ENGLISH COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 54, 3 February 1872, Page 10

ENGLISH COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.

The London eorres; ondent of the Melbourne “Argus” supplies the following report :—London, Dee 1. In the money market we are retracing our steps—notso rapidly as some impatient people desire, but prudently and cautiously, making sure of one foothold before another is taken. The advance in the Bank rate a few months ago was sudden and swift, as befitted the occasion, while the corresponding reductions are made with great deliberation and reluctance, as if uncertain of the solidity of the ground beneath our feet. Believing that all immediate danger of a sweeping demand for gold on German account had passed away, the directors on the 16th of December lowered their minimum from 5 to 4, although even then the current terms in the open market ranged from 3£ to 4. They then paused awhile, and watched the effect of the movement, upon the resources of the bank. Finding that the reserve continued to swell from week to week, they yesterday ventured to act again by reducing the discount rate from 4 to 31. The Lombard street houses of course dropped lower still, so that iti the present state of quietude first-class bills may be done at 3 to 3:\. Although at one time some little grumbling impatience was manifested at the apparently over-cautious policy of the Bank, yet on the whole I find the discretion of the directors now generally approved. They knew weeks ago what the public have only recently learnt, that several millions of gold which figured in our bank returns were only lodged here temporarily by France in order to meet German demands maturing at the end of November, amounting to £10,000,000, to say nothing of still heavier liabilities running into January and February. The chief peril has probably passed, and we may now look forward with some confidence to an easier money market. WOOL SALES. The last series of sales for the present year commenced on Thursday afternoon, November 23, and are expected to close next Thursdaay evoeing, December the 7th. Ihe attendance was unusually large. Some time before four o’clock the spacious sale-room was closely packed with as eager and anxious a body of men as I ever beheld, and the moment the hands of the dial above the auctoineer indicated the hour proceedings commenced with an energy and decision electrifying to a stranger. A few gentlemen had wedged their way in partly from curiosity ; others were there to feel the pulse of the auction, and telegraph to the firms they represented the tone of the sales. No one could Tong be in any doubt on that point. The first half-hour fully confirmed the anticipations which had been generally indulged for some weeks previously. Brokers were heard remarking to each other, “Up again—penny to twopence a pound higher and the keenness amounting sometimes almost to momentary fierceness, with which some of the lots were competed for, showed, as the evening wore on, that no cheap bargains were likely to be picked up this side of the new year. Ihe spirit and flush of the evening have been, on the whole, well maintained to the present, and tin average advance

of from Id to 14d per lb on the preceding series may be safely reported. Cape fleece wools have profited most, while Sydney scoured have shown perhaps less advance than any Australian sort. The following are the quantities catalogued up to tho 30th November Sydney, 13.129 bales; Port Phillip, 7.471 bales ; 'New Zealand, 3,917 bales ; Adelaide, 1.150 bales ; Van Diemen’s Land, 588 bales ; Swan River, 36 bales ; sundries, 1,397 bales; Cape, 12,313 bales ; total, 40,001 bales. The interval separating this series from the preceding one has been quiet, the transactions by private contract being on the whole rare and limited in extent. Still, whatever was sold readily commanded full rates, and as the industry was known to continue well employed, a firm tone was confidently expected for this series. Nor has the result been disappointing ; on the contrary, a fresh rise of about one penny per lb has been established, founded as all previous advances, not on some momentary whim of the market, hut upon the solid and satisfactory basis of real requirements. The enhanced rates have therefore all the elements of stability, all the more as the supplies at this season are necessarily small. Of fresh wools there can hardly have been more than 62,000 or 63,000 bales in the market, and if 70,000 bales be catalogued, as is probable, all the second-hand parcels will have been cleared out. The selection of wools, especially of such as are in preference bought for the Continent being so limited, it is a satisfactory feature to see the foreign trade so well represented. The quantity taken for export will, however, be comparatively small, for though numerous the Continental buyers operate cautiously, and on a limited scale. Of the Australian wools offered, scoured form, as usual at this season, the principle feature. They are Id per lb dearer than last sales, especially the superior sorts. Of fleece, the parcels suitable for combing are in particular demand, and crossbreds continue t.o command the exceptionally high rates of the preceding series. The rise on Cape wool is Id per lb all round. The first series of next year has been fixed to commence on Thursday, the Sth of February.