COMMERCIAL.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 108, 21 March 1862, Page 4

COMMERCIAL.

Thursday, March 20th, 1862. The quantity of gold entered to-day, was 208 ozs., upon which the duty paid amounted to £'2G. The import duties for ' the day amounted to £436 15s. sd.

The Rosslyn Estate of James Kilprour, Esq\, was sold yesterday by Messrs. R. Campbell & Co., and realised the following prices : —Seven half-acre allotments ranged from £50 to £140 each. The same number of acre allotments, from £10j5 to £135. Sixteen . quarter-acre allotments, from £26 to £54. Another similar lot fetched from £23 to £57. Thirteen quarter-acre allotments in another block, from £37 to £50. Three quarter-acres and house,- £340 ; and eight lots of quarter-acre each, £35 to £65. The total amount realised by this sale was £3817 10s.

By the last dates from Auckland, timber is quoted —boards and scantling, 14s to los per 100 ft.; boards^ tongued and grooved, 22-s ditto; shingles, 12s; palings, 12s per 3000. The Hobart Town " Mercury" of March 6th, quotes new -wheat, 4s 9d to 5s 3d; prime samples of old wheat, very scarce, and worth from 5s Gd to 5s 9d ; flour, £14 to £15 per ton ; hay, steady at £4 to £5 for loose, and £5 to £5 10s for pressed; potatoes, £C to £7 per ton. At Launceston, flour is quoted at £11; wheat, 4s 3d to 4a 6d ; oats, firm at 3s 8d to 3s lOcl.

The Difference Between a Horse and a Hobby.—There is a difference between a horse and a hobby, although the same terms are frequently applied to the exercise furnished by each. This was pleasantly illustrated during the sitting of the council in the Cheever Church troubles in this city the last week. A good brother from New Jersey alluded to Mr. Cheever's misdirected zeal as a case in point. He had recently visited an insane retreat, and found there a man rocking violently to and fro, on a hard bench,, with a vigor and earnestness painful to himself, and distressing to the beholder. He accosted the patient, when the following cpnversation ensued :-—Visitor: You are riding, I perceive 1 Patient (with a mournful emphasis): Yes, I am. Visitor : A hard horse, I suppose1! Patient: No sir, it is not a horse at all. Visitor : What then, my good friend 1 Patient: A hobby. Visitor : Well, what is the difference 1 Patient : A vast deal of difference. You ride a horse, and you can stop him when you choose, and get off when you're tired; but you ride a hobby, and you cant stop him, and you can't get off. Alcohol. —The of the Herault has decided that a premium of 10,00.0 francs shall be given to the inventor of a simple and practical process, by aid of which it will be easy to distinguish the alcohol of wines, and to ascertain the existence of alcohols offoreign origin when mixed with them.