COMMERCIAL.

Globe, Volume IV, Issue 345, 21 July 1875, Page 2

COMMERCIAL.

The Customs revenue collected yesterday was as follows:

The land sold at the sitting p£ the Waste Lands Board on Monday, amounted to 493 acres 3 roods, realising £999. It Is situated In the following districts, viz.:— A. H. T.

ENGLISH COMMERCIAL. woot*. Messrs Miles and Co report on June Ist : The sales are progressing without alteration, very superior washed fleeces and good greasy wools remaining very firm, and this we think, may in a great measure be attributed to the activity on the part of the French buyers, who are making considerable, purchases of the better class wools. The advance'ou lialf-breds and lambs is also fully maintained, but faulty and inferior descriptions are somewhat easier. The present series will terminate on the 18th instant, and we do not look for any alteration in prices to the close, The New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Company reports:— .;*"'- V,. The second series of Colonial wool sales for the present year commenced on 4th May, with a catalogue comprising the following proportions ; Bales. N. S. Wales and Queensland ... 745 Victoria 1977 South Australia 2273 Tasmania 6 ° New Zealand 131 Cape of Good Hope 995

Total ... 6187 The total quantity which arrived in time to be included in the series was as follows: Bales. N. S. Wales and Queensland ... 50,606 Victoria 112,130 South Australia ... 37,430 Western Australia 5,456 Tasmania 6,214 New Zealand 36,423 Cape of Good Hope ... 31,178

Total .. .. 279,447 Of these arrivals about 12,500 bales (viz, 4900 Australasian and 7600 Cape) were forwarded direct to the Yorkshire and other manufacturing districts and the Continent, leaving therefore about 267,000 bales of the fresh arrivals available for the auctions, in addition to any parcels, which may|have been held over from previous sales. This quantity is some 30,000 bales less than was originally anticipated, a circumstance mainly attributable to the delay to homeward-bound vessels caused by contrary winds, j The sales opened with a very large attendance of Home and Foreign buyers, whose biddings were characterised by considerable animation, and the prices established were fully equal to the closing rates of the February-March auctions. Since the commencement of the sales a more or less general advance has been manifested in the value of the staple, and there are indications that the improvement is likely to hold good, at all events during the current series; and possibly to a great extent throughout the season. This favorable change in the position of our raw material is owing partially to circumstances affecting consumption and partly also to the recognition of the fact that the supply this year will not show the large excess over last year's production which was some time since anticipated. With respect to the consumption, there seems to be Utile doubt but that there has been a rather generally improved trade in all the woollen districts of late, though this has been perhaps more decided and marked in France than at Home or in Germany, and that the commencement of the sales found consumers, if not bare of stock, at all events with only sufficient to meet strictly current requirements. * As regards the supply, we may observe that the deficiency in the River Plate production, variously estimated, but placed on good authority at equal to 80,000 colonial bales, is an ascertained fact. Further, it appears probable that shipments from the Cape this year will' be about stationary, while from Australia it seems likely that the increase, though fall' in extent, will fall far short of that of 1874 over the production of the previous twelve months. The principal advance exhibited in the course of the sales thus far has been in the case of cross-bred and very fine merino fleece washed parcels. The former, notwithstanding a material increase in the supply, have commanded keen aud sustained competition at an improvement of fully Id per 10 on March rates, while for the latter an equal advance has been secured. Ordinary and lower qualities of fleece wools are about dearer. Lambs' wool, so far as respects fine washed parcels, has advanced Id per lb, greasy remaining at about February prices. Scoured wools, with the exception of Capes, do not appear to have participated in the advance noticeable in other descriptions, or at all events not to the same extent. Grease wools generally are in strong demand from the French trade, and on average command some advance on the exlreme rates for similar parcels at the preceding auctions. New Zealands do not admit of comparison with Feb-Morch, but Victorian and South Australian unwashed shipments, with the exception of the lower grades of the latter, are selling quite as well as in that series. The main feature in favor of New Zealand produce is the improved value of cross-bred and long wool, so large aproponion of which comes from that colony. This is to some extent specially due tt the report of a deficiency of some 14 per cent in the home growth, as to the foundation for which it is impossible as yet to pronounce. On the whole the prosrvess of the spring nas developed features of stability in connexion with the wool trade, which, failing some unforseen check, promise well for its future. Up to this date the f'ollowingquanlities from the respective colonies have been catalogued, of which it is estimated that 4100 bales have been withdrawn. Bales. N. S. Wales and Queensland 30,375 Victoria 70,079 i South Australia 29.495 Western Australia ... 2,332 Tasmania ... 3,085 New Zealand ... 15,643 Cape of Good Hope ... 19,093 j Total 170,602 It is at present arranged that the sales now in progress shall conclude about 18th June, and the next series is fixed to commence on 17th August, We append note of arrivals to this morning for next sales— Bales. N. S. Wales and Queensland 11,549 . Victoria 7,367 South Australia 5.230 Western Australia • 188 Tasmania 4,004 New Zealand 25,835 Cape of Good Hope 11,405 Total 69,576

Spirits £ s d ... ■ 150 16 11 Wine ... 4A 11 11 Snuff ... ... 16 10 0 Tea .. 69 5 0 Tobacco 16 0 0 Candles ..^ .. 15 12 6 Sundries ... ... 10 t 0 £323 9 4,

Timaru, , Banka Peninsula ... ... 60 0 0 ... 301 0 0 Oxford ... ... 1 2 0 Mjilvem .. 37 0 0 Ashburton „ XoWa of ArowUenuaj „ , ... 23 0 0 Ml 0 1 0