Commercial News

Feilding Star, Volume XIII, Issue 12, 28 July 1891, Page 3

Commercial News

■ (per press association.) Lomjon, July 25. Twenty five tons of potatoes, ex E.M.S. Tainui, from New Zealand, have been sold at an average of £4 per ton. The New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company, Limited, have received the following cable message from, their London office, dated 24th instant :— Tal \ ow — The market is firmer. Fine mutton is worth 29s 9d per cwt, and good beef, 25s 3d. Frozen meat For mutton the market is weaker, and the price has declined £d per lb since last report. The market for lamb is uncharged, while that for beef is quiet, and forequarters are quoted at 3£d per ib. New Zealand hemp The market is weak, and the price has • fallen 10s per ton since List report. The local branch of the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Age icy Company (Limited) hand us the following extract irom their London correspondence of sth June. No doubt the information conTeyed will be of interest to many farmers in the Wellington and surrounding districts : — Mo*t suitable time for shipments 'o arrive. -'—This depends upon our. seasons and the quantity of good old English or Continental potatoes whuh are available at the commencement of the year. As long as these are plentiful the demand for new potatoes is yery much restricted, especially if we have a cold, late spring. It is probable that under snch circumstances importations from abroad would not sell until April or even May. Ou the other iand, if the stocks of old potatoes are short or bad at the commencement of the year, the new ones might meet a ready market as early as February or M*rch. J During April and May of the current year good new kidneys and magnum bonums from Malta haye sold at from £16 to £21 per ton, and from the Canaries at from £14 to £21 per ton. Variety and condition. — The most'suitable varieties are kidneys, or potatoes of a kidney shape such as magnum bonums, and they must arrive here in such condition that they can be described as x< new potatoes," otherwise they will not sell. The skins must be well set before ship ping or they will not stand the voyage. Packing and shipping.— lt is difficult to give advice on these points, as we have ro experience here as to how such produce will be affected by the long voyage. Yve may mention, however, that the most saleable packages are boxes to contain from half to threequarters of a cwt, each having a transverse partition in the cen trj similar in make to those used for shipping apples to this market. The potatoes in each box should be sorted into two grades, according; to size. -It xs -the opinion of experts here that it ns not

desirable to wrap the potatoes in paper, or use any other packing material than the pl-iin boxes ; and they recommend ! that they should uot b« snipped in the j cool chamber, but as ordinary cargo, j great care being taken, however, to en- , sure thnr being p]aced in a part of the hold where they are not likely to become heated.