AGRICULTURAL, COMMERCIAL, AND MARITIME REPORT.

Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume VI, Issue 4, 28 February 1859, Page 6

AGRICULTURAL, COMMERCIAL, AND MARITIME REPORT.

From the lsth to the 28th February. Our intelligence from Sydney dates to the 12th instant. The Markets of Australia were then well supplied. The new crops were coming in ; and ihe harvests, in almost every quarter, had been much better than had been anticipated. Wh-ai, Flour, and other produce was pouring in from Europe and America, in consequence of the high prices whic'i were obtained last year; and, instead of underselling the foreign and distant grower, there appears to be every prospect of our own and Hie Australian farmers .being undersold in their own Markets, unless they put forth their energies and shall be content with a fair and reasonable profit upon the corn they grow. We have drawn attention to previous importations of Wheat and Flour from Australia, as well as of a greatly diminished export of those articles in that direction. We regret to call the attention of our Native producers to yet larger importations,— namely to upwardsof 6000 bushels of wheat, and 800 bushels of maize* per Moa, Nor is

this all; —the European growers of the Southern Districts are beginning to find that Auckland, (which the Native Farmersappear disposed to riegJect, or to vainly endeavour to control) is a very desirable mart for their industry—a fact which the Natives may readily discover by reference to the Shipping Returns subjoined,, where they will see that from Lvtlelton, Oiago, antJ Napier, during'' the last fortnight, no less than 2357 bushels of wheat, and 305 bushels of barley have been received, being 266 bushels of the first, and 501 of the last in excess of the quantity received from our own shore.*. This is a striking fact—one which it behoves the Native, as well as the European farmers, of the North of New Zealand, seriously lo consider, unless they be content to make sacrifice of their bast interests, and to take a secondary and very inferior rank in the scale of New Zealand Agriculturists. In the midst of these discouraging tendencies, there are these cheering facts, that Sheep Farming and Wool growing, are progressing in the most rapid and satisfactory manner. At a second Wool sale, held bv Mr. Buckland on the iOlhofthe present month, a considerable quantity was brought forward and sold at very satisfactory prices; whilst a sale of 2700 sheep was effected by the same gentleman on the 24ih, at large and liberal rales—in every w T ay encouraging to the shippers of the cargo of sheep which may be soon expected to arrivefrom Moreton Bay by the shi|> Evening Star. The arrivals have been ihe brig Mod, 237 ions, Captain Bowden, from Sydney, with \ 340 bags wheat, 200 bags maize, a general cargo ol merchandise, and 8 passengers; the brig Gil Bias, 173 tons, Captain Wedgwood, from Lytlleton, with 1507 bushels wheat, 503 bushels barley, sundries, and 2 passengers; the cutter Surprise, 30 tons, Captain Braund, from Oiago, with 530 bushels wheat ; -jhe sdiooner, Eliezer, 56 tons, f'apiain Kean, from Napier, with 749bnshels wheal, sundry merchandise, and 5 passengers; —the ketch Pegasus, 45 tons, Captain Brier, from Napier, with 91 bushels wheat; —the Prince Alfred, steqm ship, 705 tons, Captain Jarvis, from Sydney, by way of Nelson and New Plymouth, with 470 bags grass seed, 564 sheep, sundry packages, and 20 passengers. The departures were,—the barque Bread- ! albane, 224 tons, Captain P. Jones, for Sydney, with 50 ions kauri gum, 55,578 lbs. buUer, 2850 lbs. cheese, 730 lbs. apples, 1

800 lbs. grass seeds, sundry merchandise! and 23 passengersthe schooner Ilawkliead, 22 tons, Captain Webster, for Napier, with SOO posts and rails; —the schooner Zillah, 68 tons, Captain Fernandez, for Napier, with 50,000 feet sawn timber, JO,OOO shingles, 5 tons flour, sundries, and 8 passengersthe cutter Aquila, 27 tons, Captain Austin, for Napier, with 600 posts and rails, sundries, and 7passengers;—the brig Moa, 237 tons, Captain Bowden, for Sydney, with 17,000 lbs- wool,. 15 tons kauri gurn, 980 bushels bran, 100 hides, H cwt. bones, 5 cwt. hoofs, 15,000 horn?,' 896 lbs. cheese, 40 bushels apples, sundry j merchandise, and 20 passengers,—the steam-ship, Prince Alfred, 703 tons, Captain Jarvis, for New Plymouth, Nelson, and Sydney, with a few sundries, and 9 passengers; —the Iris, frigate, 26 guns, Captain Loring, C.8., on a cruise to the Southern ports, with his iixcelloncy the Governor, and suite ; —the barque Mousaro, 198 tons, Captain Macdoiv.ld, for Melbourne, with 130 tons potatoes, 100 lbs. butter, 50 lbs. cheese, sundry merchandise, and 17 passengers; the barque William Watson, 480 tons', Captain Macfarlane, for Sydney and Cevlon, in ballast. The arrivals coastwise were 54 vessels of 839 tons, with 104 passengers, 2351 bushels wheal, 50 bushels maize, 262 bushels apples, 40 bushels peaches, 2 bushels barley, 2A tons polaloes, 18 cwt. onions, 56 bushels grass seeds, 1400bushelsshelis, 50 cwt. flax, | 400 lbs. wool, 40 lbs. boney, 5 cwt. bacon, 34 coils wool lashing, 150 sheep, 600 posts and rails, 15,000 shingles, 80,800 feel sawn limber, 407 tons firewood, 5 head calile, 5 horses. 4 cwt. beef. The departures coastwise were 35 vessels, of 918 tons, w r ith 117 passengers, and* the usual amount of framing cargoes. The subjoined are the Market Prices Current corrected to date:— Bread Stuffs. Flour, fine, 20*. per ton. Flour, second quality, . . 16?. per ton. Flour, of native manufacture, from 12* to 16 ! j Biscuit at from . . 225. to 265. per cwt. !