AGRICULTURAL, COMMERCIAL, AND MARITIME REPORT.

Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume VII, Issue 5, 15 March 1860, Page 12

AGRICULTURAL, COMMERCIAL, AND MARITIME REPORT.

From the 15th February to 15th March. In consequence of the important intelligence conveyed in the last number of the Messenger, there was no room for the usual Shipping and Commercial information. Such being the case, we give the whole of the arrivals and departures together wilh the maritime news of the last four weeks. The Australiau Markets continue in a very uncertain slate, with much dullness, and an inclination to decline, and yet with no very remarkable diminution of price; the latest Sydney qotaiions, which are to the 25th ultimo, are as follows Flour 20L for fine, 48J. seeonds; wheat Bs. to Bs. 6d.; bran, 4s. 5d.; potatoes, 91, to 10/.; onions, S!. to iOl. per ton. Another extensive and valuable gold-field has been discovered at a spot called the Snowy River. Large quantities of the precious metal had been obtained, and gold diggers were flocking thither from all parts of the country. The weather had been unusually tempestuous; violent storms of thunder and lightning had occurred; hnd in various directions rain had fallen so heavily and continuously that the country had been swept by the most disastrous floods that had been known during the last sixty years—lands, houses, sheep, cattle, stacks of corn and hay, and crops had been washed away, and many lives have been lost. The accounts of these calamities are truly distressing; many farmers have been entirely ruined, and the damage done to the enclose! and cultivated land has been of very serious charac* ter. How far these floods and the excitement produced by the new gold-fields may affect the-Australian harvests next season it would be difficult to surmise; at all events our New Zealand growers will exercise a wise discretion by pushing their cultivations to utmost possible limits so as to be abie to profit by the improved market which it is more Uian likelv awaits them.

The following are ihe arrivals during ihe ! last Tour weeks: —Marion, barque, 347 ions, I Captain Blacker, from Wellington, with 200 ions coals;— Zephyr, schooner, 56 tons, Captain Clarke, from Napier, wilh 8 packages sundries, 2 passengers White Swan, steam-ship, 198 tons, Captain Cellem, from Napier, with 1 case, 23 kegs butler, 9 passengers;— Lord Ashley, steam-ship, 296 tons, Captain Kennedy, from Sydney, wilh merchandise, passengers;—Tyne, schooner, 91 tons, Captain Riddle, from Hobarl Tcwn, with limber, 4 passengeis;— Eliezer, schooner, 56 ions. Captain Kcan, from Napier, wiih 1 wool press, 100 sheepskins, 50 hides, 5 wheels, 5 axes, 6 passengers;— Emu, steam vessel, 17 tons, Captain Irvine, from Nelson, with 6 boxes apples;— White Swan, steam-ship, 198 tons, Captain Cellem, from Wellington and Napier, with 100 sheep, 5 bullocks, 18 packages goods, 10 passengers;— William Pope, schooner, 40 tons, Captain Carmichael, from Otago, wilh 91 bags grass seeds, 89 casks butter, 200 sacks, 42 packages goods;—Aquila, cutler, 27 tons, Captain Austen, from Napier, in ballast;— Kate, barque, 342 tons. Captain Grange, from Sydney, wilh merchandise, 4 passengers;— Her Majesty's war steamer Niger, 13 gnns, 1072 tons, Captain Craeroft, in the Manakau, from Taranaki;—Thomas and Henry, brig, 340 tons, Captain Paton, from Otago, in ballast, 4 passengers;— Breadalbane, barque, 215 tons, Captain Philip Jones, from Sydney, with merchandise, 12 passengers;— Her Majesty's sloop of wor, Elk, 12 guns, 484 tons, Captain Campion, from Sydney. The departures during ihe same period were:—Nimrod, ship, 1022 tons, Captain Harrison, for Ceylon, in ballast ;—Harwood, ship, 462 tons. Captain Forsayth, for JLpndon, with 81,798 lbs. wool, 228| tons kauri gum, 4 tons flax, 3J tuns oil, 3 tuns sperm oil, 13barrels fat, 31 passengers;— Dolphin, schooner, 41 tons, Captain Doughty, for Napier, wilh 5100 bricks, 204 parcels merchandise ;—While Swan, steam-ship, 198 ions, Captain Cellem, for Napier and Wellington, with 420 bags flour, 88 packages

merchandise, 6 passengers;— Phoenix, ship, 906 tons* Captain Brown, for Wellington with goods,9 passengers;— Dart, cutter, 24 tons; Webster, for Napier, with 7000 feet sawn timber, 575 parcels;— Her Majesty's war steamer, Niger, 45 guns, 1072 . tons, Captain Cracroft, for Taranaki, with troops, and; warlike stores; —Shamrock, cutter, 25 tons, Mclnman, for Canterbury, with 18,200 feet sawn timber, 57 packages goods Zephyr, schooner, 56 tons, Captain Clarke, for Napier, with 8000 bricks, 5000 feet and 550 pieces timber, 258 packages sundries;— Lord Ashley, steam-ship, .296 tons, Captain Kennedy, for Sydney, with 155 tons potatoes, 574 lbs, wool, 9 packages ship,2B6 tons, Captain Johns, from Manakau, for Taranaki, with troops and military stores;— African, ship, 779 ions, Captain Gibson, for Guam, in ballast;— Catherine Pemberton, barque, 319 tons, Captain Harris, for London, with dBG tons kauri gum, 75,282 lbs. wool, 20 tons copper ore, 12 tuns sperm, 7 tuns whale oil, 4158 lbs. whalebone, 5f tons flax, 2£ tons towai bark, s=| tons bones, 1250 horns, 14|cwt. hooves, 50 cwt. rags, 50 gallons head maiter, 9 passengers;—Sallelite, cutter, 29 tons, Captain Short, for Napier, with 15,000 feet sawn timber, 20,000 shingles, 200 1 flour, 20 bags bran, 10 casks bread, *6 packages, 2 passengers ;—Tyne, schooner, 91 ions, Captain Riddle, for Hobart Town, with 14,000 feet sawn limber, 496 lbs! cheese, 4858 lbs. salt pork, sundries, 4 pas- j sengers;—White Swan, steam-ship, 198 tonsj Captain Cellem, for Napier and Wellington, with 580 bags flour, 00 barrels pork; 4000 feet sawn timber, 1 horse, 202 packages goods, 22 passengers;— Jura/ shipj 701 tons, Captain Chambers, for Guam, in ballast ;—Eliezer, schooner, 56 tons, Captain Kean, for Napier, with 52,000 feet sawn timber, 20,000 shingles, 7-ion's flour, 49 packages goods. There arrived from the coast, 145 vessels, of 5016 tons, with 452 passengers, 4485 bushels wheat, 1005 bushels maize, 202 bushels oats, 875 bushels apples and pears liL b 1 U l she,s P eaches '.6o bushels grass seeds', I aio.6 lbs. grapes, quinces, 60 tons potatoes, tons 2 onions, 89 cwt. salt pork, 15

cwt. bacon, 11 cwt. salt fish, 1 cwt. lard, 1 cask oil, 510 lbs. butler, 44S lbs. cheese, 350 lbs. honey, 2 boxes eggs, 12 luns sperm oil, 8 casks slush, 10 cases jam, 10 cwt. pumpkins, 58 head caule, 14 horses, 500 sheep, 8 pigs, 5 fowls, 8 ton-i 10 cwl. flax, 8 ions 10 cwt. lowai bark, 60 tons 10 cwt. kauri gum, 750 lbs. wool, 17 hides, 500 bushels lime, 150 boat limbers. 2240 feet ships Umbers, 150 feet nionueo limber, 160 feet house blocks, 800 slabs, 5000 laths, 2506 posts and rails, 12,900 palings, 159,500 shingles, 150,800 feet sawn limber, 1346 tons firewood. The departures, coastwise, consisted of 151 vessels of 5194 tons, with 440 passengers and the usual trading cargoes and supplies. The following are the Market Prices current corrected to date:— Bread Stuffs. Flour, fine, Ml. per ton. Flour, second quality, . * 20*. per ton. Flour, of native manufacture, from!4J to 16*. Biscuit at from . . 225. to 265. per cwt. Bread per loaf of 2lbs 6d. ® ran • • • • » . Is 3d. per bl. Groceries. 2 ea .... 9J. 10s. to 10/, pr chest Sugar .... 4d. to 6d. per lb. Coffee . . . . 1 Od. per lb. K> ce .... 2d. to per lb. Soap .... 555. per cwt. Candles. . . . lOd. perlb. Live Stock. Dairy Cows . . 8/. to 12/. each. Calves from . . 255. to 40s. each. Beef and Mutton from . 6d. to 7d. per lb. Pork (fresh and salt) . . sd, to 6d. ditto