COMMERCIAL.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 14, 29 April 1871, Page 10

COMMERCIAL.

New Zealand Mail Office, Friday evening. Trade has been exceedingly languid during the week, and, although sales are slowly made, very little alteration has resulted in prices. Some few good orders for imported goods have come in from the other provinces, which will tend to reduce stocks, and serve also to show that this important branch is progressing satisfactorily, but our local trade continues depressed.

Flour continues firm at £l4 to £l4 10s for Canterbury, and we hear of sales as high as. £ls for special brands in Bmall parcels. Oats have been in improved demand, and a medium sample realised 3s per bushel at auction ; w.e cannot, however, quote a higher rate than 2s lOd for a shipment, nor, as we have before remarked, do we think any material alteration can take place in value this season. We understand that in Otago the crops have been good, and a market must be found for the surplus, the difference in freight between Dunedin and Lyttelton being very trifling. The stock of maize is light, and this grain meets with much less favor than formerly; prices are nominally 5s 6d to. 6s per bushel. There is no demand for malting barley. Teas of the finer sort are becoming scarce, and meet with ready sale at improved rates. There is a large stock of old teas yet to he got rid of, and the low rate at which they are forced into the market influences prices. Sugars are a trifle lower. Wine 3 and spirits are unaltered, and the demand less than usual. Drapery is depressed,* large stocks, and great difficulty in effecting sales. Groceries—Ho alteration.

NEW ZEALAND FLAX. (From the Home News.) New Zealand Flax continues to occupy a somewhat unsettled position. Our readers are already aware of the attempts being made for the purpose of rendering the fibre available for spinning purposes. Mr C. Thorne, whose process appears to be more perfect than any other, has received accounts from Dundee to the effect that “ all the spinners to whom the flax prepared by Mr Thorne has been shown admire the way in which it has been treated, but say they could not use it for the finer sorts of yarns.” Since this report was received a second spinner has made trial of the fibre, and writes:—“The fibre seems too long for the largest frame we have, and too hard to draw. The frames were altered in every conceivable way, but we could not get it ‘to spin,’ and in order to get it ‘to spin,’ frames very strong and long in the reach must be purposely prepared.” Whilst the problem of turning the Phormium tenax into cloth thus remains unsolved, its rope-making capabilities become more and more developed every day. Rope spun from fibre prepared by Mr Thorne has been used on several ships with the best possible result. The Ramsay, from Canterbury, brought a few bales of the fibre prepared whilst green by Mr Thorne’s process —by Messrs Miles and Co. This has been made into rope, and the spinners, Messrs Frost Brothers, have furnished the following report: —“ The New Zealand flax we spun for you is of about the same character, and in no way inferior to, the parcel we made up for you in December last. We spun both lots by machine, and it ran very freely, was clean and free from dirt and shives. It works much better than the ordinary New Zealaud flax, and appears to be of a different character, the yarn and fibre bearing a much greater strain when knotted than the usual New Zealand flax. The rope made from it is soft, pliable, clean, and looks well in every respect. The difference in loss of weight in manufacturing is at least 31bs per cwt in favor of your flax. We have tested the strength of the two yarns, with the following results: Yam spun from superior New Zealand flax broke at 1391bs ; yarn spun from your New Zealand flax broke at 1641 bs.” Masters of vessels on board of which rope made from the flax has been used, speak in the highest terms of its quality. The fibre spun by the Messrs Frost is estimated to be worth £36 per ton. Messrs Devitt and Hett report of the flax market:—2soo bales, chiefly consisting of the medium qualities, have been offered at auction, about half which sold at rather lower rates. The shipments from Auckland do not by any means maintain the good reputation gained by some of last year’s production. It is much to he regretted that shippers will not learn by experience that it is the best dressed sorts only that will pay to send to this market, which is already overstocked with the medium and lower kinds. The stock of flax on the 14th Feb. was 1165 tons. Imports since Ist January 202 tons. Deliveries, 226 tons. The following list comprises the principal marks sold: —Per Ramsey, at Lyttelton, LSF £25, North Road Mills, £2l, Flaxbourne Mills £2l 15s, No Mark 93 bales £l6 10s to £l7 ss, XXX OK £25, B&W £22 10s, B&W SF £2l to £2l ss, JO £25, IW £2210 ; per Oaduceus, at Lyttelton, MP£l9; per Jessie Readman, IJ £l7; per Mary Shepherd, at Auckland, C&D A £27, CD £23, JSM £22 10s; per City of Auckland, at Auckland, 2nds P £2O; per England, at Canterbury, BNF £2O; per Otago, at Otago, O £ls; per Alexandria, at Wellington, P. W. Nelson, £27; per Electra, at Wellington, HM £l9 ; per Turkish Empire, at Melbourne, TJT in diamond £l6; per Clanranald, at Melbourne, M £23, DL £24; per Asia, at Melbourne, G&TB £l4, WD £l6 10s.; per Mangalore, at Melbourne, H&M. £l7 15s. Elax from South Australia has been sold in small lots at from £47 to £49 per ton.