COMMERCIAL.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2448, 22 January 1881, Page 2

COMMERCIAL.

S. C. Times Office. ’ Saturday Evening. Business in the grain trade is at a standstill, farmers being too busy with the harvest to attend tha market and buyers awaiting the hew season’s supply. Quotations are nominal Milling wheat 3s lOd to 4s 2d; ordinary samples, 3s 6d. Barley, 2s 3d to 2s 6d. Oats, Is to Is 4d. Dairy produce is plentiful—Butter, 6d to 9d; eggs, Is 3d per dozen ; hams and bacon, 7d to 9d; new potatoes, 3s to 5s per cwt; onions 2d per lb. CHRISTCHURCH MARKETS. Messrs J. T. Ford and Co. report on the live stock market for the week ending Thursday, Jan. 20, as follows ; —At the Addington Yards on Wednesday there was a very fair supply of fat stock. Our entries were on account of Messrs M'lnnes, S. Garforth, Evans, M‘Beath, Henderson, M'Lean, J. Kinley, T. Sutton and others. We sold fat sheep at prices varying from 8s 8d to 9s 6d and 10s each, equal per lb to our quotations for the day, and a line of stores at 8s each. We sold fat steers at from £6 15s to £7 each, and some fat heifers at £6 12s 6d each. At our wool and skin sale Merino, full Welled skins, sold up to 6s 3d and Gs 6d ; crossbreds, Gs each ; pelts, from 8d to Is 2d, Is 4d, Is Gd. Is 10d, 2-, and up to 2s Id each. Merino wool, at 9£ I; and cross-bred wool, from 7d to 8d per lb, in bag and bale. Hides,3£d per lb.

Messrs H. Matson and Co. report : —The best lines of fat sheep (cross-breds especially) elicited a fair amount of competition and very few lots were unsold, prices ruling about the same as last week, A draft of 360 prime cross-bred wethers, from Longbeach, commanded a considerable amount as attention, and for weight and quality were very near perfection. These were quickly taken up at from 11s 9 1 to 12s Gd : merino wethers from the same esta e, Bs, to 8s 31. Average weight cross-brcds brought 8s Gd to 10s-; do merino wethers, 6s to 7s. In the fat cattle trade there is no improvement, inferior, medium, and prime quality alike suffering from a depressed and over-supplied market. Plenty of store cattle bought six weeks or two months ago at £5 to £G per head, have been well grazed ever since without any benefit to the owner, and if put in the market at the present time would barely realise their original cost. Line after line of fat cattle were turned out unsold yesterday, and those placed were at ridiculously low prices. A few extra prime heavy steers —some of the best sent to hand this season—realised up to £8 15s ;

medium class do, £6 to £7 ; heifers and light weights, £5 to £6.

Messrs 11. Wilkin and Co. report:—We held our usual weekly sale of sheepskins, ifec., on Thursday, and catalogued 1714 skins, which were all sold. There was a good attendance of buyers, and keen competition. The biddings were unrestrained, and a marked improvement in prices was noticeable throughout the sale. Butchers’ cross-bred, large and full-woolled, 4s, 4s 7d, 5s ; do do second quality, 2s 6d, 3s 3d 4s ; do merino, full-woolled, 3s, 3s 3d, 3s lid. Country cross-bred, large and full-woolled, 5s 6d, os 9d, 6s 4d, 6s 7d ; do do medium, 2s 3d, 4s lOd, 4s 6d; do do small and inferior, Is, Is 6d, 2s; do merino, large and full-woolled, 4s lid, os 4d, os lid ; do do medium, 2s 3d, 3s 3d, 3s lid, 4s lid ; do do small and inferior, Is 4d, Is lOd, 2s 3d. Lambskins, large, Is 9d to 2s ; do small, Is to Is 3d. Pelts, large, and early shorn, Is od to Is lOd ; do medium, 7d to Is to Is od; do late,shorn, 4d to 7d. DUNEDIN MARKETS. Mr Donald Stronach (on behalf of the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company, Limited) reports for the week January 19 as follows : Fat Cattle—232 head were yarded at Burnside to-day, and the supply be ng a very full one proved more than sufficient for trade requirements, and last we k’s quotations were barely supported. Bullocks sold at from £4 15s to £lO 15s, and cows at £4 2s 6d to £8 17s Od. Fat Calves—2o head yarded, and sold at from 12s to 31s per head. Fat sheep were in very full supply, 2803 head having been penned, of which 1803 were cross-breds ami 1000 merinoes. The former sold at from 7s 9d to 11s, and the latter at from 6s to 7s per head, showing a decline of Is to Is Od per head on last market prices. Fat Lambs.—69s were penned, which realised from 6s to Bs. Fat Pigs.—6o were sold at 13s 6d to 48s each. Store Sheep—The demand continues very strong. Grain.—Wheat: Millers’ requirements appear for the present satisfied, but there would be no difficulty in disposing of really prime samples, although perhaps a shade under our last quotations would have to be accepted. Oats: Beyond a few transactions for shipment there has been no movement to record. Barley: Nothing doing. Nominal quotations : Wheat : Prime milling, 4s 8d ; ordinary to good, 3s 6d to 4s 3d; fowls’ feed, 2s 6d to 3s 3d. Oats: Milling, Is 7d; feed, Is 4d to Is 6d per bushel, i Auckland, Jan. 20. Business is quiet. Oats are firmer, and have been sold at 2s 2d. A shipment of coast maize realised 2s Bd, the general price being 2s 9d an I upwards. Potatoes, £3 15s to £4. Oils are scarce and firm, especially raw linseed, which has changed hands at 3s lOd to 4s. Californian apples realised 6s to 7s per case at auction. This .price scarcely proves satisfactory to the shippers. Local fruit, which is coming into the market, spoilt the sale. Adelaide, Jan. 21. Wheat 4s 5d to 4s 6d, with good demand; town flour, £lO 10s to £lO 15s; country brands, £9 5s to £9 10s. ■ Freights to London—Sailing vessels, 43s 6d; freights to the United Kingdom from Adelaide. 455; from outports 47s 6d. Sydney, Jan. 21. New Zealand wheat, 4s 3d. The hay market is extremely depressed owing to the large surplus.