SYDNEY WEEKLY COMMERCIAL REPORT.

Wellington Independent, Volume XVI, Issue 1681, 1 November 1861, Page 2

SYDNEY WEEKLY COMMERCIAL REPORT.

. Empire Office, Friday Evening, Oct. 11. Since our last weekly report .ye are, in' -possession of English advices to the _6th August, by the arrival this morning of the mail per Benares.- We noticed in our produce report, in our yesterday's issue, that the telegrams from Melbourne quoted a .recovery of. from Id to 1J& per lfc : upon;-, the greatest depression in the value of ."Sydney ."wools, during the earlier days of the July-Augpst .'sagea in London; and the catalogues arid our' private advices now fo hand, iii a great measure cdffffJm, the report above alluded to. - We observe; however, that the improvement inprice has been confined, chiefly, if not exclusively, to the well-grown, goodconditioned fleece wools of this colony, while' Northern wools, and greasy arid ill-conditioned wools generally,* Continue with scarcely- any improve-.'.-ment. We notice, also, that scoured^ and fellmongered wools have not, to any xOaterialtextent*, participated in the advance ill price referred-? v to. There, however, is 'no doubt that the secukty of the harvest, and the reduction in the rate of-^ia-counfc had. given greater, confidence to buyers, q-nd but for the unsatisfactory state of affairs in Apxerica we should probably have had a.-more general arid extensive reaction in the English wool- market to report. .-'■<■:- *- -■-* -.•*■' -'*1 ;In our own maiket we have little or .no, i^tera-*. tion to notice. The new clip, as yet, .cqmcss,- to hand very slowly, and the small parcels that have been offered in the market cannot be regarded as a test of the. prices likely to -rule in Sydney during the season. We may observe, alsp, that the small lots of new wool that have come under our observatipn, have been generally in defective condition. ' In business generally we ff_ve fo'repoi-t'andttfer very dull week. The advices ;by the mail are too recently to hand for any effect to be at present visible on our market ; and, on the whole* we.lqok upon the news. as little 'calculated tb effect any material change either for better or worse. Shipments, on' the- whole,, appear to -be in of those of the previous month, boths to this&ndttie Southern ports; but we notice that thera^|untß of most consumable Wtides aramdderafojn.am-^unt, and a few under the average monthly sttpply; have few alterations to notice in our in&rket, .but wo proceed to notice a few of the leading articles to which more than a general reference is desirable. " Liquids;***— The market for most descriptions continues greatly depressed. Several sales by auction have been attempted; but have been attended with very unimportant results. On Monday last Messrs. Chatto and Hughes offered an extorsive and 'attractive: catalogue of, wines,, spirits, &p„ at the stores' of Messrs, 'Blower,' Salting,' and Co.,_ but the limits placed upon the various articles* by the vendors -Wer-a beyond the ideas of intending pttrchasers, and consequently almost literally' no business was done. Brandy,— There has beenrio de'ttiah'd beyond small parcels for the* immediate-re-quirements of the trade, and prices remain without alteration. We -'still quote, lis fids for Martell's, and oth.er : ;brands,in y proportion to their respective market values. Rum has b-^n-ifl better demand, and the market ifl firpi'with, if' anything, an upward- tendency. Some, large hplders of Demerara, 3Q percent over proof, refuse lb sell under 4s 3d per gallon, but we quote 4s Id tq 4s 2d as .-th-*** present obtainable market price.' In other descriptions of spirits we have no alterations report. Ale.— Holders, are very 0 -** .at A'Bper hogshead for Bass's No. 3,' and relative prices are demanded for other Burton brands. Fgjc draught porter thero is no demand, the consumption b.ei»g very limited at the' present season of the yeai. A porter continue in moderate requ€st,'but^yithout any material alteration in:priceß..;j\^' .AV^k^. . Floub.~ We have no importatiph^oP^tgS'importance to notice, but prices .continue greajiy -d-a-pressed in consequence, no doubt, of present stocks and the ajiticipatibh of ' future large supplies. Holders of California are, howevdi-; firtft at £14, and Adelaide tdwfr brands are Quoted at £14 to £\b per tori, the latter price being for Harts, which always commands the highest market Salt.— We have not JheaTd;of :any; transactions of importance during the week. Holders are asking from £5 to ±'15 Jasper ,ton for coarse Liverpool,' arid 1 theshipmerits coming fotward are -hot, to any extent, calculated to cause a decline, especially as present prices are barely ;remunerft|i|te to importers. < •'•' •'■ 'A,''' 1 ", • A'P 1 1^1 r. Tobacco.— The market; has _.beea^e^quiet. Buyera confine their purohaseskto the supplyof their immediate wants, and theY large h;ildei& are apparently carelefes of ,effeotiiigpii*cg^'fiftifs»aiSmall sales by auction of tobaccos from the Melbourne .markets have been attempted during the week, but the samples havo chiefly Jbepn i»fejisy<both in quality and condition. We noticed a sale during the week or a small pafcel of •nsponewr-^tiger brand), at 17d.perj lb- by Messrs. Dean and, Co., which we believe^was^purQhased on account of the .present* l^ge-hold^.,; buji_:w]Oj:*o|^ h i^^«m ; i p^es..a9 a quite. t .npmin.a_ji ifWfii^W^.vf^' vices received by the mail, tna|A V Mii|^n*B of: tobjfcgei? are (jopaing forward to bothvSydney and the Southern pbrtej^ialarger^x^y^w© pte. Bume has lately been anwoipatea. a * \ ' .'. A ■..'=- ."v

29tb, passed the gun-boat Algerine off Cape Idsu. Admiral anxiously expected ; saw nothing of him. Henry Ellis left for this port aud the Kent for England on the 28th. From the same paper >ye take the conclusion pf an article on the position of matters in japan :— - Some curious revelations, we understand, hare reached our Minister as to the real instigator of tbe attack on the Legation ; and most, curious of all, while, it is traced to one of the great feudatory and semi-independeut princes, the provocation seems not to have come from us at all, but from the Russians! A colision of wbich many of the details ure iv circulation among the people, appears to have taken place at the island of. Tsassima, in the Straits of Coiea, early in June, during which it is said the Prince's palape was bombarded, one of his villages and forts taken, and many of his followers killed and wounded. To avenge-this outrage and defeat, hearing how great a foreign chief was at Nagasaki on bis way to Yeddo overland, he instantly despatched one of his emissaries to follow him ;^ and if he could not he slain oc the way, to find the fitting instruments among the Lonins — never far to seek in Yeddo— attack the Legation, and bring his head after massa-preing everybody in it. This is the popular version, and. implicitly believed in by many well informed Japanese. That there was a collision at Tsassima with the Russians is certain. That the prince was ill, disposed to foreigners before any such provocation, is also known. That he should take this indiscriminate and wholesale way of avenging himself is only too much in keeping with their usHal habits of thought and action — too muoh so, at all events, to be discarded as improbable. Admiral Hope, long daily expected at Yeddo from Hongkong, had not arrived on the 26th. Our minister was maintaining his ground in the legation with the aid of a guard of twenty five blue-jackets, from the little despatch boat, tbe Ringdove, the only British man-of-war on those waters for tbe protection of British inte-* rests. Whether any second or more desperate A attack was pending, no one could «ay^ It is to . be hoped the Admiral's tardy arrival may yet be in time to' prevent such a calamity, and extricate the British representative from hisperilv ous position; We hear M. de Bellecourt, the French Charge d'Affaires, immediately on bearing of the attack, very generously put bimself on board' the Ringdove at Yokohama, and took, with him fifteen of the crew of H.LM.'s ship Drbdolgne, with an officer, determined to share a common- danger. M. de Belleccfurt, a few • days later, went to his own Legation, where he remained with his "guard at the latest' date. Mr. Harris is. also' in the Legation, and hitherto, at least, undisturbed. Whether he feels that A" perfect security " inside his gates, which he . announced to his colleagues last January, may be reasonably questioned but at all events he remains there for the present with his Japanese • guard. The following is a translation of a document 1 ' found on the person of the wounded man seized during the attack on the British Legation of the night of the sth July, bearing fourteen signatures. " I, though I am aperson of low degree, have not patience to stand by and see the Sacred Empire ,defiled by the foreigner. This time I have determined in my heart to follow out my master's will. Though beiqg altogether humble j myself, I cannot make the might of the country ; to shine in foreign nations — yet with a little faith and a bold warrior's power, I wish in my • heart, though lam a person of low degree, to jbestbw "upon my country one -out of a great many benefits. If this thing, from time to time, niay cause, the foreigner to retire and partly tranquilise both tbe minds (or the spirits) of the Mibado and the Taikoon I shall take to. myself the highest praise. Regardless of my own life, I am'determined to set out (Here follow tbe • signatures.)" , ,The China Mail states tbat the whole number of assailants killed and wounded on the premises was 24. We take the following Japan news from the 'North China Herald of 10th August. At Yeddo, the Japanese seemed to expect another attack, as besides the usual guard, they had the retainers of two Damios as an extra protection, and the precautions to meet it were daily increasing. The guards were going about in full armour, day and night ; lamps were stuck 'up at every ten paces or so, and large fires kept up all night at a distance of from 40 to 50 paces,. so that it was impossible any one could, get into the grounds of the Legation.uuobserred. They are said to disapprove of marines being on guard, as, .in case of attack, they would be unable to distingush between assailants and defenders, and would fire on both . nately. Mr. Oliphant's wounds were not dangerous, but it was desirable that he sbould hare tbe first : surgical assisstance, and he will therefore return to England ere long. The China Mail adds: — Nor is the alarm confined to Yeddo ; the accounts from Yokohama-states that the Consultate at Kanagawa is (urned into a regular stockade, with a double palisade and numerous guard houses all round it, the entrance being guarded by armed Yacunius.