COMMERCIAL.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume V, Issue 241, 20 March 1865, Page 2

COMMERCIAL.

o»Af#.-On t advioea are to the Bth tost/ the Otago Imily Times reports-f "

Wie saw received as Customs duty at the Custom, bouse amounted to £333 3s. 3d. day’s trausaoUdns feiva boqrr llqbs, altlougb some weoutatiTOOaqaby for particular goods has taken place, , lon- market lias received an Impetus in consequence vi advices from Melbourne, and from the West Coast, and ome parcels are reports las having bean place 1 at an adfa ** o9 ' advices from Victoria, with respect to mlscelnsems goods, arc generally favourable, and may lead to ne improvement in prices withne. Private letters ooiu ey the information that sugars have been placed at Im* proved rates. and that prices may continue to improve in onsequenco of the comparatively small shipments expected. The auction sales of the day have been devoid nterest.

The G *:i/j') jiiUy Timed, of Thursday, says:— in the excitement now exhibited in the city, and on the ncre.ise, relative to the West Coast goldfields, nearly »lj business seems suspended. The consequence to the carry, mg interests are disastrous in flic extreme, and many car. ners are retiring from the trade in disgust. Me j,boi?Bna. —We havo to hand our files to the Ist -larch, IVe take the following commercial news from the Argus

The upward tendency in flour still continues, and forms almost the only remarkable feature in the market at prent. Adelaide Qmiv, town brand, has sold to-day at £.33, and Chilian at £l9, and a further advance is anticipated y tua traue. In some business has been done. The argo of the Sea Nymph was offered at auction, and a permit ot it placed. Parcels of fine congous have also changed Lands, at from Is 3d to Is 1 ',l in bond. Woolpar-ks have been Of to-day in small lots, at a shade under the <uket rate. In kerosine some sales cf parcels to arrive ■ate been effected. Three hundred cases, now about ue, have bet-u quitted at 3s 3d, and two hundred cases at » »»d. In this article the market is unsettled, and reports concerning it are somewhat contradictory. The arrival ol the Isabella at .Sydney, with So'JO cases, has had he client of causing orders for shipment to that port to , e countermanded, and is stated to have had a depressing influence on our market.—Peb. 2-3. Tne most important business in the import market toa> has-been transacted at auction, by which means the taigo oi French fiour, ex Asle, to the excellent qualty of tv ich wo drew attention a few days ago, has been placed' t consisted of 13J0 barrels, and was disposed of in one me at 4.#, per barrel. Same Californian flour, ex Cullingv. o°d, was disposed of in the same room at £22 ss. per ton, le transactions afford proof of the e-xtraordinary conditioif of the flour market at the present. Holders*of AdeaiJe are now asking £2* for it; but we have heard of no ae> at that; rice. For Chilian £29 is quoted as the selmg figure, .Some parcelstif Victorian wheat are offering atand 3d, but Hie millers do not appear over anxious to purchase at that figure. Over4“•>'» boxes of foreign candles were quitted to-day at auction, at prices which will be round in the auctioneers’ report. The .lames .Montgomery, ft vessel which is believed to be sailing under the Federal flag, is telegraphed to-day off the Otway, she brings with Other cargo 5 im) cases kerosine.—March 1. flvexf.v. Tito Argus quotes the foi owing from the Sjd.my .I for,tiny Herald of the 21»l and 22ucl Feb. Jlr W, Dean sold to day, by auction, damaged teas, ex George Becker and Sabrina, at from £5 to £3 I“s Gd per Chest; also, sound teas, ex Castle How, at Is 6ii to 2# per lb., borne small lots cf Mouliueiu and table vice, ex Alexander Faring, were also placed at £lB per ton. On t’ue24lb, advice was received that Mr \V. Nicholson, Of Maitland, a speculator lu grain, had failed, ills liabilities were set down at £39,000. Latest by Argus Tkusokak Sylixkv, 3Sth Feb.—Flour is gaoled at from £2l to £33 for ton. Anrt.UDE, 23th Feb.—The Kmily Smith takes over 100 i bags of wheat hence to Bombay. The millers hero have sold out their stocks of wheat at from £2l IDs to £22. Bales of wheat have been made to-day at Ss 9d, and there arts still buyers in the market at that figure. BATAVIA. The Argos quotes the following from a privale letter from Batavia, dated Jan. 1:—“In Bombay there is likely to be a famine, all kinds of cereal* have been neglected, and all the laud laid under cotton ; and already there arc sOrious fears as to bow they will procure a supply of food ’■ We have twelve ships here from China; but all our rice Crop has been shipped, except a few hundred tons of the finest white table, all of which is, however, contracted for. “At Rangoon the crop is a failure. At Siam there are upwards of 100 ships; and the King has prohibited the export of rice, on account of the short ness of the crops." The foregoing information is confirmed by a letter from lionv Kong, in which the Writer states that some of the vessels had come back in ballast, others with only a small portion of cargo cu board; and the freight market was so bad in consequence, that the Very low freight of 40s per ton to Great Britain was being gladly accepted. ' HOBART TOWN. IVe have advices to the 21 st Feb., The Advertiser ofthat date ( in its summary for the mail says“ In reviewing the markers for the month since our last summary no very Cheering prospects present themselves. One of the principal dependencies of our shipping interests, and hitherto always a saleable article in some other of the neighboring colonies—hardwood timber—lias become, quite unsaleable at anything like a paying price, and our vessels have had to bring back their cargoes in consequence of there being no sale. IVe are also suffering from our having to import the staple of life, wheat, our crop of 1864 having been insufficient on the southern side of the island for our own Wants, and the high price ranging in New Zealand in June, July, and August, ISG4-, having indivea shipments of breadstuff’s, which wo are now obliged to replace at even higher rate? from Melbourne and Adelaide. Our Tasmanian crops are just beglning to come in. but will not, as far as St is possible to obtain information, be anything like sufficient for our wants, and we shall be to a great extent dependent on importations. The present price of wheat may he quoted at Ps to 9s 3d, and although there may be a temporary reduction in that rate when the wheat begins to come in freely, yet it will be for only a short time, and the general expectation is that flour will rule high throughout the year, and that considerable sums will be Tequired for import of breadstuff’s. The present p ice of Colonial flour is £22, fi m; and Chili in is worth £2l. The Import trade is very quiet, and there is no prospect of improvement. Dealers report the trade of the last month as even more quiet than the preceding one.