Commercial.

Tuapeka Times, Volume V, Issue 226, 30 May 1872, Page 5

Commercial.

Good milling wheat is being delivered more freely, and parcels offered are readily bought at 5s ; several large lots from northern districts have changed hands at this price, and it is not likely that the value will go over 5s 3d for some time. There 13 no wheat of sec*nd class quality offering: Fowl wheat is also very scarce. In oats there is nothing doing ; dealers are buying feed lots at Is 9d ; the value of milling being from Is lOd to 2s. Malting barley is in active request ; prime samples have purchasers at 5s to 5s 3d ; damaged lots from previous crops can be placed at 3s 9d to 4s. An active demand has set in for good flour. During this week the millers made an advance of 10s per ton in the price ; parcels in sacks are now at Ll3 ; small lots at Ll3 10s. Oatmeal has a steady sale at Ll2 10s. Pollard firm at L 6. Bran, L 2 10s. Pearl Barley, L2O. Hay, L 3 10s. Chaff, L 3 10s. Straw, L 2 10s. Potatoes, L 4 15s. A. Mercer reports for the we°k ending 25th May: — Retail pi ices only — Fresh butter, in 41b and lib prints, best quality, Is Id to Is 2d I per ib, ; second quality, Is ; fresh butter in lumps, lid to Is per lb ; powdered and salt butter, best quality, Is ; second quality, lOd. The slight advance in fresh butter, noticed in any last report, has been fully confirmed this week, the supply having very considerably fallen off, storekeepers finding a ready sale for what quantities are coming to hand without the necessity of salting any down ; for good samples of salt butter in kegs, lOd per lb is being given. Cheese has slightly advanced, best quality is worth 6d to 8d ; second quality, 6d per lb. Side and rolled bacon is very plentiful, and fetching 9d to lOd per lb. Colonial hams, Is per lb. Eggs are still very scarce, and the demand is limited on account of the high price, 2s 9d to 3» per doz.

w Political. — It has been authorital^tyely announced that Mr Stafford will not |Hhlress his constituents at Timaru this J.P. — Messrs Jas. Black, of ; Jno. Drysdale, of Port Chalmers ; Lake, Switzers ; and Hugh M'Dermid, Chalmers, have been appointed justices for the GVony. Branch Railway. — Mr C. E., has been appointed engineer this line, and has commenced the necesHRtry survey preparatory to the bringing in of Mj Bill at next session of Parliament. I / Spiritualists. — At a meeting of I non-spiritualists last night, it was resolved I to invite the Rev. Dr. Copland to visit Mcl1 bourne, for the purpose of witnessing the Ik spiritual teaching of the children of Mr p .lames Smith and other manifestations, and p> reporting the result — Star, 20th. I Maori Progress. — An Auckland I* paper of a recent date says : — "Maoris are I sending their children to schools where the I English language is taught, both at the I Thames and in Hawke's Bay. Mr CommisL sioner Locke states that in the latter proBvince, as Maketu, he saw a Maori girl acting nu tutoress, and teaching 1 uropean and half ■Kate children in the English language, and great progress was being made." Law Expenses. — On the motion of G. F. C. Browne, a return has been preBpared showing all the law expenses incurred ■ by the Provincial Government for the three ■ yean ending on the 31st March, last. The for the three years, including the ProSolicitor's salary during that period, 10s sd. Gaol. — Mr Caldwell's refor the year ended 31st March last ■has just reached us aud we shall take an ■opportunity of noticing it. It is of a very ■ satisfactory tenor, as will be shewn by the ■fact that while the salaries and departmental Hcontingencio? amounted to L 6921 6s ; the Hvr'ne of the prisoners' labor, etc., amounted Bt 1364 17s 9d ; showing the institution ■' A more than self-supporting by the sum ■ Z.4431659d. / Scandinavians. — Apropos of the /Scandinavian immigration question we may /quote a passage from a paragraph in a Californian paper relative to the departure of a gentleman who for some time acted as Danish Consul at Chici in the Sacramento Valley : — " It is to Mr Taape we are indebted for the < . large accession to our population of Scandif navians who are the most steady and industrious of all Europe in immigrants.". There are 17,000 Scandinavians in California. Legal. — Mr Harry Pitt, a solicitor, practising at Blenheim, has been suspended by Mr Justice Richmond pending a reference to the Court of Appeal. It appeared from the affidavits filed by the prosecutor that Mr Harry Pitt negotiated for his client, Mr M'.Callum, the purchase of certain lands, and received from him the sum of L 750 with which to pay the deposit thereon After the lapse of mere than six months M'Callum discovered that the vendor had not received the money, and that except L 125 it was not forthcoming. Immigration. — It is notified in the New Zealand Gazette of May 10, under the hand of the Hon. Resident Minister, that the following have been appointed Immigration Officers — Mr J". Jfckiwiu March to be Oiiief - Immigration Officer for the Middle Island, and his appointment to date from Jan. 1, 1872; Nelson, Mr Alfred Greenfield ; Blenheim, Mr John Barleyman ; Greymouth, Mr James Wylde ; Hokitika, Mr J. S. Browning ; Chriatchurcb, Mr J. Edwin March ; Timaru, Mr F. LeCren ; Oamaru, Mr John Locke ; Dunedin, Mr Colin Allan ; Invercargill, Mr Walter H. Pearson. + The Stamp Act. — Mr Fereday, of . Christchurch, in order to test whether a receipt given for a cheque is liable to duty under the Stamp Act, has given an unstamped receipt in a case of the kind to a person with the request that he would report it to the Government. This was done and as the Attorney-General's opinion was obtained, an action has been commenced against Mr Fereday for a breach of the Act. Mr Fereday (remarks the Lyttelton Times), is confident of being able to show that the Act does not render it compulsory to stamp receipts for cheques Taranaki. — The Provincial Government of Taranaki is a very unpretending institution. From the estimate of revenue and expenditure laid before the Council for the half-year ending December, it appears that the available revenue for the year from all sources, including the fifteen shilling capitation grant, but excluding grants for public works, as being of an exceptional character, only amounts to the sujn of L 4450 ; while the expenditure is estimated at L 5954. No wonder that the Herald considers the present cumbrous system of Government absurd, and advocates a municipal system. Colonial Finance. — The New Zectr land Gazette of the 10th inst. shews that the receipts of revenue under the consolidated fund for the quarter ending 31st March amounted to L 248,373, to which is to be added recoveries from provinces and other sources L 190 0; advances by Bank of New Zealand, L 60.00 0; temporary advances in London from public works account, L 73.919 ; total, L 384.192. Total colonial charges, L 293,208. Expenditure : — Provincial charges L 2,22 5; payments to provinces, L 5.278. Receipts, special fund, i.84,140 ; expendiL 72.710. Receipts, under immi-Tration and public works account, L 125,487 j expenditure, 177,327- Land Fund — Receipts, L 88.550 ; expenditure, L 76.921. Trust Fund Account — Receipts, L 47 f 050 ; expenditure, L 21.796. Farm Railways. — The Queensktnder says:— "lt weuld almost seem a? though the French could outdo us in the construction ef light railways for agricultural purposes. There is now upon our table a diagram taken from a French journal illustrating a light railway used upon beetroot plantations. It shews a train of small trucks, each with its baskets of roots, and one man is pushing eight of the trucks before him into the boiling house. By hooking the back part of each truck to the front of the one coming immediately behind, two wheels are made to answer for each, the last truck only having feur wheels, The contrivance is very neat, compact, and looks serviceable. The railway is moveable and complete, and costs less than two shillings per yard. A Gallant Rescue. — This morning about half -past ten o'clock a little boy of the name of Allan Duff, aged four years, fell from off the protection embankment lately constructed by prison labor at the bridge leading from Castle street to the bush of the old Botanic Garden. The part of the bank he fell from was about nineteen feet above • the bridge ; but the current, which is still strong and deep from the late rain, carried him underneath the bridge. The warder on duty at the place where the accident occurred called Sergeant Fergusson, and showed him the spot. The sergeant immediately went into the water and brought the drowning child from the bottom, the water at the apot being eight feet deep, Dr Sorley was •ent for, and is of opinion the boy will re* cover. We are given to understand that the railings across the bridge are so wide apart th*t a child could easily fall through. We would commend this to th© attention of Mr John Bunt*.— Star, 22nd. . >.