Commercial Intelligence.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume XIII, Issue 565, 2 April 1868, Page 2

Commercial Intelligence.

J ENGLISH COMMERCIAL. . j PROSPECTS OF THE WOOL MARKET. j j rue Home News says:—As the prices of wool and some other products will probably ctmiTinced our New Zealand readers that in 1567 we i were certainly in the first of the stages following ! jthe panic of 1566, it is satisfactory to assure them that wc seem now to hare entered upon the second and more agreeable period. It is true that wool 3 has not advanced. But if reference be made to I the Trade Report in another column it will bo i round that as yet there is very nttie couilag for- 1

ward for the next public sales, while the Yorkshire markets for woollen goods have become sufficiently animated to crcato an expectation of an improved demand. The reports from the continent speak more favorably of the amount of sales both of wool and of woollen goods. Prices are low, it is true; hut they seem to be at the lowest, and in proportion as consumers gain confidence in the maintenance of peace they will increase their orders, and so prices will naturally! recover. This stage, being intermediate, we may expect to be a long one, and not only to be long, but to he constantly progressive, especially if the next two harvests prove to be batter than the last two. It will certainly be followed in course of t ime by a period of inflation ami exaggerated confidence. That, however, is many years oil' vet, and the important fact for New Zealand to know is that wo have entered upon the second stage, inis is proved by a decide l : inpr >v e nieoL bating | the partial recovery in the woollen. The buoyancy) t hat proceeds from hope and confidence will do I the rest, and one of its first etl’cets will be to overcome the reserve that is now oppressing the ordinary sp rits of Lombard-street, fn a few months, therefore, we anticipate that our trade reports will be cheerful where they are now gloomy, ' The transition must necessarily be gradual; but a calm review of the course of things in the past month of January will satisfy impartial observers that so far it has not disappointed onr expectation that it would mark the departure of that dormancy in legitimate enterprise which has depressed prices and accumulated idle capital to an almost unprecedented extent. Melbourne. —We gather the following from the commercial report of the Argus of the 11th ult:— Speculation in oats still continues. 10,000 bushels of Tasmanian are reported to have been placed at an extrema figure, over 5s being realized; and some 15.000 bushels of Californian are stated to have been taken up at 4s.