COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.

Mt Benger Mail, Volume I, Issue 51, 20 April 1881, Page 7

COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.

DUNEDIN STOCK REPORT. Messrs Wright, Stephenson, & Co. report for the weekending 13th April as follows : Fat Cattle.-—A fair supply was yarded, viz, 175 head, chieily of medium quality. For prime beef, an advance on recent rates was obtained, but prices for inferior quality showed no improvement. We sold 73 head. We quote prime beef at 23s per 1001b ; inferior and medium, 20s. Privately at quotations we have placed 112 head, and by auction at Windsor Park on Friday last we sold 84 prime bullocks at from £6 to £lO per head.

Fat Sheep.—A very short supply came to hand to-day, only 1272, all of them crossbreds, being penned. Prices consequently improved to the extent of say one shilling per head over last week's quotations. We sold 617. We quote prime mutton at fully 2sd per lb.

Fat Lambs.—Forty-eight penned, and sold at up to 8s 9d. Fat Pigs.—Ninety-eight forward. We sold 49 at from 21s to 46s each, and quote prime pork at 4d per lb. Store Sheep.—The demand for both merinos and crossbreds continues unabated.

At auction and privately during the week we have sold 2145 cro sbred ewes and 400 crossbred lambs ; a o 814 fall-mouthed merino ewes. On Tuesday, 26th inst., at Outram, we shall offer for sale 4000 fullmouthed merino ewes in good condition. Country Sales.—On Thursday last we held onr monthly sale at Palmerston. There was a good demand for fat and store sheep; every lot offered found purchasers at full rates. We sold 496 fat crossbred ewes and wethers (prime), at lis 9d; 121 store fullmouthed merino ewes, at 4s 9d; 140 do, at 4s ; 343 do, at 3s; 210 do, at 2s 9d; and 122 store crossbred ewes, at 8s 6d. We also sold 30 head mixed cattle at from 33s 6d to £5 ss, and several horses at from £5 to £3O, the latter price for a three-year-old draught filly. On Friday, Bth instant, at Windsor Park Estate, near Oamaru, we held an important clearing sale of horses, cattle, and sheep, on account of Edward Menlove, Esq. There wai a large attendance of buyers from all parts of the district, as well as a number from the Taieri, Southland, Canterbury and Hawke's Bay. For the fat cattle, store sheep, and the draught geldings aud a few of the best mares, there was a good competition; but for the pure cattle, and stud Lincoln rams and ewes, buyers were at a discount. The stock were all in splendid condition, and the young draught "colts and fillies of the vendor's own breeding were much admired. The following is a list of the stock sold : 84 prime shorthorn bullocks, at from £9 to £10; 790 full-mouthed f bred Lincoln ewes, at 9s 9d ; 370 full-mouthed Lincoln ewes at lis ; 240 four and six-tooth crossbred ewes at 8s 9J; and 417 lambs at 6s 9d ; 32 pigs at from 34s to 60s, and three young boars at from 4£ guineas to 7 guineas each; 19 Clydesdale brood mares at from 27 guineas to 41 guineas, and one (the mare PriDcess Mary), Prince Charlie, at 145 guineas; seven Clydesdale geldings (four aud five years old) at from 29£ guineas to 41 guineas, and three three-year-old colts at from 21 guineas to 30 guineas. The principal purchasers of the Clydesdale stock were Messrs A M'Lean, Hawke's Bay ; James Shand, Taieri; M Studholme, Waimate ; and G Hutchison, Nagapara. Horses. —There is no great demand for heavy draughts; a fair inquiry, however, exists for good upstaudiDg saddle and lightharness horses. The sale of Mr John Qrigg's Longbeach horses, advertised for Saturday first, has been withdrawn. We quote firstclass draughts at from £3O to £4O; medium, £lB to £25; good hacks and light-harness horses, £l6 to £25; light and inferior, £3 to £B.

Sheepskins.—We held our weekly sale on Monday last. There was a good attendance of the trade, and brisk competition for every lot offered. Butchers' crossbreds fetched from 2s 4i to Zi lOd; merino, Is 8d to 2s 7d ; station skius (full-woolled), from 4s Id to 5a 8d ; lambskins, np to 3s. Hides continue scarce, and are readily saleable at quotations. Since our last report we have sold 191 at prices equal to 4H per lb for medium weights, and 4£ 1 for heavy weights. Tallow.—We did not sell any this week, THE GRAIN MARKET. Mr Donald Sfcronach reports :—Wheat: Holders appear less willing to meet consumers' ideas than they were a week or two since ; and as the latter are indisposed to advance, business has been somewhat restricted. We cannot in the meantime advance on our quotations in the last report—namely, prime milling, 3s 9d to 3s lOd ; fair to good, 3s 6d to 3s 8d ; fowl feed 2i 3d to 3s per bushel. Oats are in considerable demand, and all coming forward are readily placed at late rates, say Is 6d to Is 7d for good feed oats. Milling would command Is 8d to Is Bk, but there is none offering.

Barley : No change to report. Messrs Wright Stephenson and Co. report: Wheat: There is not much offering, although prices continue firm at late quotations. We quote prime milling at 3s lOd per bushel; ordinary to good, 33 6d to 3s 9d ; fowl's wheat, 2s 3d to 2s 10d. Oats continue to be inquired for, for shipment. Prices are much the same as last week —say for prime milling, Is 9d ; good feed Is 6d to Is 7d. Barley : Quotations nominal. Messrs Maclean & Co. report .-—Wheat: Prime samples of milling are readily saleable at from 3s 7d to 3j lOd per bushel, but sellers are inclined to hold in expectation of prices improving, while buyers seem indisposed to advance over these quotations ; secondary descriptions 3s 5d to 3s 6d; fowl's feed 2s 3d to 2s 6d. Oats are readily disposed of at la Gd to Is 7d for feed, and

Is 8d tor milling. Barley : Prime sample* may command 3s to 3s 3d, bat few lots hare changed hands this season. Messrs Donald Reid & Co, report: Wheat: There is no noticeable change in the local market, last week's quotations remaining firm. Oats, which are in request by shippers and others, show signs of improvement. Supplies to hand have all been cleared. Barley: Prime samples fit for brewers are saleable at quotations. We quote prime milling wheat, 3s 8d to 3s 9d; extra do, 3s lOd; medium 3s 4d to 3s 7d; inferior and fowl's feed 23 3d to 3s Id. Oats: Milling, Is 8d; long Tartarians, Is 61. Barley : Malting, 2s 9d to 3s 3d; milling 2s to 2s 6d. Potatoes, £Z per ton. LONDON SEED MARKET. Messrs John Shaw and sons, of 37 Mark lane, London, E.C., report' through their agent, Mr Leonard W. Blake, of Christchurch, that the seed trade for the fortnight ending February 24th was quiet, a return of unfavourable weather naturally keeping back the consumptive demand. The stocks of red clover continued moderate, the arrivals from America being meagre. More business was passing in white clover, a decline in value having brought forward buyers. Fine alsyke was meeting with more inquiry. The supply of Timothy was limited. As regards canary, holders, despairing of any improvement in the demand, were clearing out at a sacrifice. SYDNEY GRAIN MARKET. Messrs Harrison Jones and Delvin report, under date Sydney, Ist April : Wheat has risen since our last report fully id per bushel, and is Belling freely both for colonial consumption and shipping purposes Best New South Wales samples may be quotei at 4s 21 per bushel. There is more inquiry for oats, especially good feed, which are very saleable at good figures. Our sale to day comprised about 250 bags.

The ' Elberfeld Zeitung' says tbat a railway official at BohuintreJ, whilst dressing a Christinas tree on Christmas Eve for his children, ran one of the little spikes of the fir into his finger. The next day, the finger festered, and, in spite of the skill and attention of his medical attendants, mortification set in, and the unfortunate man died a few days ago. A gentleman, writing from Milwaukee after a trip through Minnesota, lowa, and Dakota, says that there is the largest stock of wheat in storehouses there ever before known. The number of bushels is placed at 8,780,000. A recent number of the ' Toronto Globe' states it is estimated that there is now afloat on steamers and on board sailing vessels, from the United States to Europe, 6,920,000 bushels of wheat, against 7,480,000 bushels a year ago, and 8,058,000 bushels for a corresponding period in 1878.

The heaviest soldier in the British army, Roberts, is an Irishman. The champion pedestrian of the world, O'Leary, is an Irishman. The champion oarsman of the world, is an Irishman. The champion swimmer of the world, Boyton, is an Irishman. Farther comment is unnecessary. The originator of the Ashburton Industrial Exhibition was an Irishman also, Some people think that Adam was an Irishman, because he was an evicted tenant, but this assumption is not founded on fact.

As five Irish acres are equal in extent to eight English acres, it follows that when an Irish farmer says he pays £1 per acre, he means that he really pays 123 6d per English acre. In the midland counties of Ireland a very common rent for fair average arable land is 32s 6d per Irish acre—equal to 20s per English acre. This will explain somewhat the nominally high rents we hear of in Ireland. When we hear of prime feeding grass land being let at £4 per acre, it only means to an Englishman 50a per acre.

Those who complain that 31s 6d is too much for " Endymion " in London can have Lord Beacon,siield's last novel for nothing in Paris. Hachette has brought out some thousand volumes of the French translation, and the ' Gaulois' has bought up the right of sale of all the copies that issue for the next three months. That paper sells to all comers the two volumes of 650 pages for the price of 3s 4d (four francs), but gives the book for nothing to all its general subscribers as a premium ! This will circulate both the novel and the newspaper.