AGRICULTURAL, COMMERCIAL, AND MARITIME REPORT.

Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume V, Issue 18, 30 October 1858, Page 5

AGRICULTURAL, COMMERCIAL, AND MARITIME REPORT.

From the 15th to the 30th October. The latest intelligence from Sydney dates to the 12th of the present month. There is little of importance in the news thus brought. Commercial affairs were in a perplexed condition, neither the English Mail for July or August having then arrived, although both were overdue. In the produce markets, there was no alteration, fine flour being still quoted at £22 and second quality at £2o—wheat Bs, Gd.

to ofe. per bushelbran 25.; potatoes from £ls to £lB per ton. The intelligence from the new gold dig* gings, at the Fitzroy River, were not so lS▼onrable as bad been anticipated.. Tbis is by no means surprising when we come to consider the extraordinary and the enormous rush of peoplfe which took plane, even I before there were any well authenticated ac-j counts of the extent or productiveness of i the new territory. It is now reported* to be' of very limited extent, capable of affording profitable occupation to a.few hundreds only whilst, at the beginning of October, it was calculated that there would have been not less than 10,J00 congregated on the spot. Many had returned to Syduey without ever having gone as far as the digging;; and the Sydney newspapers were full of ihe most doleful letters from diggers to their friends in Sydney, deploring their rash folly In having undertaken such risks without being belter informed of thechararler of the country on which they had so blind!# precipitated themselves. But, although most of the accounts were of a very discouraging kind, there are other accounts of atnore hopeful tendency, and ships were still sail kig with fulf cargoes- of passengers from Sydney, Melbourne, and other Australian, ports. Much misery amT privation Is sure to take place; for numbers who parted with I their all to reach tfte Fitzroy Diggings, are i left without the means to celurik They must, therefore, if they can withstand the elhnate, do something to enable themselves to live on the land on which they have thrown themselves. In our last number,, we dwekoii the great benefit that would result to New. Zealand from the-colonisation of North Eastern Australia. Should the gold fields prove to be a total failure, of which we have yet no postlive evidence, colonisation will proceed much more slowly than it otherwise would do;bburt r failure of the gold field or no failure, 1 we feel convinced that a step towards the colonization of North Eastern Australia has been made, and we again urge our native growers to plant—plant—plant—for they may rest assured of finding a good and ready market for all their surplus produce. The arrivals since our last consist of the schooner Henry, 42 tons, Captain Wallace, from Napier, with 1 Officer and 18 soldiers of the 65ih regt.7 and 5 passengers;—the schooner Emily Allison, 99 tons, Captain Ellis, from Wellington, with 2 officers, 24 soldiers, 5 women and $ children of the'

65th regt.; the fine skip Zealandia, 4032 ions, Capiain Foster, from Lytielton, in ballast;—the schooner Gazelle, 242 tons, Cap- 1 tuin Cunninghame, from Sidney, with a general cargft of merchandise, and 3 pas*! sengers the schooner Salcombe Castle, 124 tons, Capiain McAllister, from Welling-' ton and Napier, with 4 502 bags sugar, and 5 passengers;—and the steam ship While ! Swan, 350 tons, Captain McLean, from the Southern ports, with 200 sheep, 4 cwt bacon! 42 bags seeds, sundries, 2 Officers,. 50 sol- j diers, and 2 women, of the 65Ui regt., and 59 passengers. | The departures were the barque City of Melbourne, 176 tons, Captain McClemens, I for,' Sydney, in ballast, with 16 passengers;! —the schooner Dolphin, 44 ton?, Capiain Doughty, for Napier, with a general cargo of merchandise, and 2 passengersthe schdoner Eiiezer, 56 tons, Captain Kean, for Napier, with 5 tons flour, 2000 bricks, 5000 feet sawn limber, 312 posts, sundries; —the brig Sarah, 421 ions, Capiain Firth, for Lytielton, with 70,000 feet sawn timber; —Che ketch Pegasus, 45 tons. Captain Brier, for Napier, with 28 bags maize, 480 bags' flour, 769 pieces limber, 4500 shingles, and sundry merchandise and the scboouer Gazelle, 212 ions, Capiain Cunninghame, for, Sydney, with 720 bushels bran, 7£ tons potatoes, 48 tuns oil, 4600 lbs. whalebone, 25 tons flour, £ ton flax, and 27 passengers. The following arrivals coastwise, for want of space, were excluded from our last num. ber. The arrivals coastwise were 5 vessels, of 4340 tons, with 56 passengers, 7892 bushels wheat, 4CO bushels maize, 70 bushels bran, 400 bushels oysters, 40 bushels shells, 650 bushels lime, 24 tons potatoes, 44 tons 2 cwt. salt pork, 50 cwt. bacon, 9£ cwt. lard, 3 cwt. tallow, 598 tons firewood, tuns oil, 18 tons flax, 2£ tons kauri gum, 200 feet bouse blocks, 350 posts, 600 rails, 85,400 shingles, 48,000 feet sawn timber, 10 horses, 49 head cattle, 5 pigs, 4 bushels jemons, 4 piles. Since then there have arrived from the Coast 46 vessels, of 1103 tons, with 64 passengers, 2606 bushels wheat, 291 bushels maize, 47 tons potatoes, 47 tons 45 cwt salt pork, 3 tons 43 cwt. bacon and hams, 5 cwt lard, 54 head cattle, 2 pigs, 26J tuns oil, 35 cwt flax, 40| tons kauri gum, 48,216 feet sawn timber, 49,000 shingles, 527 tons firewood, 6000 palings, 300 bushels lime, 300 bushels sand, 200 bundles fish, 1000 lbs, whalebone, 400

bouse blocks, 2 fons bark, 125 tons copper ore. There for the coast, 48 vessels of *220 tons, with 86 passengers, artid the usual trading cargoes. The subjoined are ihe Market Prices Current corrected to date:— Bread Stuffs. Flour, fiufc, . . . . , 181. per ton. Fluor, second quality, -. . 141. per ton. Flour, of native manufacture, from 121 to;(il Biscuit at from . . Sis. lo 28s. per cwl. Bread per loaf of 2lbs. * .... 3d. Bran . • . . . , . Is 3d. perfel. Groceries. Tea . . . . 9J. to 9J. 10s. per chest Sugar . . . . 7d. to Bdi per lb, Coffee . . « • 40d. per lb. Rice . . • . 2d to 2£ per lb. Soap • • . • 355. per cwt. Candles • . • . iOd. per lb. Tobacco .... 2s. 6d. lo 3s. per lb. Farm Produce. Wheat . ... 6s. to 7s. per bushel Maize . • . , 6s. 6d. to 7s. per bushel O 3 * B • • • • • • • per bushel Potatoes .... 5L 10s. to 61. per ton Onions . . , . 6d. per lb. Hay (plentiful) . . 5/. per ton. Kauri Gum ... 9/. to JOf. Lite Stock. Slieep from . . 235. to 345. a bead. Dairy Cows . . B*. to 12f. each. Calves from • • 2os. to 40s. each. leef and Mutton from . 6d. to 7d. per bl. Pork (fresh and salt) . . 3d, to 6d. ditto Dairy Produce, Butter . . . . is. lb.Eggs . . , . is. 3d. perdoz. Poultry . . . . per couple