COMMERCIAL,

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume IX, Issue 932, 6 April 1881, Page 2

COMMERCIAL,

Messrs Pitt and Bennett report that at their weekly horse sale that hacks fetched from £3 to £B. Fair prices being obtained for moderate hacks. The mare “Jessica” with yearling foal by Brigham Young, and foal at foot by Songster, and in foal to Maroro, realized £25. LONDON SEED MARKET. Messrs. John Shaw and Sons, of 37, Mark Laue, London, E.C., report through their agent, Mr. Leonard W. Blake, of Christchurch, that the seed trade, for the fortnight ending February 11th, showed an improved demand for farm seeds, considerable quantities having changed hands at full rates. Choice samples of Red Clover continued in short supply. There was more enquiry for White Clover and Alsyke. Trefoil kept quiet. Canary in fair request at previous rates. From the Board of Trade returns, just published, it appeared that the imports of clover and gruss seeds into the United Kingdom, in January, were 29,893 cwt., against 41,727 cwts., for the same month in 1880. NEW ZEALAND LOAN AND MERCANTILE AGENCY COMPANY. AVe have already published the report of this Company read at the meeting held in London on February 4. Papers received yesterday inform us that Mr. Thomas Russell, C.M.G., the Chairman, in moving the adoption of the report, congratulated the shareholders that th ■ Directors were not only able to give them their usual dividend, but that they had resums I their contributions to the reserve

fund, which had been annually made from the commencement without any break until . lust year, when, the Colony being in a state of depression, it was deemed prudent to withhold it. In the minds of some persons, not of those who knew the country, there were doubts as to the future of New Zealand, and unfavorable inferences were drawn from the amount of the public debt, compared with the number of the population. But he maintained that such comparisons were most unfair unless they took into account the resources and capabilities of the country. In New Zealand, with an area equal to that of the United Kingdom, they bad a soil which was naturally rich, and • > a climate so genial that they never experienced J either the severity of an English winter or 1 the scorching heat of an Australian summer. : In 1869 there were only 800,000 acres of land I under cultivation, 1n'1879 it had increased j to 4,000,000 acres, the increase being all at- ■ tributablc to the making of roads and railI roads, or rather bits of roads and railroads, ' for they were yet mostly unfinished. When ; they were finished the population would no I doubt increase, and the quantity of laud 1 brought under cultivation increase also ; and j as the soil was richer than that of California, > and the distance shorter, the cultivation of grain in New Zealand could nd doubt com- ‘ pete successfully with those of California, and grain as well as wool would form a staple article of . export. The European Mail, referring to the meeting, says That corporation is now in a better position than it has ever been, aud its prospects were never brighter than at present. , Last year they not only suffered from a severe drought, but also from the effects of a panic, sharp and incisive, which commenced in this country and spread over every country in the known world. All this has now passed away, ! and the shareholders not only receive a divi- . dend at the rate 6f 10 per cent, per annum and a bonus of 5 per cent., but £lO,OOO is I carried to the reserve fluid.”

An old friend, a well-known Poverty Bayite, George Williamson, has left us for good—so he says, but as we have invariably accepted his statements cum grand satis, it would “not surprise us to see his burly form once more in our midst. As he was one of the first settlers in the Bay, and when necessity required one of the most reliable, feel sure that many of his old friends will miss him, should', what he says be true. An example for the dwellers in Gisborne. Says the Hawke's \Bay Herald-.— A number of gentlemen interested in the health and beauty of the town met in Messrs. Blythe and Co.’s offices on Wednesday, and agreed to offer to the Corporation, trees of various kinds for planting along the streets on the reclaimed land. The question of planting a portion of the Ware-o-maranui reserve was also mooted, but was deferred for the present. We were shown yesterday a model of a barque executed by Mr. Auguste Miller of Gisborne, which is really a marvel of ingenuity and patience. It represents a vessel being attended into port, by a steam-tug, and a pilot cutter working up to her, and every rope is faithfully placed, whilst the sails, which, by the way, are cut out of kauri, are in themselves real works of skill, being of wafer thickness only. Nothing in the way of detail has been emitted, and the skipper, with spyglass to his eye, and the men at their respective stations, are most natural. The sea is capitally carved, and more natural in appearance than most models of a similar nature present. In fact, it may fairly be termed a genuine work of art, and we congratulate Mr. Miller on the success he has achieved in the arduous task he had undertaken. We understand the model will shortly be exhibited.