COMMERCIAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1053, 18 January 1884, Page 2

COMMERCIAL.

Aiheueton Guardian Office, Friday afternoon. The following is the Christchurch Com Exchange report for the week ending Friday evening, the iSth lust. The grain market has showna slightly-increased activity during tha past week, more especially in oats, several large parcels having changed hands at former rates, the increased demand not being sufficient to warrant a departure from the prices ruling for some lime past. There is little likelihood of a change until the new crop comes forward. The following are the week’s quotations: — Wheat—Sound milling winter, 4s. to 4s 3d, f.0.b.; Tuscan 3s qd to 4s, f.0.b.; second quality,j r js 3d 10 3s 8d; chick wheat, 2s to 2s 3d, at Christchurch. Oats—Prime milling, 2s ad per bushel; bright s-hort feed, 2s ; inferior and discolored;. » 8d to is lod per bushel, £,0,b, : , Rarley—None offering, prices nominaL Cheese and butter—4#d to Jd for the former, with little demand; and'fijad to yd for the latter.

Messrs-Miles and Co. report upon the live stock market for the week ending Thursday, 17th January, as follows: —Addington Saleyards ; A heavy total of s ock was'yarded for last-Wednesday’s market, the numbers being respectively— 9,905 sheep, 520 cattle and 86 pigs, A large proportion of theiat stock was' merinos, and as a i whole the mutton placed before the trade was notuptothe usual standard;'being made up for the most part of ewes. ..As was anticipated the day’s business KsatteSl in -a drop throughout the sales from » fid to ss per head, and we see no prospect of ’any' considerable improvement in prices. Fat cattle : A full entry, for the most part fair quality, - ; ‘lnquiry proved rather dml, and pricesreoedea to from 17s 6d to not exceeding sot per loolb for best quality. Store sheep: In store sheep, as in fat, there was almost.* stagnation as compared with recent' ana a very considerable reduction on ■l'. 1 late prices had to be.submitted to by such.' sellers as were tumble ta hold, and we have to report a decline of fu’ly is per head on cross- ’ breds. Merinos .proved very unsaleable and ' diffiml* to place at anything like: owners’ valdcs.r Store cattle: A fair entry, recent rates -being fully maintained. - Figs : A small supply and demand brisk, lull values being obtained for all lots on offer.— Ashburton; We held our usual fortnightly sale at the Ashburton Yards on Tuesday, 14th insti,* and report as follows ;— There was only a moderate.entry of,sheep and cattle, but more for requirements,. as some few lots.were tuned out unsold. Ourentries were on account of the Alford Estate, Messrs, W. C. Walker, Denshire, Allen, Sargent, .W. B, Clarkson. The entry from the Alford Estate comprised a draft of 220 magnificent fat crossbred sheep. Something oyer two-thirds wethers,- the bahnee ewes, sold in one line at ’ the uniform price of 16s each. These were notably the best sheep that have been yarded at Ashburton for some .months, and would have attracted attention in any market in the world, " if a demand had existed for sheep for export purposes they would,,have brought a much highCT .price. Mr W.’C. Walker’s fat merino wethers from the Valetta Estate, good quality . mutton, sold at loseaeh ; crossbred medium weights, at 145 each; Mr Den-hire’s .crossbred twoftooth bid up to 13s fid each were tuned out unsold. Mr ■ Allen’s store merino wethers brought 6s 4<i each. Fat. cattle, account Mr Sargent, LS ios each; store steers, account Mr W. B- Clarkson, at L44S fid each. Merino ewes, in wool, with lambs at foot, sold at llsfid each, lambs given in. Store cattle easily maintained previous quotations. ■■ Messrs Matson, Cox and Co. report on the live stock market for the Ashburton district for the weekending January 19th, as follows: On Tuesday at the Ashburton Yard; we held oar ««"»! sale of cattle, sheep and pics. The attendant, owing to a heavy nor’-wester blowing, ms nfit so good as the last sale, and the entry for sheep was not so numerous. In fat sheep very few were penned, and a fine line . from Mr Herring fetched' 163. In cattle the entry was fair, but the quality for fat wasjndifferent. We quote mutton at 2d to 2J£d per lb ; beef, jßs-6dto 20s per loolbs. In store sheep there was a goodyentry, but bidding not reaching owners’ expectations several lines were-withdrawn. In store cattle we sold several lines at prices folly equal to late sales. We sold iu fat sheep— Crossbred fat hoggets, at 13s ud ; in stores —merino ewes in wool, with’lambs at "foot, its 4d. In cattle—Fat steeflbXS SvL3.iSs.L5; fat heifers, L 3 15s; 3-year-old steers,- L 5; 2-year-old steers, X. 3 Its, La is. La 19s fid, L2 17s; yearlings, ; L2 3s, Li sos, Li 7s; cows,. £4 2s, La M*> ; ’