( XXX ) 
Cheese. — Lower prices have been the rule rather than the exception 
during the past year, as the supplies of cheese have heen more abundant 
than previously, and the consumption of the article, through ungenial 
weather in the summer months, has lost ground without being able to fully 
recover it again. English cheese has played a more than usually active 
part in the trade of 1888, having often been freely offered at cheap rates 
when other kinds were held firmly for some advance, and the quality being 
reliable and equally suited to an ordinary or a high-class family demand, 
larger quantities than most commonly believed have been cleared off at 
quotations many shillings below those in preceding years. 
Early in the year, operations in American were much cramped by the 
prevailing high rates, but the value has since descended to a veiy reasonable 
point. At the close of September, the top prices for the best goods (in- 
cluding fancy Canadian) were from 43s. to 48.s., and for " over-kept " parcels 
36s, to 42s., in contrast with 58s. to 62s. for the finest qualities in January 
1888. During the last three months of 1888, however, more firmness has 
been apparent, and the choicest grades have been taken at a gradual re- 
duction of 10s. per cwt. — say at 58s. to 60s. per cwt. Dutch cheese has 
likewise been much cheaper than before, as, coming into keener competition 
with other sorts, importers have been imable always to insist upon the en- 
hanced rates formerly current being paid, and the bulk of the transactions 
reported month after month have been on terms below 50s. per cwt. for 
both Edams and Goudas, with Friesland Cheese as low down as 20s. to 34s. 
New Zealand cheese has formed an entirely new feature in the market, and 
has commanded relatively good prices, viz. from 46s. to 668. for good and 
fine makes, with the promise of a growing trade in the future. 
