COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.

Southland Times, Issue 759, 4 December 1867, Page 2

COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.

Times Office, Tuesday Evening. Our trade for the last month or six weeks has been anything but brisk, the continued wet weather putting almost ft stop to all up-country business. The roads are in such a state that country storekeepers and settlers will only purchase supplies for present use. If the weather does not take a change for the better soon, our crops will be an entire failure, and we wi'l have to look to our neighboring ports for supplies. The arrivals hare been confined to colonial Teasels, the only exception being a barque of about 300 tons, the Prospector, from London, with a cargo chiefly of station supplies. We have to note no change in our price list. Our market is not overstocked' with any particular line, the supply being quite equal to the demand for the present. A small lot of American ware, such as churns, tubs, pails, brooms, &c, would meet with a ready sale at paying prices. Our flour market continues stationary, the quotations for best Adelaide being £14 'per ton ; town made flour, £12; oats, 2s 9d to 3i per bushel; bran, lslOd; hay, £4 10s; chaff, £5 10s per ton; potatoes, £3 10s to £i per ton. Hams and bacon are saleable, for Sinclair's and other good brands, Is 2d to Is 4d per lb ; prime Wellington butter (none) ; new Cork (none) ; fresh butter, Is to Is 3d, tha market being well supplied.' Wines and spirits remain at last quotations ; Martel's and Hennessey's beifc pale brandy, 7s 6d to 8s 6d per gallon ; case do, 28s per case ; whisky, 4s to 5s per gallon ; rum, 0.p., 33 9d per gallon ; geneva, 12j per case ; port and sherry wines meet with fair sales as per quality, at from £60 to £130 per pipe or butt. Bottled ale and porter of best brands is ■worth 12s 6d to 13s per dozen for mixed lots. Bulk ale is in fab demand at £10 to £11 per hhd, the fayorite brands being Bass's No. 3 and 4 and Smith and Co.'s Oundle ale, none of the latter brand being in first hands. Teas meet with fair demand, first-class congous being most saleable. A sale by auction of teas and sugars during the past week was not well attended ; a few small lots were disposed of at the following prices : —^Firstclass congous, Is 8d to 2s; sugars — for white crystals, £39 ; for grey do, £38 ; and for yellow do, £36 to £37, in bond. From the small attendance of this sale and the low prices offered, it is evident that sales by auction of this class of merchandise in our limited market will not answer. .Oilmen's store* are worth about 80 per cent, on London invoioe price, many lines being scarce. Dried fruits are scarce. Exchange. Drafts on London, 2 per cent. Do Victoria J do Discount. Bills, 95 day«, 8 per cent. Do 125 do 9 do Do. over X35 day«j 12 pa ? cnpt. ;

I •,. — _— ........ .... . The following commercial article i» taken from the " Argus " of the 28th ult :"— Little is doing in the import markets, business for the time haying been neglected. The country buyers are beginning to avail themselves of the opportunity of being in town to make necessary purchases, and to this extent the markets have, in consequence, experienced a somewhat improved inquiry lor trade purposes. In breadstuff's, the demand for flour is trifling, at unaltered rates, country brands being offered freely at £13 ss, without finding buyers. A private telegram from Adelaide reports a good deal of excitement in that market, owing to a partial failure of the crops being reported, and we learn that some of the | millers there have advanced their price of flour to £15. No s lies of wheat have come under our notice. Maize is firm at 3s to 3s 2d, but there is little doing. Malt is steady at 10s 6d. We, understand that contracts have just been entered into with several of the larger brewers for a quantity- - amounting in. th« aggrogato "" to--20,000 bushels of English malt, for forward delivery; the price paid has not, however, been allowed to transpire. Cornsacke have been disposed of in parcels at 13s. A small shipment of American brooms has been placed at 15s. Sales of Cape raisins have been effected at s£d in bond. Parcels of currants are disposed of at 4d. Candles are being moved off very freely at extreme rates. A line of 500 boxes of Brandon's was cleared off at Hid. We hear of an invoice of bar and rod iron having changed hands at a considerable advance on late sales. There is little to refer to in liquids. Some enquiry has been noted from Tennant's bottled ale, and a few small lots have been placed at 10s. A small shipment of bulk vinegar has been closed for at Is Bd. We understand that the St. Bernard, lately arrived from Calcutta, has been chartered for, and will be laid on the berth, to load produce, flour, oats, and general merchandise, for Yokohama, in Japan, and will thus be the first vessel from any of the colonies despatched to that quarter.

The following are tha Customs returns for — Monday, December 2. Tea, 2001bs ... ... £5 0 0 Tobacco, 861bs ' 10 15 0 Wine, 25 galls 5 0 0 £20 15 0 Tuesday, December 3. Tea, 4201ba ... ... £10 10 0 Brandy, 28 galle ... 16 16 0 Whisky, 37 galls ... 22 4 0 Sundries 0 5 0 £49 15 0