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Markets.

(From the Melbourne " Argus" Jan. 6.) In imported goods there is nothing to'report. Adelaide' flour is still moving steadily towards the interior, while there is no movement perceptible in other brands. "The Telegraph has supplied Sydney news to the 3rd instant. Business continued to be interrupted by the holidays, and little was doing in the import market in consequence. A cargo of flour had arrived from Chili in the Burnett, which sailed from Valparaiso on the 15th Oct. No intelligence whatever of the state of the Chilian market appears to have oozed out. We extract the following from the weekly trade report of the " Empire :"— '" Owing to the recurrence of New Year's Day—an almost universal holiday—the .week's trade has been limited. The holidays being now over, business will for some time be little interrupted. Although many of the import markets are heavy, the aspect of trade is not altogether unfavourable, and the mercantile classes are expecting a period of briskness. There is a fair inquiry for some of the leading articles, especially those in demand for the southern trade. ." The flour market is still destitute of animation, and last week's prices may be again quoted. £18 is obtainable for small parcels of best flour, but sales are effected below the quotations, and when submitted to auction neither wheat nor flour commands these rates. At a sale to-day a large parcel of fine red Chilian wheat was knocked down at ,6s. lid., and for some colonial flour £17 19s. was bid. but they were not known to be sales. We observe that at a sale at Melbourne on Saturday last the highest bid for a cargo of Chilian, of guaranteed quality, was £12 7s. 6d., showing how unwilling the dealers are there to lay in stocks. Our imports of breadstuff's this week have been 2,800 bags flour from Valparaiso, and 1,050 bushels wheat from New Zealand. The holidays have prevented the arrival of the new wheat, few samples having made their appearance in the market this week. The feeling, however, that abundance is at hand from our own crops and from the surplus of the other colonies, makes buyers indifferent about buying even at minimum prices, and altogether prohibits speculation. The arriv.'ils from the United States and

New Zealand have not yet been.placed, and will probably be stored." In a commercial review of the year the " Empire" remarks. on the ignorance which is permitted to prevail in the flour trade :— " The losses in this trade, which amount, it is well known, to many thousands, might have been avoided by possessing some information as to the resources of the other colonies, from each of which we have received shipments of wheat and flour. But for the decline in this market we might have received whatever we required from our neighbours, as Adelaide alone, it is stated, has this year exported nearly 30,000 tons of flour. Our ■ importers seem to have made a.strange miscalculation about our available supplies, and have obtained, although at a great cost, some valuable experience." We find in the same paper a report of a transaction between the Melbourne and Adelaide markets:— " We hear of a private contract being entered into at Melbourne for some extensive deliveries of Adelaide wheat and flour. The terms are — the supplies to be ready for shipment at Adelaide in all February, the flour at £14 per ton, and the wheat at 4s. lid." It appears from a paragraph in the $ydney " Morning Herald," that under the new postal service with Great Britain, the prepayment of letters will be compulsory on both sides. We give the paragraph on the authority of our contemporary:— " We understand that the Post Office authorities at home have decided that all letters passing between the United Kingdom and the Australasian Colonies must be prepaid, and that this arrangement will come in force immediately. This will get rid of all postal accounts on this class of letters between Great Britain and New South Wales, and will enable mails to be des-' patched and sorted much quicker. With regard to foreign letters, accounts must still, we believe, continue. Official notices will, doubtless, shortly appear, informing the public on all these points." The commercial news brought by the Simla is highly important. Our own. correspondent, writing on the 11th November, makes the following observations on the European money markets : — "There,has been no improvement in the state of the English money market since my last letter. The apparently peculiarly insatiable demand for gold by the Bank of France is still the sole cause—a demand which, from its character, bodes no good to the commercial interests of that country. Legitimate trade has nothing whatever to do with the scarcity. The Bank of England is doing everything in its power to retain its remaining stock of bullion ; but it is doubtful whether this can be done much longer; in fact, it all depends upon the winds and waves —whether or not the James Baines, now overdue, arrives in time from Melbourne for the Bank of France to purchase the gold she brings, and thus swell its monthly account. The minimum bank rates of discount remain the same. It is said that some acceptances were due at 7 to 7| per cent., but the paper was choice. The majority of applicants, however, find the minimum to be 8 per cent.; and since Tuesday, instead of the rates relaxing, they have hardened still more, owing to a report that the Bank may probably make another advance. The great Russian railway affair, involving an expenditure of something like forty millions sterling, is not expected to float in our market. It will not pay; and alreadj'' there is a strong feeling against it—a symptom that our speculators are determined to act more cautiously in foreign gigantic schemes than they have hitherto done." Consols left off on the evening of the 11th November a,t 92-| for money. At the new sales of colonial wool prices had been well maintained. In tallow there had been very great speculation, and prices had fluctuated considerably. On the morning of the 11th of November 58s. 3d. was paid for " all the year," but in the evening 575. 6d. was accented. " The adjudication in bankruptcy of the Royal British Bank had been confirmed, notwithstanding the strenuous efforts of the directors to oppose it; and- debts to the amount of £500,000 had been proved against the concern. Our correspondent conveys the intelligence of the fall of a large mercantile and contracting house:—

" The not unexpected suspension of the wellknown house of Pox, Henderson, and Co., the extensive contractors, had caused a good deal of speculation. It was known that the firm was in difficulties for the last eighteen months ; hut the hope was entertained that it would be' able to meet all its engagements. The tightness of the money market, and the consequent high rate of discount, brought about a fall which most mercantile men deplore, and which meets with the sympathy of all classes. It is said that the house lost the large sum of £70,000 by the Danish railways alone—a proof of the danger and folly of English contractors undertaking the' execution of works in situations where they must,necessarily conduct their operations disadvantageously and in the dark. It is feared that other houses of less note will be brought down by this failure. Russia, Spain, and Turkey have their respective network of railways now before the moneyed world, offering a tempting per centage to the speculator. The result will be ruin to many an English householdI.'-'

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/LT18570204.2.7

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Lyttelton Times, Volume VII, Issue 444, 4 February 1857, Page 8

Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,263

Markets. Lyttelton Times, Volume VII, Issue 444, 4 February 1857, Page 8

Markets. Lyttelton Times, Volume VII, Issue 444, 4 February 1857, Page 8

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