COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.

Southland Times, Issue 1061, 23 November 1868, Page 2

COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.

Tikes Opficf, Saturday Evening. The following are the Customs returns for —

♦ The c Otago Daily Times * of the 18th inst., says : — "Business is still rather steady than brisk. It is possible to chronicle a considerable number of small sales going forward, bat not equally easy to record operations of interest in the import market, or, indeed, refer to any matter of special interest occurring among wholesale housrs. There is not yet any improvement to note in the demand for breadstufis, and only a limited business continues to be done at last quoted rates, In the grain market, no better state of things is apparent, trar sections being trifling and at unchanged rates.: The current values are, Proviucial flour, £15 to £15 10s; Californian, £16 ; oats, 2s 6d; wheat (Provincial), 6»; barley, good malting samples, 4s 6d ; maize, 4b 3d ; owing to the reduced supply ot bran, Is 6d is now "the value of this article. We note teas, both of the old and new stock, as moving, though not much of the former, prices exhibiting nothing remarkable. Sugars are in maintained Tequest, and from present reduced stocks it is difficult to supply suitable descriptions for orders coming to hand. A small lot of good yellow crystals was quitted at £36; and a fine white, at £40 10s. The Bio sailed from Mauritius for this, port on the 26th September, ■with |250 tons sugar, consisting of whites and fine yellow crystals. This vessel is now fully due. Both spirits and malt liquors, though without alteration in prices, seem to have acquired a little more of firmness. We hear of transactions in ales in glass, second brands, pending, but nothing of importance closed; Tennent's still commands 9s in trade lotsj Hennessy's pale, in bulk, realised, for a small parcel, Bs. JPruita are beginning to be asked for. Sales of currants have a am been made to day at 3fd, duty paid, but the value is likely to mend and rule firm for the next few weeks. We cannot hear of any present demand for provisions and but a slender inquiry can be detected for oilmen's stores. Amongst the latter goods a few cases of pickles at 12s, lobsters at 6s 9d, and salmon at 15s 6d, have been quitted. At Messrs M'Landress, Hepburn and Co.'s rooms, a good attendance mustered to the grocery sale. Salt •was placed at 60s for a moderate parcel, and a further quantify reported as placed afterwards at something under that price ; fair colonial hams and bacon at 7i to 9d; Cheddar cheese at BeL These were quitted with all faults : colonial butter at 2f to 3d ; bacon, 4i ; Sinclair's hams (old), 6d; currants, 3idj and Provincial flour, £10 10s. The ' Oamaru Times ' of the 13th inst., reports : — Yesterday an impetus was given to business by the Agricultural Show. The gram market exhibits no change except in oats, which are a trifle firmer. The first scoured wool of this season has arrived from Messrs larrar's ■works, Kakanui, consisting of a parcel of six bales, being the nett result of the scouring of a quantity of wool, clipped from wethers, at Mr Gibson's station, Waitangi. A better got up specimen could not be, the "wool being perfectly snow-white, soft, «o.\ free from impurity. The loss in scouring was about 50 per cent. We were also shown a bale sf pure skin wool, equally well got-up. The « West Coast Times' of the 9th instant, reports: — The import market during the week has been firm, and whilst in no instance have prices receded, many lines have been placed at a higher figure than could be obtained on the preceeding week. This is more noticeable in horse feed, and, in fact, in produce generally, the greater quantity of the late arrivals of produce going into store, the importers being determined to hold for a price. Butter of good qualify is still scarce in the market, and small parcels of provincial coming to hand readily realise Is 4d to Is 6d per lb, prime quality having been sold at the latter price. Cheese is also scarce; there is a little English in stock (in/erior), but no colonial, and a few tons of the latter would just now pay the importer, but in the present state of the market no quotation can be given. Hart's Adelaide flour still r mains firm, and is being held for £22 10s ; Canterbury and Otago are worth £21. The trade, however, buy but sparingly, evidently waiting for shipments, which have been put on board at a lower figure. Oats are worth 49 3d, and a shipment, per Jane Anderson, offered at auction, was withdrawn, 3s 9d being the highest bid. The importer, we believe, is holding for 4s 6d. ftran is firm at former prices, with a tendency to rise, and may be quoted at 2s 4d to 2s 6d ; toe demand during the week has, however, been slight. Chaff is worth £15 to £16, and stocks are now heavy. Potatoes stiJl continue to realise a good figure, a line of good Provincial having been sold at auction for £8 15s ; bags, Is each, which brings the price within a shade of £9 10s at which price they may be quoted. Sinclair's hams are worth Is 4d ; Compton's do, Is 3d. Sinclair and Moflatt's bac^n is worth Is 2£d. Company's sugar is worth £53; and yellow crystals £48. Tea — the stocka are light, but so also is the demand, buyers evidently waiting far the new season's to arrive : half-chests finest congou may be quoted at £5 15s. C.V.P. brandy in bulk is worth 8s 6d; and Hennessy's 9s to 9s 3d ; the latter is looking up, but little doing in stock or on the water. Hennessy's case is quoted at 325. Rum in bulk is worth ss, and Kirkliston whisky, 6s ; Stewart's case. 14s 6J ; Geneva JDKZ we quote at 19s to 19s 6d ; other brands nominal. Candles, Brandons, Is 1.1; ' Nevas, Is 2d j and kerosene, 3s.

The Mauritius correspondent of the ' Argus,' writing under date the 2nd Oct , reports : — Since the date of my last letter, per Era Joshua, our colonists hare awakened to the fact that they will have to contend against another unfavorable season as regards the principal article of production — viz., sugar. A month ago the prospects of all the sugar planters seemed flourishing, but now that the canes are being cut in all directions it is found that by far the greater part of them, though

bearing plenty of foliage, contain little saccharine matter, which is attributed to their having been broken during the hurricane of February last. It is now thought that the colony will produce only 110,000 tons— 3o,ooo tons less than it was anticipated would be produced last month, and a small crop even in comparison with our last one, which far below the average. The unfavorable future before the colonists is very disheartening, and little confidence is felt in any branch of trade at present. A good deal of crystallised sugar has been sent forward to Bombay within the last fortnight/ and owing to this circumstance, and to the reduction in the crop, prices have somewhat advanced. Our quotations are as follow : — Finest white -^crystals, 7.40 dol to 7.60 dol per 1001 b; cargo do, 6.50 dol to 6. 60 dol do ; finest yellow crystals, 6.50 dol to 6.55 dol do; very fine yellow counters, 6.60 dol to 6.70 dol do ; middling to good do, 5.50 dol to 5.75 dol do ; good to fine yellow syrups, 5 dol to 5.75 dol do ; low to medium do, 4 dol to 4.40 dol. A large amount of the surplus provisions of the Abyssinian forces has found its way out here ; and the market is overstocked with rice, grain, wheat, and dholl. Receipts of flour from different quarters have also been unusually heavy ; and best Australian can now with difficulty be sold at 4 dol per 1001 b. The stock in first hands iB very large Tallow is no longer in demand, and may now be had at lldol to 12dol per 1001 b. Bran, 2.20d0l to 22.50d0l per tierce ; demand inactive. Freight is dall. For London and Cork, £2 5s to £2 7s 6d is asked. For Melbourne, £2 10s is the currant rate j and for the Cape, 30s has been paid.

Friday, Nov. 20. Brandy, 19 gals £11 16 3 Geneva, 30 gals 17 16 3 Rum, 34gals 22 0 5 Wine. 93 gals 20 14 0 Ale, 100 gals 5 0 0 Tea, 420 lbs 10 15 0 Drapery 1 12 6 Woolpacks 11 5 5 Sundries 9 0 1 £109 19 11 Saturday, Nov. 21. Wine, 31 gals £10 9 7 Sundries 411 0 £15 0 7