The Sun.
London, England, 1846-09-10 00:00:00

COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.

" CORRIENTES, MAY 15
—On my first arrival here,
the prospects were not of the most flattering kind, but
little by little they have improved, owing partly to the
arrangements which we English made amongst our-
selves, and partly in consequence of the parties who
brought up small, facturas having retailed them them-
selves or otherwise disposed of them, thits leaving the
market open to those who had any quantity of goods,
and who were not over urgent to effect sales ; but
the' greatest mischief was, in the first instance, done by
those of the convoy who arrived first; they knowing
that more goods were coming up, and fearful of being
undersold, disposed of their goods at the best prices they
could obtain. This for a time kept prices low. Those
who arrived afterwards soon found out the state of the
case, and the greater part then took shops, which kept
the goods out of the hands of the dealers. I was all
along under the impression that the dealers must even-
tually pay us good prices for our goods, or else do with-
out them; but as it was necessary to be doing something,
without pushing sales, I sold whenever I could obtain a
price to leave a fair profit. You will be aware of the
prices from the notes of sales I have sent down, and
which I trust will be satisfactory. The dealers here
are for the most part young men, who came
up from Buenos Ayres with facturas, by the
former convoys from that place. They esta-
blished themselves here, collected hides, &c.,
and are now sending down part to pay fur the goods
they brought up; the remainder they have sold to raise
funds for purchasing goods here, and having but small
capital they can only buy in proportion to their means.
Some few of the dealers have been established here for
rs long time ; these complain of bad times, and it is evi-
dent they have to make way for younger and mere active
men. I trust, you will be satisfied with my proceedings
in having taken a shop, for I see it is the cheapest way
I have of collecting produce at the lowest prices ; being
in small lots they can always be bought cheaper than in
larger quantities, and the extra profit on the goods will
far more than cover the additional expense. The amount
or value of the goods purchased by the Paraguayans in
this market, from my arrival to the present time, I cal-
culate at 6,000 dollars, or at most 8,000 dollars ; they
'would have bought more had they brought more money,
but the export duty of 10 per cent. on specie out of• P-
araguay is a great drawback to money being extracted
from that republic. The Correntine Government have
not yet arranged the duties on imports, and the Congress
is not sitting. I spoke to-day with the collector, who is
also treasurer, and he will regulate the duties as soon as
he has a little leisure ;- he is at present quite occupied
with the accounts of the imports anti exports.
" I wrote down on the 11th, with particulars of some
goods which I consider will do well here in the course of
two, three, or four months hence ; and it would be well
to have them ready, especially if we determine on
establishing a house here. Several persons have gone
down, with the intention of returning with articles suit-
able for the market.

" Hides have fallen in price to 24 to 26 reels, and I
expect to buy very soon at 20 reals, es there are now
searcelY any purchasers, If I could be sure of your