536 PRICES OF LIVE STOCK. 

average price has been obtained by summarising, month 
by month, the prevailing prices of first and second quality 
cattle, as represented in the aggregate of the returns from 
the thirteen places above specified. This now affords 
a fairly reliable indication of the general trend of 
market values throughout that period. The following 
table shows the course of average live weight prices per 
hundredweight, so ascertained, for each month of the years 
1899 and Igoo. 








Good, | | Prime, 
or Second Quality. or First Quality. 
Per cwt. | Per cwt. 
Months. | 
1900. | 1899. 
E | 
Wee) a a x. ate | 
January” - - - | 34 8 | a2 2G | 
February - - - | 34 6 | 32 -6 | 
March - - - 34 2 32 I0 
April - . - - 324 33° 2 
Mayan oa ef 35 6 33 4 
jane - - - - | 37 4 | acr 82 
july - - - -[| 3610 | 35 4 
August - - - 36 0 | 33" A | 
September - : - | a 2 | 22 Be | 
October - - - 34 2 32 | 
November - - - 34 2 23. 4 | 
December - : - | 24 34 4 | 



The considerable rise of values thus shown to have 
occurred in the summer months of 1900 was followed by a 
decline, and the mean live weight price at the whole of 
the selected markets stood at a lower level at the end 
than at the commencement of the year. The diagram on 
the opposite page traces the course of these prices. 
In commenting on these returns for 1899 it was noted with 
satisfaction that there had been a considerable increase in 
the number of recorded sales of fat cattle at an agreed on 
