to 3s 'Jd per bushel delivered in Timaru. It is not expected that the stack threshed grain will'be on offer until- the end of the month arid millers are. holding back until, this , comes on the! market. Several-lines have already been threshed from the stack, but it is too early for the: grain to have had time td mature, and' it is very little better in quality than that threshed out of the stook. The Ashburton " Guardian'' states that mills which have been threshing from stack in that county have "hauled in," the wheat not being fit for threshing.

The Canterbury Farmers' Co-opera-tive .Association,' Limited, liavc re-

ceived the following cable message from their • London office, under date, sth March, . 1909" Wheat.— I The market/has declined 3d per quarter; the martet is affected hv Argentina, and is very quiet." Mr H. H. Webb hrts received the following cable inessage from tlic-Colonial Consignment and Distributing Company's Loudon office: —"The meat-mar-ket continues" weak, • with a. further fall in the values of mutton and lamb. Today's quotations, Canterbury mutton 3jd. North Island 3jcl. Lamb—l r irst quality 5Jd, second quality 45t1. Beef— Hindquarters 3»d, forequarters 33d."

Messrs- Dalgety and Co. report under 'late, London, March 3rd:—" There is lhore demand for tallow at unchanged prices." London,, March • 4tli: —" Tinfroien meat market is weak, but prices afe - not quotably changed except for Nhrtli Island prime crossbred lamb, wjiieh Is id per lb lower occasionally. Tile- wool market. is firm; expect that opening prices at next week's sales will rnle fnlly on a par with the closing rates of last sales." The dales of our own sales are 10th, 17th., 23rd and 26tfe March."