AGRICULTURAL, COMMERCIAL, AND MARITIME REPORT.

Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume V, Issue 4, 27 February 1858, Page 6

AGRICULTURAL, COMMERCIAL, AND MARITIME REPORT.

FROM THE 15TH TO THE 28TH FEBRUARY. Commercially, we cannot call to mind a duller period than that which has occurred since last we wrote. There have been but two arrivals, and both of these from Sydney, but by which we have intelligence from the other quarters or Australia, where, turn as we may, we can discover nothing bat dullness and depression. Failures to a large amount have occurred in Sydney, and business is said to be in a languid condition : ; all sorts of colonial produce are difficult to be moved: flour is a trifle lower in price, the highest quotations being £l7 per ton for fine and £ls per ton for second quality. Wheat 6s. to 6s. 6d. per bushel. Bush fires bad been raging in several parts of Australia, and both grain and pasture are said to have been burnt to a considerable extent. And to this is to be added very unfavourable reports of the wheat harvest of South Australia which has long been looked upon as the main source of supply, both for wheat and flour, in this quarter of the world. In the best lands it is reported that the farmers would not reap more than fifteen bushels an acre, in other places not more than five, whilst in others again the crops were not worth the reaping and the cattle had been turned in to the fields to eat them down. Should this be confirmed upon further intelligence, it cannot fail materially to enhance the value of the New Zealand crops. And should the December mail from England,

which may be shortly expected, bring cheering tidings it is to be hoped the commercial cloud which has for some time hung over ■ us will be speedily dissipated. As we have already intimated, we have had but two arrivals from foreign ports, the schooner Gazelle, 212 tons. Captain Jones, and the brig" Gertrude, 418 tons, Captain Dunning, both from Sydney with general cargoes orniercbandise<uid3s passengers:—• and the schooner Ellen, 40 tons, Captain Ellis, from Napier, with 4095 lbs wool, 233 sheep skins, 461 lbs tallow, & hides, 00 bushels wheat, and 218lbs whalebone. The departures have not bees much more numerous than the arrivals, but.it is worth notice that there.is a good deal of activity in the timber trade of this Province, not only with the Southern ports of New Zealand, but with the neighbouring colonies t>f Australia; and we may add that-the ship Tamar is loadwith the same article for Batavia, whilst the William Watson is rapidly filling with a valuable cargo for London, The Native population are indefatigable collectors of kauri gum for which a .good price Is obtained; but there is an article of commerce which is strewed about the country in various directions which is quite as easily collected, and for which a ready sale could be found,—we mean the bones, hooves, and horns of dead cattle. Captain Brown of the William Watson expresses .great regret that he cannot procure 50 or 60 tons of these; indeed ihey would be gladly bought byanv home-ward-bound ship, and might be well worth collecting. There have sailed, since our last, the schooner Acadian, 42 tons, Captain Robbins, with a full cargo of merchandise for Napier ; the schooner Osprey, 47 tons, Captain Hunt, with goods, and 1 passenger, for New Plymouth; the brig Gertrude (2) 217 tons, Captain Grange, Tor Olago, with 10 tons flour, 120,000 feet kauri Umber, and 3 passengers ; the schooner Spray, 406 tons, Captain Anderson, for Lyttleton, with 60, 432 feet kauri Umber, 5,300 .palings, 62,000 shingles, 15 merino rams, sundry merchanpise, and 3 passengers,; tbeschoonerGazelle 212 tons, Captain Jones, for Sydney, with 160 bushels maize, 25-tons kauri gum, 33 tons potatoes, 2563 bushels bran, 7 casks apples, 10,000 feet sawn Umber, sundry merchandize, and 20 passengers; the brig Gertrude, (1) 1(8 tons, Captain Dunning, for Sydney, with 35 tons potatoes, 600 lbs wool 65 tons kauri gam, sundry merchandise, and £ passengers.