COMMERCIAL.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2169, 20 April 1908, Page 1

COMMERCIAL.

MEAT. Tho hoof inhrkot is firmer, local orient showing a tendency to rise. Vhe supply of steers at Matnwhfcro ■list week quite eciualled the demand, •nd for the better pens bidding was ~-isk. The ]irice of sheep, especially wethers, also showed an upward tendency; the good rains recently have probably given hopes of a better supply of winter food, and farmers consequently are anxious to get store stock for the spring. A return issued by the Department of Trade and Customs gives tlio following return of tho exports from Gisborne for the month of March: licet', 3,063 cwt, valued at £3,291; mutton, 49,212 carcases, woighing 23,9G6cwt, valued at £33,836; lambs, 30,730 carcases, weighing 12,410 cwt, valued at £16,948; butter, GBcwt, valued at £323; bides, 944, valued at £927; skins, 77,810, valued at £6,536; tallow, 267 tons, valued at £4,883 ;and 1,609,7521 bof wool, valued at £59,325. BUTTER. Tho butter market at. Heine is steady, prices being firm at,llls, with primo quality New Zealand products scarce, anti in good demand. The local market, is getting, easier, probably owing to many* dairy herds coming on to increase the milk supply. Factory is quoted at Is 3d, and dairy at Is 2d wholesale. As showing the effect of tho high prices ruling for colonial butter in England, the following dipping from a Home paper will be of interest:— Tho consumption of butter, owing to the high prices ruling in London, has led to a diversion of purchasing to margarine. The foods and drugs' inspectors have been watching vendors with the object of seeing that margarine has not been passed off as butter. The result is that a number of prosecutions have been instituted, and in some cases fraudulent dealers have been fined as high as £2O for passing off margarine as butter. Vendors who have a large business in poor districts can afford to pay such nigh penalties, as some of them make from £l6 to £2O per wcek profit out of the trade. A description of a visit to ono of tho largest margarine factories in tho world tells how the article is made. The raw materials are beef suet, peanut and cotton oil, cocoamit- oil, refined lard and mil'k. Theso ingredients are put into large vats. The melted material is then transferred into huge churns, each having a. capacity of a ton/and when churned is removed into .coolingrooms, whore a ferment introduced into the milk ripens the margarine, and gives it the flavor that makes it so hard to distinguish that product from genuine butter. At the factory a keg of 150 s Danish butter was placed alongside a keg of 70s margarine, and flic visitors (including a police magistrate) were unable to tell which was the substitute and which the butter

GRAIN. During the past week there lias been considerable activity in the grain market, large quantities of wheat and oats changing hands. Reports from Australia show that large quantities of grain are being offered for sale, with prices slightly easier. As the New Zealand market responds sympathetically to the grain trade in tho Commonwealth, fames' are realising tho folly of storing any longer, and are willing to accept a fair price. A shipment of 100 tons of Australian flour received in Auckland a few days ago was landed,' inclusive of freight and insurance charges, so as to return a profit of £1 10s a ton on New Zealand prices. With this possibility in view, growers are naturally afraid to resist the millers any longer. Flour is noiv worth £l2 10s a ton in Gisborne, and wheat 4s 9d to 4s lOd a bushel. Oats: Algerian 3s 7d, Canadian 2s 9d, and prime Duns 2s 8d per bushel; Chaff is selling at £4 10s to £4 15s a ton. The cocksfoot market is well maintained, growers asking 9d a lb for the best seed.

MARKETS. Messrs F. S. Malcolm and Co., auctioneers, irenorb the following prices realised at their produce sales on Saturday: Roosters Is .Id to 2s Cd, hens Is 2d to 2s 6d, nure-bred fowls ss, turkeys 6s 9d, 'ducks Is Sd to 2s, eggs 2s, blitter Is, onions lid, picklers lid, potatoes Id-to I jd, sacks 6s 9d to 16s, melons 3s to Gil doz., pumpkins 4s to 12s doz., marrows 2s doz., cocoanuts 4s ,6d doz., small vegetables at last week’s rates. HORSE SALES. On account of the Easter holidays Messrs Williams and. Kettle, Ltd., did not hold their usual horse sale on Saturday. THE MONEY MARKET. United Press Association—Copyright, NEW YORK, April if. The National City Bank of Now York resumed gold exports by consigning a million dollars to Paris. The amount reserved; in New York banks is far above tho percentage required by Jaw.