COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.

Southland Times, Issue 1005, 17 August 1868, Page 2

COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.

Times Office, Saturday Evening. The foUowing are the Customs Returns for — Friday, August 14. Brandy, 20 gals £11 16 3 Tea, 120 lbs 3 0 0 Sugar, 1120 lbs 413 4 Hardware 3 7 3 £22 16 10 Saturday, August 15. Tea, 168 lbs £4 4 9 Wine, 74 gals 15 10 5 Sundries ... ... 15 5 £20 9 10 »

Busseli. & M'C6i_o_ gkh report : — Since our report in the Summary for the last mail there has been but a smaU amount oi business transacted, few country buyers being in town, or Bending forward orders ; importation. have, however, been on a very Umited scale, one steamer having been taken off the berth. Hobses. — We offered on last Saturday both imported and provincial bred stock. The attendance was not very numerous, but we succeeded in disposing of the whole at fair rates, for the former, which included the sale of a splendid pair of greys for light harness purposes at £63 we obtained for hacks £24 to £35. The latter changed hands, (also hacks, at from £15 to £26 per head.) Cateek.— We have no sales to report this week, holders being firm in their demands. There are no advices of any importations coming forward, consequently prices may be fuUy expected to be maintained. Sheep. — There is no encouragement just ai present to offer sheep, excepting fat stock for consumption, there being an absence of speculation for breeding purposes. Our Dunedin correspondents sent us an order for two thqusand stores, but we were unable to execute at the Umit. Pbopebttbs do not at present attract much attention, but there does not seem to be any in* cUnation on the part of owners to force sales. Mebchandise — Business generally is dull, and stocks are moving but slowly, but with diminished shipments, we may look for improved quotations. Storekeepers wUI have, in the course ofthe montb, an opportunity of selecting both the new season Teas, and a superior assortment of sugars from the Mauritius, as the importers intend submitting the same to pubUc competition. InvercargiU, 14th August, 1868. A. J. Smyth and Co. report : — Our Horse sale last Saturday was weU attended, and although the market is weU suppUed. Q-ood Hacks and Draught Horses readUy find purchasers at satisfactory rates ; the sale at the most was also ÜberaUy patronised, but off too miscellaneous a description to particularise. Hobses. — Q-ood Hacks brought at auction £23 to £26 lOs. Draught Horses average from £55 to £58. Cows — StiU in good demand, and worth from £16 to £18. Wobbling- Uttllocks are in request, and may be quoted at firom £17 to £20. We have closed a Bale this day a team of 6 for £105. Town and Country Pbopebttes. — Town sections find purchasers -frequently at good figures, and in a. few months we anticipate more ready sale for them. There are several good Farms and smaU -Stations in the market just now, but few are disposed to but at present; however, we expect to see some speculation in this respect as the season approaches. Mbbchandisb, Fabm Produce, &c. — We exa cargo of hardwood, apples, potatoes, new butter, kc, kc, from Tasmanian per Don daUy which wfll test the market on arrival. Potatoes are in great demand, and this wiU be a good opportunity to dealers &c, they are worth at present about £6 to £7. Oats 2s 6d to 2s 9d ; chaff £5 10s : hay, £4 ; flour, Otago, £21, Christchurch, £23, Adelaide very scarce, £27. August 14th, 1868. H. E. Osbobnb, Auctioneer, reports the sale of sections 6 and 17, block IX, InvercargUl, for £250. I

The 'Daily Times,' 11th inst., reports :— In the import markets transactions have_ not been individuaUy large, but a better disposition to business is apparent, and doubtless some improvement wfll be felt during the n«ct few days. Breadstuffs maintain their value but we hear_ of only trifling sales of flours, and of nothing going forward in grain. Spirits are, also, at the moment, quiet ; and it is not possible to refer to any sales from first hands. In teas, a parcel of good medium congous is mentioned as quitted at Ib Hid for halves, and 2s for boxes. Sugars have not, in anticipation of to-morrow's sale, received any attention. Enquiry is made for best pale EngUsh malt, of which description the market is bare. Fair Kent hops (not palest) have been placed at Is 9d. Provisions have also been dealt in moderately t Colonial butter at 12$ d; ditto cheese at 7_d; and a parcel of prime English cheese at Hid. Kerosene is difficult to move. The market at present eeems quite at a standstiU. Candles are in rather better favor ; a parcel of Belmonts is reported as placed ac 12£ d. Morton's salmon at 16s Bd, and Cape raisins at B_d have been moved. Building materials, both timber and iron, to arrive, are offering, but without, as far as we c.n learn, any transactions taking place. At Messrs M'Landress, Hepburn, ] and Co.'s rooms about 69 packages of seasonable boots and shoes were submitted, the whole of which were placed to the trade at fair average prices. The " Lyttelton Times." Bth August, says •— •** Beyond the very Umited requirements of a hand-to-mouth trade there has been UteraUy no business doing durnig the current week. The races, and the departure of the Panama and Suez mails, has^no^ooubTbeefi^fO^ a -C^sderable extent the cause. The sale of sugars advertised for the sth, resulted in nearly the whole, with the exception of fine white Mauritius crystals, which realised £43 10s in bond, being withdrawn. Teas offered at the same time were also passed for want of an offer at consignees' reserve. General goods, also offered by Mr Hargreaves, met with but little favour. Geneva was the only article competed for, and brought 20s to 20s 6d ; 3, 7-32, contents and ram 30 o.p. brought 6s to 6s 9d. Grain there is Uttle or nothing doing in ; millers are not buying unless at reduced rates. Wheat cannot be quoted at more than 6s 6d for fine samples ; the last Victorian accounts quote 8s as a very outside price for New Zealand, Oats are not offering freely, but this doe 3 not improve prices ; 2s 3d is an extreme price for good samples. Of barley there is Uttle of good quaUty offering. From the commercial article in the 'Nelson Examiner,' 6th August, we extract the foUowing items : — * A month of unusual dulness even in these duU times, furnishes but scanty materials for a commercial notice. After making the fuUest aUowance for the season, which is the worst of the year, the general stagnation of trade everywhere complained of indicates something more than ordinary depression, and the cause has to be looked for in the excessive taxation under wWclMiisuaakjasJaJiaa^^ ~ ~|S'^^iS-S5S rvgpnngs oi industry, and cramps and retards every Mnd^of enterprise. the West Coast has been moderately brisk during the last month, and aU kinds of produce find a ready sale there. As this is a season when it is difficult to drive stock from the east side of the Island, imported cattle and sheep have been in demand, and prices at Hokitika and the other- ports have considerably advanced. Prices of nearly every article may be stated at last month's quotations, and any shortness in stocks wiU be filled up on the arrival of the Ballarat, now due from London. There is a tendency in the flour market to recede, as shipments of wheat and flour from San Francisco to the neighboring colonies are arriving, and one cargo has reached Auckland. The harvest in America promises to be exceedingly good, and as a great breadth of land in South Australia and Victoria is under wheat, and the crops at present look well, flour is almost certain to go down in price in a very short time, or as soon as the produce of the harvest in North America * can reach Australia. l