AGRICULTURAL COMMERCIAL AND MARITIME REPORT.

Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume II, Issue 7, 31 July 1856, Page 13

AGRICULTURAL COMMERCIAL AND MARITIME REPORT.

FOR JULY. There have been few arrivals from any quarter since we last wrote; and our communications with Australia have been very limited, in consequence. The Wheat and Flour markets of Australia still continue languid; and there does not appear to be any immediate prospect of an advance, unless it be in Sydney, and for a reason which we shall presently explain. Potatoes are a drug, very difficult of sale ; especially those of New Zealand, in consequence of their being so sadly affected by the worm. Maize is likewise dull of sale.

From a correspondent at Melbourne, —well acquainted with New Zealand, and the New Zealand trade, —we lea rn that potatoes are selling in Van Diemen's Land at from 30s. to 40s. per ton; and at Melbourne, from 50s to 60s. pei ton, bags included. A portion of a cargo of V.D.L. flour, of first quality,, was sold at 2\l. 40s. per ton, bags included Oats fetched fromSs-to 6s- per bushel. We have said that, in Sydney, there may possibly be an advance in the Wheat and Flour markets; and the reason for such a conjecture is in consequence of the very great influx of population which is taking place to some new, rich, and extensive gold diggfrigs that have recently been opened at the Rockv River, about 450 or 200 miles from the head of the navigation of the river Hunter. To those diggings people are flocking in vast numbers from all parts of Australia. The Melbourne steamers are conveying crowds on every trip to Sydney; and we regret to learn that large numbers of the population of New Zealand are to leave this colony for the same destination. The brigantine Eleonora, how on the berth for Sydney, will be full of passengers, and so also, we hear, will be the William Denny, steamer,^ on her return. Is it not a thousand pities that the native proprietors at Coromandel, instead of interposing obstacles to the gold discoveriesin that quarter, should not rather afford every encouragement to diggers? If, as competent pei*sons believe, the search should be successful, they would ire certain to secure large returns, and give an impetus to the prosperity of New Zealand of which it is, at present, so much in need. The proprietors of the land at the Bocky River diggings will acquire immense fortunes; and it is because of such a vast accumulation of people in that quarter that the Sydney Markets may probably experience a sudden, but temporary rise. We regret to hear continued complaints from our merchants and traders of unwillingness on the part of the native farmers to dispose of their produce *t the current market rales. This is a sad mistake on their part and, if long persisted in, cannot fail to be fatal to their own best interests. The native growers, we cannot too frequently repeat, should cause the commercial men of Sydney to look to New Zealand, as the granary from whence all their deficiencies may be readily and cheaply supplied. It is not an occasional abundant harvest iu Australia, that New

Zealand need apprehend ; it is llie desire of the native, New Zealand growers to a price for their produce that neither can nor will be given, and that drives the Australian consumers to Chili and California, that New Zealand has to dread. Let our farmers produce largely and sell cheaply, and New Zealand will speedily cease to be a poor and struggling country. Now is the time for •exertion. With the return of peace, there 'will, in all probability* be a large return of -emigration, and for the food that will be required every prudent farmer ought to make immediate and abundant provision. There has been but one arrival from London since our last, the ship Sandford, 624 tons, Captain Hughes, with a cargo of merchandize and 129 passengers. From Melbourne, we have had the schooner Grafton, 77 tons, Captain Tonner, with sundry goods and 20 passengers, Arid the schooner Zillah, 66 tons, in ballast. The departures have been the barque Prince of Wales, 587 tons, Captain Nolan, for Portsmouth, with a full cargo of kauri spars and gum from Kaipara, and 16 passengers from Auckland. For Sydney, the steamer William Denny, 600 tons, Captain Mailler, with 62 passengers. 826 bushels wheat, 66 bags bran, 5 hags potatoes, and 470 bags kauri gum; and the birig Gertrude, 120 tons, Captain Dunning, with 3 passengers, 2000 bushels wheat, 1500 bushels oats, 15| tons kauri gum, and 7 tuns oil. For Tahiti and the South Sea Islands, the schooner Eliezer, 56 tons, Captain Wallace, with 20,000 feet kauri timber, 25 tons potatoes, 1 ton flour, and 2 tons onions. For Melbourne, the brig Drover, 174 tons, Capt. Gellois, with 9 passengers, 175 bags oats, 16 casks oil, and 140 tons guano. Seventy-two vesssels of 1993 tons, with 100 passengers, have arrived coastwise with 9347 bushels wheat, 795 bushels maize, 30 bushels oats, 72 bushels barley, 30 bushels apples, 21 \ cwt. onions, 71 tons potatoes, 1 ton flour, 5 horses, 20 head cattle, 100 sheep, 62 pigs, 16 tons, 1 cwt. salt pork, 9 casks oil, 30 tons kauri gum, .54 spars, 2850 posts and rails, 98,500 shingles, 38,700 feet sawn timber, 63Q tons firewood, 5181bs. butter, 2 tons flax, 35 tons copper ore, 500 feet house blocks,. 155 fowls, 2 tons, 11 cwt.

bacon, 3001bs. lard, 3 tons pumpkins, 4700 palings, and 7 coils wool lashing. Fiflty-eighr vessels of 2371 tons, have departed coastwise with the usual supplies and 96 passengers. In the Auckland Market Prices Current, which are corrected to the 31st inst., there is little alteration. Butter, eggs, and poultry are lower; tea has,also, receded in price.

The following are the Auckland Market Prices Current, corrected to date: Bread Stuffs. Flour, fine, 181. per ton. Flour, second quality, . . 16*. per ton. Biscuit (prices unsteady) at from . . ■. . . 20s.to25s.per cwt. Bread per loafof2lbs. . . 6d. Bran Is.Od. per bushel. Butchers Meat. Beef and Mutton from . . 7d. to 9d. per lb. Pork (fresh and salt) . . sd. to 6d.ditto Farm Produce. Wheat, (scarce) . . ss. 6d. to 6s. 6d. per bushel Maize, (plentiful). . 4s. to ss. per bushel. Oats, .... ss. per bushel Potatoes, . 21.10s to 31. 10s. per ton Onions .... J|d. to 2d. per lb. Hay (plentiful) . . 51. to 6/. per ton. Dairy Produce, Butter ... Is. 6d.to is. Bd. per lb. Eggs . . , . is.6d. perdoz. Poultry ... 4s. 6d. to ss. per couple Ducks . . . . 6s. to 7s. per couple. Geese . , . . 9s. to 40s. each. Turkies .... 10s. to lis. each. Hams and Bacon . lOd. to lid. per lb. Groceries. Tea ... . 51. to 51, ss. per chest. Sugar .... s|d. to sd. per lb. Coffee . . . . lOd. per lb. Rice .... 2d. to 2J per lb. Soap .... 355. per cwt. Candles . . . . lOd. per lb. Tobacco . . . . lOd. to is. per lb. Live Stock. Horses from . . 15?. to 60?. per head. Working Bullocks 301, to 40J. per pair. Sheep from . . 20s. to 28s. a head. Dairy Cows . . 101. 10s. to 151, each. Calves from . . 255. to 40s. each.