MARLDOROUGH.

Southland Times, Volume I, Issue 18, 12 July 1864, Page 2

MARLDOROUGH.

i The MarlLoroiigh iVtv.v, of 2Gih June, thus reports :— Flour has advance 1 to :C3S per ton, owing to . _^JO-fSfrfiiHi in \^3lila'''ii;i;c lYifuiu ltd "way to thi* market. It is much to bf regretted that this commodity, the chief staple of demand, has failed at a season when the consumer requires it. most. Our laboring population, desirous of developing the gold resources of the Province, aro debarred from doing so by the high figure they have to pay for tliis article, and advices from San Francisco to the' 2nd April state, "that with the most favorable weather till harvest timo, wo can no longer expect a fair average crop of either wheat or feed grains." Sales of merchandise which have recently taken place here are far from encouraging. Tliis is owino - , not to any noticeable falling off hi the demand for well assorted stocks suited to the wants ofthe place, but to the quantities of goods of which storekeepers had a superabundance, being thrown upon the market. The fact is. that there are but few firms here who care to, or arc in a position to, lay in stocks of goods on the faith of better prices; and the result is that, although the demand has not fallen od', goods must be sold to meet contingent liabilities. These remarks apply more directly to the townships in the vicinity of the goldfields, whore, as has usually occurred in oilier colonies, trade has been overdone at the commencement of a rush. As regards Pieton ;m I Menheiin, trade has maintained a steadiness which is only to bo accounted for by the fact of tlie few merchants doing business, adhering strictly to supplying themselves with goods for which tliere is a daily demand. Prices current are so fluctuating, that we will defer until a future day (he publication of the usual statement, when we hope to be enabled to lay before our readers, prices that may be relied upon as ruling in the market in Picton, as well as at the goldfields. Tlie City of Dunedin, Captain Boyd, left Picton yesterday,' the 28th, at noon, with 38 passengers, chiefly for Dunedin. The total number of passengers arriving during the week, 111 ; ditto, departing, 227, showing an excess -of 116 against the- Province.