COMMERCIAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 8007, 19 December 1905, Page 2

COMMERCIAL.

I'algel.y and Company, ],id., 'have rcceivei| the following: cablegrams (from their London office, dated the oth insl. :-

Wool sales closed firm, ami lately reported rates are fully maintained. Merino wools, prices are on a par with closing rates of last series, except heavy ami! earthy wools, which me .I per cent, lower. Orosslnvd wonlfi, prices aril on a par with closing rates of last series, except coarse :\, m \ siipa . wools, prices for which are rather lower. Out of the net quantity available for mill! simile M.'.fKK) tales ■hiu.ve boon sold] for home consumption, .-.1.110(1 bales" for the Continent, 1000 for America, leaving KKIO yales id he curried forward to the next series.

Butter.—Market firm. Copenhagen official quotation unchanged. The total [imports of |butter into the United Kingriomk f or the week, raiding December 2nd amounted to 68,000 cwt., as cmnparoil with 73,000 cwt. for the same period lasl year, t.'nsalted ■butter, market weaker owing to heavy arrivals. Frozen meat.—Market tfu!l,| but prices unchangeu'. Ta\Jow!.—Bolfevo prices arts likely to last, although \at firesimt buyers., wm holding badi t . ,' .. j-

A statue, costing £720, to Mr John Griggs, of Longbcach, one of the pioneers of the frozen meat industry, was unveiled on Satcday. The fig.'"o is life-size, a'id carved out of Sydney stone.

Horses arc very cheap in Siberia. A farm horse costs between ,C2 and £l, and when the animals arc not milled for farm work they are used to (' \ig the carl or sledge on which the bullcr is conveyed to the nearest railway station. In some, parts the fanner has to make lip caravans as they travel, and sometimes a hummed sledges may he scon crawling over the snow in single file. The track is only wide-enough for one sledge, and if the caravan meets any other conveyance, the latter is obliged to plunge into deep snow and wait until the procession has passed.

The Secretary of the United Friendly Societies' Picnic Committee informs us that he has received a large number of entries for the Sports to he held in connection with the picnic on .New Year's Day. Through a misunderstanding, it has been necessary to extend the closing of the entries until Thursday next, nt 12 o'clock. The commit-too will have afternoon tea made on arrival of the afternoon train from Waitara, as a great number of those who arc going to the regatta have promised to conic on to Sentry Hill by that train. An Anti-Trust Bill, containing drastic provisions—protecting Austra l; an traders and worktr.cn—enacts that any breach of it renders the offender liable to a penalty of £SOO or twelve mouths' imprisonment; anyone aiding or abetting in contravention of the Act will be equally guilty and equally punishable with the co Hravene's. The "Sydney Telegraph" says it audaciously provides a short cut to most extreme and oppressive Protection. Various other opinions are expressed, from "it goes far beyond the dream of the moderate Protectionists" to general approval.