COMMERCIAL.

Globe, Volume III, Issue 289, 15 May 1875, Page 2

COMMERCIAL.

The Customß revenue collected yesterday was M follows: £ b d Sugar , 68 9 1 Tobacco 17 12 6 Tea 33 19 0 Spirits 218 13 8 Wine 45 10 11 Beer o 2 6 Sundriei 9 4 ° *389 13 0

GijOßfi Office, Saturday. The continnous rain throughout the whole of the past week has put a complete check upon the grain market. No shipments have been made and no sales are reported, so that quotations are quite nominal. Wheat is nominally at Us 3d, and flour at £lO, but no actual transactions have come under notice. Oats are worth 2s 8d for common, and 2s !)d for prime milling, but Melbourne advices continue very unfavourable, and there Is no margin whatever at present prices. Barley is entirely neglected. Cheese meets a continued enquiry at Bd, and butter at Is 3d; hams and bacon at lojd, Deliveries of potatoes have been stopped through the wet; prices remain at £2 2s 6d, Transactions in the import markets during' the past week have been very limited, and trade generally very dull, which may be accounted for by the abundance of wet weather experienced. Spirits— We note great firmness in Hennessy's case and bulk brandy, the former realising 3ls Gd to 325; the latter 9s 3d to 9s 6d, i.b.; in other lines of spirits the demand has been merely for small trade parcels. Sugars have met with a considerable amount of attention, iirst white crystals 'fetching £35 10s to £36; second do, £34 10s to £35 ; white counters, £3l 10s to £35 ; yellow crystals, £33 10s to £34 ; yellow counters, £3l to £32, i.b. A few fair-sized parcels Jof tea have been quitted at good rates. Good to fine congou have met with most favor at is 7d to Is 9d, i.b. There is very little sale for low qualities. We have nothing fresh to report in bottled ales and stoutb, the demand being good. Prices range from lls6d to 12s, according to brand. Bass' East India pale ale has been placed at £8 15s to £9 for small parcels. The tobacco market has been fairly brisk during the week ; several sales have been effected at our last quotations. Price'sßelmont candles are firm at lid. Kerosene moves off freely at2s id to 2s 3d, d.p. We hearof a parcel of No 6 fencing wire changing hands at prices withheld. Cement is In good demand, stocks in first hands getting low : we quote 22s for parcels. There has been very little done in corusacks at our last quotations.

ENGLISH COMMEECIAL

Messrs Dalgety, Ducroz, and Co, report on March 18th:— The first series of wool sales for the present year opened on 23rd February, when the qnantities that had arrived were 213,400 bales, viz:— N. S. Wales and Queensland ... 19,000 Victoria 100,300 South Australia 41,000 Tasmania ' 400 Western Australia 300 New Zealand 4,600 Cape of Good Hope 47,800 Total .. .. 213,400 From the commencement the attendance of buyers was very numerous, but their biddings during the first few evenings exhibited great caution, and a somewhat lower range of prices than ruled during the February sales of last year; the reduction averaging about Id per lb on good greasy wools and somewhat more on washed fleeces, with the exception of cross-bred, which have sold well throughout, and the same may be said of lamb's wool. Prices, however, soon recovered this decline, biddings becoming spirited, and manifesting a greater scarcity of the raw material among dealers at home and on the Continent than had been supposed. The sales have accordingly proceeded with animation; out of 165,000 bales of Australian, 124,000 have passed the hammer, the series being accelerated so as to close before Easter. Victorian clips exhibit first-class growth and condition, though showing in many instances an increased prevalence of burr; while the Western clips maintain their usual excellence in both respects, and have elicited very satisfactory competition. South Australian generally compare favorably with previous seasons in point of growth, and are less earthy. They have been actively competed for, on French account chiefly, and the prices of particular marks bear favorable comparison with those of last year. For New South Wales and Queensland wools there appears to have been less inquiry, though in very moderate supply, and they must be quoted lower than last year. Of the wools of our other colonies, the quantity was only nominal, or consisted in the case of New Zealand of the remainder of the previous year's growth, chiefly scoured. The second series of sales will open on the 4th May, by which time arrivals, recently prevented by adverse winds, must be large; for this, however, buyers are fully prepared already, and we look upon trade as generally sound and healthy, though there are complaints of the smallness of manufacturers' profits.