COMMERCIAL.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVI, Issue 10060, 30 January 1909, Page 1

COMMERCIAL.

HOME MARKETS. [By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright.] (Per Press Association.) Received January 29, at 10.10 p.ni. London, January 29. The Jiank of England returns show the stock of gold coin and bullion to be £52,716,000; reserve, £24,050,000; pro■portion of reserve to liabilities, 48.04. The notes in circulation total £28.655,000 ; deposits, £6,840,000; other deposits. £4s,l66,oooGovernment securities, £14,801,000; other securities, £29,155,000. Three months' bills 2|, short- loans

Government stocks are unchanged. Wheat.—The markets are inactive after the brief spurt. The weakness of the American market is counteracted by the Continental: demaud,-causing about threepence advance. Cargoes are firmly held Six thousand quarters of Australian Janu-ary-February shipment sola at 56s 7£d. Flour is quiet but steady. Butter is quiet, with a good demand. I'nsalt-ed Australian 110s, New Zealand 115s to 114s: salted is dull but tinchanged. Copper—Spot, £SB 2s 6d : three months, £59 15s.

Electrolytic, £62 15s. Tin—Spot. £124 15s: three months £126 12s 6d.

Lead, £l3 2s 6d. Iron, 48s sd. Sugar—German, 10s 2d ; first marks 12s 4d.

At Bradford wool is weaker. Common sixties 2~)£<l, super 24^d. The National Mortgage and Agency Company of New Zealand profit is £45,202. There goes to reserve £15,000, and carried forward £B2OO. WOOL SALES. Received January 50, at 11.5 a.m. London, January 29. Woo! Brick sale and better tone. Best merinos are improving, and other sorts are firm. DL'XKDIN I'RODUCK HKI'ORT. Messrs T. E. Hln'ei and Co. report for week ending 28th January:— Glorious summer weather is causing a spirited demand for fruit and so far as dessert sorts are concerned our market can handle 200 cases more every day. The jam season is barely into full swing yet. The demand for these must also improve. Peaches. —Large dessert fruit in good demand. Extra choice fruit packed in special crates, 6d per lb: choice in cases, 4d : jam fruit, (Growers will do well, when packing large dessert fruit, to put paper between the rows to prevent the fruit from getting bruised in transit. Apricots:—ln large supply. Extra choice dessert fruit, 3d to 4d p-er lb ; jam, 2Jd to 5d per lb. Plums.—Lighter consignments are responsible for better prices. Dessert. 2d to o£d per lb : cooking fruits,.lid to 2d. Nectarins, to 3d per lb. Pears.—Choice dessert. to od per lb - Apples.—Large grec-n cookers, 5.-: io 7s. Black and Red Currants. to oil per lb. Gooseberries.—Supplies practically exhausted. Green, 2d per 111: large ripe fruit, 2d to 3d per lb. Onions.—Shipments are now arriving regularly from Auckland. The quality is verv superior to that of Victoria. Auckland. 8s 6d to 9s: \ ictoria. £8; Canterbury, 7s 6d per cwi.

DUNEDTN MARKETS. The absolute absence of old wheat is seen in the fact that despite the new regulations regarding the weight of cornsacks. which comes into force next week, and which renders wheat bagged in old style liable to greatly increased freight, not a single sack of old wheat has been offering locally during the week. This would seem to point to the fact that every sai k oi old wheat in (ltago and Canterbury id in millers' hands. Local millers aiy idniost out of stocks of velvet, and it is becoming a problem with many of them how to keep their mills running until the marketing of the new grain. Probably thev will lie driven to experiment with listing tlie Australian wheat without the usual intermixing .•of New Zealand grain: regular shipments continue to arrive from Melbourne.

There is no business yet reported in new wheat beyond the contracts for forward delivery chronicled some weeks back. Ciiristchurch merchants are offering mixed milling lines, equal quantities ol pearl and red wheat, at 5s lOd (1.0.b.. Lyttelton) for March delivery, but so fur no transactions are reported. A keen lookout is being kept for any early lines of pearl, from stations north 'of Christchurch, and as soon as these come upon the market they are likely to be taken at lull rates. Owing to the depleted stocks of millers all over the Dominion it may be anticipated that all early lines of new wheat will be taken at prices closely approximating to file rates now ruling for old wheat. After the first urgent demand has been supplied it is anticipated that prices will settle ■down somewhere in the neighborhood ol 3s 8d on trucks. Of course these calculations are based upon the assumption of present good harvest prospects being realised.

There is no change in Hour, although it is expected that shortly after the new j wheat comes upon the market there xvill be a downward trend in values. The association's tariff is as follows: —Sacks, £lO 15s ; 100's, £11; 50's, £ll 10s; 25's, £ll 15s. The shipping price is £lO ,10s. and the Invercargill price £ll. ■ The chick market is unchanged at 4s 6d (f.0.b., sacks in, Timaru) for good whole fowl wheat. For local orders 4s 6d to 4s 7d (ex store) is the nominal quotation, but little is available. There is no change in offal, and the association's tariff stands -Bran, £4 15s for local orders, and £4 10s (f.0.b.) for shipment: pollard, £6, both for local orders and for shipment. One or two samples of new oats from Canterbury have been shown locally, and the quality is very good, but no business is reported. For a line of Danish Is 4d on truck. Bakaia, is asked, while Is 6J,d. f.0.b., Lyttelton, has been mentioned' i,s the probable price at which good feed oats could be secured for early shipment. For old oats Is Bid, f.0.b., s.i., is the nominal quotation, and there is a small demand at that- price. For local orders Is 65cl to Is 7d, ex store, is the current quotation for <?ood feed lines. The price of oatmeal has been reduced by 10s per ton. and tie quotation now stands at £lO. Pearl barley is unchanged at £l7. PROPERTY SALES. Guinness and LeOren, Ltd., report the following additional property sales count Mr Robert Ken-: Lease m perpetuity 102 acres at Lower Waihao. Account Mrs Fox: Business premises in Queen street. Waimate. Account Mr A. F. Kennedy: Two sections and residences in Herbert street, Waimate. All the above properties realised satisfactory prices. The firm reports'that in spite of the continued tightness in the money market, land and property values are in no way affected, and recent sales are well up to the highest, realised! during last year.