Dec. 1895.] 



PKICES OF LIVE STOCK. 



371 



tlie 14 places were weighed, although this was better than the 

 2J per cent, of the corresponding quarter of 1894. In Scotland, 

 on the contrary, the proportion of cattle weighed in the three 

 months amounted to 26 per cent., though this is a slight decrease 

 below the 28 per cent, of the third quarter of 1894 : — 



Cattle at Scheduled Places. 



England. 



Scotland. 



3rd 

 Quarter, 

 1895. 



3rd 

 Quarter, 

 1894. 



3rd 

 Quarter, 

 1895. 



3rd 

 Quarter, 

 1894. 



No. entering markets 

 No. weighed - 

 Prices returned 



Prices returned with breed and 

 quality distinguished. 



1 



210,373 227,194 

 6,401 1 5,533 

 3,619 1 3,419 

 3,619 3,419 



60,458 

 15,919 

 15,726 

 10,196 



52,392 

 15,078 

 14,989 

 8,797 



The Metropolitan Cattle Market of London still furnishes 

 more than half the cattle weighed in the 14 scheduled English 

 markets ; indeed London and Liverpool together account for 

 four-fifths of the whole. A continued improvement is to be 

 noted in the returns from Glasgow, where the market arrange- 

 ments have been reorganised, with the result that the Corporation 

 officers are now able to supply a useful record of transactions 

 and prices as ascertained by the weighbridge. On the other 

 hand, it is to be noted that, so far as the past quarter is con- 

 cerned, Bristol and Lincoln again fail to report a solitary 

 instance of cattle having been weighed in the three months. 

 The authorities of Ashford, Leeds, and Wakefield, while report- 

 ing some cases of weighing, are unable to give any information 

 as to the prices of the transactions in those markets, while the 

 reports rendered from Birmingham, Norwich, and York continue 

 very satisfactory. 



Out of upwards of a million sheep shown in the English 

 markets, weighing appears to have been practised in only 4,141 

 cases, and the quotations of prices furnished come almost wholly 

 from London and Liverpool. In Scotland, as in the case of 

 cattle, the reports of the weighing and of the prices of sheep are 

 proportionally more numerous. 



Turning to the prices current for cattle in the third quarter 

 of 1895, the wide range of piices reported may be best seen 

 in the several quotations of the detailed tables appended. 

 These prices, however, it will be seen, occasionally represent the 

 average of but few transactions, A more reliable figure, for 

 purposes of comparison, and one in the nature of an average, is 

 obtained by excluding transactions in store stock, and limiting 

 the inquiry to fat cattle only, and dividing the total of the 

 prices obtained in each grade by the total weight of the animals 

 priced in that grade. The results for the third quarter of the 

 current year, obtained in this manner and compared with the 



H 2 



