COMMERCIAL.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XL, Issue 12539, 10 May 1915, Page 7

COMMERCIAL.

HOME MARKETS

[By Electric Telegraph—Copyright

Per Association. Received May 9. at 5.5 p.m. London, May 8. Wheat is firm. Chicago Mav options 158 to 16'OJ; July, 1333 to 133-i.

Meat—Canterbury .lambs, medium heavy 7|d; Australian sheep, 5 9-16 d. Argentine chilled fores, 64 d; hinds. "7{}tt. Other meats are unchanged. .Rabbits are very dull. Supplies are. heavy, and the hot weather is checking demand. New South Wales blues 17s 6d. Danish butter. 148s to 1545. Silver, 23 7-lCd. Cotton—May-June 5.7 i. Jiite—Mav-June £2O. * H4mp—May-July £33 10s. Rubber—Para. 2s ojd; plantation, 2v Bid; smoked 2s 3gd. ; Copra.—May-June £24 ss. Hides—There is a' rather better demand.. Leather is fairlv active, and unchanged. The stock is. heavier than usual. Basils are quiet and unchanged. WOOL SALES. [By Eleotbio Telegraph—Copybihht. j (Pkr Press Association.) Received May 9, at 12.50 p.m. London, May 8. .At the wool sales there was' good competition. 107,937 bales were catalogued! and 100,662 sold at late- rates, all. sorts being unchanged. Puketoe, top price 14id ; , average 14Jd. Received May 10, at 0.5 a.m.

London, May 8. Business at Liverpool is at a. standstill owing to the fate of the Lusitania.

The wheat and flour afloat •for the. | United Kingdom' total 275,000 quar- , tars, and for the Continent 4.405 000. \ Atlantic shipments, 535,000; 'Pacific, 20,000; total Europe, 1,370,000, includI mg India 47,000. Arsentiue 598,000. Sydney, May 8. The Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane wool brokers have decided to take ,'united action respecting the terms of sale. Buyers are refusing to operate. i*. Sydney, and are unable to purchase in Melbounre or Brisbane except on brokers' terms.

THE LOCAL MARKET. Oama.ru Mail Office, Monday Afternoon. We have again to re|x>rt a ,dull and lifeless week in the local market. Taken all round, indeed, the volume of business was the smallest recorded for any week since the opening of the season, and there is no sign of an early improvement. . Judged by the few sales that were I made, the wheat market is weaker. But while some holders are willing to sell, there are practically no buyers. Millers having already stocked up fairly I well, are not prepared to buy except ! where odd lots are procurable at weekly : declines in values. Under such a condition, odd lines of small dimensions pass out of growers' hands, and to a limited extent millers are thus j strengthened in their position, and th«ir advent upon the market deferred . a. little. The consumption of flour has : fallen off in some measure, and this is .also helping the postponement of the . demand for wheat that must come i sooner or later. The sales made duri»g the week were neither many nor of much importance, beyond showing millers' present tstimate.s of value. The prices paid lor wheat at country stations were -as follows: —Velvet. 6s 7d and 6s Sd net; red chaff, (3s 4d net and 6s od less commission; Marshall's white, 6s 4d net. | The invasion of this market by sellers of Southland oats has completely stopped all business in locally grown oats, and we have failed to discover a ! single.purchase by merchants. Some j Southland oats have, however, been placed here on terms which North I Otago growers are not prepared to accept, at any rate in the meantime. The uiture is difficult- to forecast. It is true that the officiaL reports are that I oats are in short supply, and the naI tnral assumption to be drawn from that fact is that all holdings will find purchasers at high rates, lint the exceptionally high prices that have ruled for some time past have had the very natural result or reducing consumption, and even if consumption should reach ! the normal level during the winter, it will for a certainty decline again as ■ the spring advances, and the question for future determination is how far economy of use has succeeded in equal- ; isni" supply and requirements, j Xo bus:ness in barley of any descrip- ' tion is reported. A line of Cape barley was, liowever. on the market at os net on trucks. The potato market has weakened, with very little business passing during the week. It would seem that the I Dominion has a surplus of potatoes, and that the only hope of prices improving rests upon the possibility of a demand for supplies coming from Australia. At present there does not seem to be much prospect of such a demand arising, for there is a significant absence of the speculative spirit. Merchants are, on the contrary, only buying in a. hand-to-mouth fashion. At tie beginning of the week some small lots were bought at £4 net on trucks, but subsequent business was done at £3 17s 6d. and the market closed on Saturday with £3 15s as the general quotation.

BUTTER EXPORT.

Per Press Association. Wellington, May 8Mr Mas-sey stated this morning that the Dairy Commissioner was of opinion that there was sufficient butter m the Dominion for requirements, hut no more will b© shipped to Vancouver and England this season. The Department is ascertaining exactly what is being done in the way of export, and any attempt to increase the price will be followed by absolute prohibition of export. -

THE TIMARU MARKETS.

(Timaru Herald.)

Wheat has come back appreciably in Taiue since it was selling at 7s per bushel, and many who were holding for 8s would now be very pleased to accept 7s if they could get it. But they cannot.. Some Tuscan'* wheat has changed hands during the week at 6s 6d. delivered Timaru, but thero is very little of any kind offering. Growers" receive no encouragement to offer as they are' met by millers with the information that they are off the market and intend to remain off until necessity compels them to buy again. Speculators are buying a- little, and while they are preoared' to give no to 63 4d and 6s od, or 6s 6d for a specially good line, very few growers are .inclined to accept less- than 6s Bd'.for velvet and 6s 6d for other varieties.

The oat market is quiet locally, most of the business being done from Southland. A grade Gartens are worth 3s 6d, and. B grade 3s 4d to 3s od on trucks.

Oaten slieaf chaff is not at all plentiful. It is worth £6 per ton, while oat • straw chaff is selling at Is 3d' per bag, wholesale, and wheat straw chaff at lOd 1 per bag. Potatoes are fairly plentiful now, as digging ;:'s going on in all parts of the district. With'~the dry weather the tubers are being lifted in sole-ndid condition. They are worth £4 to £4 2s M per ton. SALES OF PROPERTY.

Messrs J. D. Familton and Sons report the following sales of properties: —On account D. L. Reid (Hampden), freehold farm, 76 acres, to W. Nicolson. Hampden. On account of J. H. Milligan, i-acre freehold section, Rothor street, to a client. On account R. Milligan." J-acre section. Stour street, to James Anderson, Invercargill. Careful attention to all matters pertaining to the profession, undeniably rvood workmanship, a Smart Haircut, <ind a Pleasurable Shave —that's what you obtain at L. COUCH'S. Thames street. Advertising is the lever which lifts the big business above the email.