The Express.
London, England, 1853-08-17 00:00:00

AUSTRALIAN MARKETS AND PRICES.

So many persons are interested in Australian com-
mercial ventures, that the subjoined extract from the
circular of Messrs. Barrett and Co , dated Melbourne, the
3rd June, and received by the Overland Mail, will doubt-
less be interesting :
" During the past month, the arrival of ships from dif-
ferent places, conveying hither • full ge amount of
immigrant. and shipments of every descripton of produce,
has been considerable ; but such was the deficiency of sup-
plies, that, with few exceptions, little or nu reduction has
Meal made in the current prices of any useful or consum-
able article, and the oily observable effect produced hu
Mae to make buyers a little more cautious in their opera-
tions than they were before. The addition to stir papule-
don during the first twenty-eight days of the put month,
after deducting 1,640 who have gone to the neighbouring'
colonies and to England, amounts to 6,300 souls.
"FLOUR AND GRAIN.—The importation of wheat and
lour for the first twenty-eight days of May from Chili,
America, and the neighbouring colonies has been large,
amounting to, which being reduced to flour, 6,101 tons, or,
estimating the population of the colony at 230,000,
about forty-five days' consumption. The produc•ion
of wheat in this colony for the season 1852-53
just concluded was only, reduced to flour, 10,972 tons,
or 96 days' supply, and es the arrivals until he last month '
together with the amount brought to market of the home
crop, were scarcely sufficient to supply the legitimate daily
demands, there is every probability that before the next
crop can be harvested there will be • great scarcity, and,
unless the importation from North America should prove
excessive, as increase upon the present prices. Osts con-
tinue in good demand, and although the jmportations from
America have been large, such has been the rem live
employment for horses, and such the increase in the number
of them, occasioned by the actual requirements of the
colony, that the price has not receded below 15s. per
bushel, and is likely for some time to come to be maintained
at that price. Oats are sold by weight ; it will, therefore,
be to the advantage of the shippers in England to send good
heavy Scotch or Irish kiln-dried ones, to economise the
freight and to have them packed in cases of reasonable sire
and strength, to avoid the destruction usually occasioned on
board ship by the rats. Barley is in fair demand, and we
believe, if the drawback could be obtained on malt, some
parcels would leave a satisfactory profit to the shippers.
" WINE AND STMTS.—We have had considerable arri-
vals of late, and the market is without animation. Many
of the earlier arrivals now purchased by the dealers and
retailers, and the delay in procuring the delivery of them,
occasioned by the want of lighten to bring them from the
bay, and the disgraceful state of, and want of room for
landing at, our wharves, when they reach town, prevent
patties from operating, until they can make some reason-
able calculation when the goods are to be delivered. The
consumption of spirits continued on the increase while that
of wine is more restricted. The quantities consumed in the
colony of Victoria in the first three months in this year
were :—Wine of all sorts, 155,393 galls. ; brandy, 105,864
galls. ; G , 33,491 galls.; rum, 76,953 galls.; whiskey,
4,062 gills. Total, 220,390 galls.
" PORTER •AD Ann.—There has been • good demand
for porter and ale, end, as this is the season in which there
exists • greater demand for the former article, and the ship-
ments being inadequate to reach it, high rates have bun
secured. Both the direct and indirect shipments, lugs
they really have been, do not appear to affect tbs prim.
The market is equally good for beer in bulk, and 6111 err
gumption continues increasing.
" GROCERIES AND OILMEN'S STORES.—The demand is
good, and extreme rates are frequently paid for the latter
' goods ; for the reasons already mentioned the demand for
groceries is not so active u formerly, but still prices are
very sarisfactory, and the consumption going on, which will
eompel the dealers to come into the market to supply their
wants; unless, therefore, we should be furnished with
larger shipments than we can reesonably calculate upon,
there is not much danger of prices going down. The
Americans are sending us candles suitable for the climate,
which may interfere • little with the Belmont ones, the
latter, however, are a superior article, and will always com-
mand the preference and a little advance in price. Pickles,
sardines, and salmon continue in great request at high and
very remunerating prices.
HOSIERY, Sorrooons, noes, &c.—The demand for
these goods continues steady. Although dealers are net
buying with so much avidity as formerly, on account of the
market being more liberally supplied, there is a large boil-
fine doing at rates satisfactory to the shippers. Upon heavy
goods, suitable for this peculiar wawa of the year, large
profits are being made.
" BUILDING MATERIALS, TIMBER, &C.—The inquiry
for all descriptions of building materials continues unabated,
and will remain so for a long time, but whether the pre-
gent extravagant rates for timber will be maintained, will
depend upon the quantities the Americans and Baltic ship-
pets will pour in upon us: both these shippers have
tasted the sweets of shipments hither, and will doubtless be
induced to repeat and extend them; we may therefore have
prices much reduced by August or September, but the de-
mand for house accommodation is so great and so urgent,
that we do not expect that properly selected shipments will
fail of realising a handsome return. Bricks delivered at the
wharf command 131. per 1,000 readily. Zinc roofing or
rolled zinc used for roofing or guttering, leaves • large re-
turn upon moderate shipments.
" EXCHANGE, GOLD Dna, &c.—The banks have in-
creased the selling rate upon bills to 2 per cent. prem., and
the buying one to par. Gold dust has been held at 765. 6d.
per ounce, but the late accounts, that have reached here, of
the adulteration of the al parcels sent by the Roxburgh
Castle, have paralyzed the market, and to a great extent
stopped the business,. The eagerness with which every par-
cel was taken by the greedy and inexperienced buyers, in-
cited the dishonest dealer to adulterate his parcels: but
now, we expect, that the business will be carried on in •
legitimate and proper way, and that no parcels will change
hands until they have been melted and assayed. There is
no scarcity of properly qualified persons here to melt and
essay, we therefore expect that few persons will venture to
purchase a valuable article like gold dust, on which the
profit is so small, without taking some other means of fix-
ing accurately its value, than examining it with the naked

eye."

AN EXTRAORDINARY ESCAPE.—On Thursday night
last as a Barnsley vessel, heavily laden with timber, was
proceeding up the Trent fretn Hull to Osinsboreugh, she
suddenly capsised near Atthorpe Ness, in consequence of
the tide flowing very strongly and her cargo being piled teo
high on her deck. The master, James Bray, and another
man and a boy, succeeded in getting safely to shore ; but
a little boy, 7 years of age, was left in the cabin, it being
impossible to get at him, and it was feared he must perish.
The 'easel shortly afterwards drifted, keel uppermost, to a
sand bank, when the persons in charge of the vessel heard
the little fellow crying out. ILI was told to stop quietly
where he was, and as he did not seem to know what had
happened, they represented that the key of the hatches was
Inst. About 5 o'clock the nett morning, when the tide had
gone down and left the vessel nearly dry, a hole was cut
into her and the boy was taken out. He was saturated
with wet, having been at one time up to the neck in water.
Otherwise he was not injured. Had the hole been cut
when the tide was up, the vessel would have filled and
sunk, and the boy would have been drowned.

OXFORD, IVoIteEsTER, AND WOLVERHAMPTON
RAILWAY.—An uuderstanding, it is stated, has been come
to between this company and the London and North
Wi stern, and a treaty determined on by which the South
Wales traffic or the Worcester end Hereford line will peas
over the Oxford, Worcester, and Wolverhampton line, the
general traffic of the latter to be continued into London by
means of the Liackingluunhia bread.