PRICES OF STOCK.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume II, Issue 290, 25 April 1889, Page 2

PRICES OF STOCK.

Whether it is the more cheerful commercial prospects, or some obscure reason which is difficult to discover, there appears to be a disparity in the price of sheep in Canterbury as compared with the prices ruling in the Hawke’s Bay district, that is worthy of noting. At present our farmers are so much dependent upon the Napier market, that anything which affects that place must naturally make its force felt in whether it may be a change for better or for worse. The H.B. Herald has found the subject an interesting one, and in dealing with the matter it says :—" The prices of sheep seem to have gone ahead with genuine Vogelian * leaps and bounds ’ in Canterbury, and Hawke’s Bay sheepfarmers may be well excused if they are puzzled by the comparatively low range of values here. Here is a commercial report of the Addington market last week ‘ Best crossbred wethers, heavy weights and prime quality, made from 13s to 14s 3d; medium. Ils 61 to 12s 9d; inferior, 9s upwards ; prime heavy-weight maiden ewes, from 12s to 13s 2d; medium quality and mixed ages from 9s 6d to Ils ; inferior, 6s 6d upwards; merino wethers, 5s 6d; and merino ewes, 5s 6d to 6a Id. A full clearance was effected. Fat lambs—A good entry, comprising our usual grades of quality, from inferior to very superior, the latter making for one very superior lot Ils to Us 6d ; ordinary, 8s to 9s 6d ; inferior, 5s 6d upwards. Store eheep —There was an unusually heavy entry, the bulk of which changed owners at fair values, there being a good demand for strong, healthy, forward conditioned sheep. Young crossbred ewes, well grown and In good condition, made Bs, 8s 6d, 9s, 9s 4d, to 9a 9d ; inferior, 6s 6d upwards; old crossbred ewes, ss, 5s 6d, 6s to 6s 6d ; merino ewes, 2s 3d to 3s 6d; crossbred wethers, nearly fat, 9s to 9s lid; inferior, 9s 6d upwards ; crossbred lambs, inferior, 8s 6d; superior, 4s 6d to ss.’ Taken as a whole these prices ai*e much in advance of those ruling in Hawke’s Bay, or even in Auckland, where sheep are generally dearer than in any other part of the colony. Nor were the high prices due to short supplies, for it is stated that the entries were ‘ large in number and phenomenal in quality,’ but the latter phrase is appparently employed as meaning poor quality, as we are told that the pens set apart for stores were crammed, with all sorts and conditions; there were numberless toothless, worn out sheep of all classes.* ”