GENERAL MERCHANDISE.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18413, 20 June 1925, Page 12

GENERAL MERCHANDISE.

GROCERIES, .ETC.

Whc!c3a"o merchants report. business aJ fair, with-plenty of room for improvement.

A new biscuit factory has been equipped at Tiroaru and has now etarteel manufacturing. The output is o: excellent quality.

Xew zeason - 3 saknon priet-2, which opened abr.nt {en days ag' % , aro'still very firm and likely • to advance. Already Mine grades are eokl out, and quotations have been withdrawn. Intending buyers would be vf'A advised to operate early. Prices are out for new season's Turkish figs. The values are higher than last season. Tho market .is stated .to b©" firm -nd prices aro likely to bo fully maintained. Hams for . December deliver? aro no-.v being offered at Is' Id a lb. Should the export trado to Sydney set in this year again for hams, retailers hero will look in vain for cheaper quotations. The "Waihcmo recently landed : supplies of Thompson's raisins, which met with a ready sale, and several parcels wero cleared ez wharf.

The recent rise of Id per lb in. the price of butter is likely to cause a hardening in the cheeso market. To buyers of this product contracts at the present time . based 03 present values should be Rood dealing. A steamer v.ith sugar on board- was scheduled to leavo Auckland about last Thursday. If she got away her cargo ehotild bo hero abnut Monday.' ' .

Onions are now reported to be very high in price in Australia, making importation at. present impossible. Sellers <m the other fiide refuse to • sell forward, holding that this practice la3t year caused thorn heavy losses.

Tvro independent messages were received in Chmtchurch this week stating, that a maritime strike in -Melbourne, and probably in Sydney, is almost bound to coinc.' about in'the'.Tory near future. - Importers of rice, macaroni, etc., are reported to be ordering'. for early dispatch, -in view of this event coming about.. The spread of electric reticulation throughout Canterbury has reduced considerably tho sales of kerosene and cand!c3. This month a. complete installation has been made, in Darfield, and bo another town will now ceaso to order kerosene and.candles in ths quantities ot the past. .Electricity- means tho dcutii-in'ock to the kerosene, trade.

SHARES IN LEVER BROTHERS.

DECLINE WHEN FOUNDER DIED

It is a remarkablo -tribute to tho business reputation of tho late Lord Loverhulnjc, ■. says an Knglish newspaper, :that the news cf his death should c'auso cj. sharp fall in the valuo of the shaTC3'6f hia company—for, whatever -may have been tho case in the past,"thero are rowadays very-few large companies indeed of which it could be eaid'that-the 'death ot the chairman would bo in tho least likely to have any market reflection.. In, tho case, of Levers there is..perhaps' a ep'cclal cause for tHo market movement,-'apart-from the quite exceptional, role'which its'founder had played in its development, in' the' fact that so largo a.part of its capital is in'tho -hands of small people unversed in ;• investment, and,likely to exaggerate tho iudispeusability of ono man, however remarkablo hi 3 cpialitios, to. a modern' gigantic, trading organisation.. '. Another paper eays:—-When tho-death of Lord Lcverhulmo became known the shares of-Lever Brothers-declined- in . anticipation of tho, chairman's'large, hdlding'being Bold.. Subsequontfy when it was . announced that his' shares would" not be placed] on the markot -thei£..waß.: a' rccdveTjri -whidh: .left vonly unimpoitiint declines.' Irord 'Eey'erhulmo'-'had his" own views of financo 'and' of the facilities :wbicb banks' should;, provide,', hut there is no doubt of'/the immense success which .ho achieved. -Lever Brothers ,wais: only ".registered aa a' p'ubiio" company in 1894, -but. since then it* issued sharo ' capital haa risen to over f3G,000;000, with ,a, debenture debt of £7,967.005. In addition to . its business at. Port Sunlight it.,-.has .• interests in over 200 pasocia.tcd companies. At one time it was thought that Lord.Lcverhulmo was... going ahead-too rapidly, hut, 0f:,,-late ;'-.years..the finances, of Lover ,-B.rbs. have. been.placed on a sounder -footinff," and-, his' death -is,; not expected'to cause any interruption-to the profitable -character' of.- the/business' he' huilt up - . .- ,--. ... -■;.,•-. .- "••;■- v

BARLEY GRbWING*

ESTIMATED' COST AND PROFIT.

'(3PECIiL-aO r '",TEE rRESS.") • ; . BLENHEIM, June 19. ' Figures showing the'eost'of prbduclne-an! aero of barley. and the profit a farmer may. make from, it we're placed before tho Blenheim branch of the Farmers' Union. Tho. fiverago cost of on acre of -land- was fixedatiso, nnd>the average yield at 40 bushels of. barley. . - . ,- : '■■'■■/ . ■■■■ ,' •. : ■ The various items, of expense in producing: an acre of the crop Wore as follows: —Ploughing twico-'-JBl' 2s, harrowing' thrice -4s ' 6d, rolling twice Gs, Cultivating once I :3s-6d, *owing Ss, soed (af.tho rate of IJ'.bushels) 9s Cd, manuro (at tho rato'of,l ewt) .95,.-reap-. in""-ls, twine Hs '4d stooking 28,03, stacking 12s Od, throshiug 12s 6d, rates,' insurances, etc., 10s 4d, -icarting-to store 5», interest on.tho land, (at: 64. per ..cent.) £3-ss; total, £8 0s Bd. ' . -, ■ ;,,.,- ,■• . ' - A crop-'of '4O bur.hels, sold at ,os. per bushel, would yield £lO, leaving, a net profit to the farmer of £1 10s 4_d, or 9d a bushel. The consensus.,of opinion at. tho meeting was that tho return the fanner received for his. labour : was , not fa.ir ot adequate.

HERD'TESTING.

SUBSIDY REQUESTED.

'■■■ AVEIiLtXGTOK; June 19. • Adeputation from' tho Heir Zealand Cooperative Herd-Testing Association, v on tho Hon. "\V. Nosworthy to ask for .'a subsidy to en'ablo. herd-testing' to be made general. It was 'stated that an'., increase of 101b in tho production per. cow would mean 'an extra £1,000,000, and., if • the average could bo Increased from 1661b :to 'isolb, which could be done in si.x years, £6,000,000 moro would come into tho Dominion.'., :' : ' ' Mr W. Grounds; chairman of thf> Dairy Control Board, supported tho application. Tho average production in New, Zealand was stated to be 1731b as against 2481b;- In Denmark. Herd testing was now; applied in a-nuniber of countries.-. The sum of Is per cow was suggested as the amount the Government should find. The Minister . gave n sympathetic reply. Finance ;was- the -deciding -factor, but "he would go. carefully into the question and' koo what could be done.

PREFERENTIAL TARIFF; (PHZ63 ASSOCIATION-UHLBGKAM.) • •■'' WELLINGTON, June 19. Amendments to conditions governing : the admission of goods to New Zealand under the British, preferential tariff will not apply till January. Ist next. Until March 31st, 1020, various forms of iron and ' manufactures tnerofrom, and paper manufactured in Britain or British countries (from raw material of foreign or part origin) ..will, be. entered for import into New Zealand under tho British preferential tariff.

SOUTH -AMERICAN/MEAT.' The New Zealand Moat Producers'. Board has received n cablegram from its representative vat Buenos •■ Aires; advising ' the following shipments- to. the United Kingdom for the fortnight ended June 11th, 1925, from Argentine and , Uruguay:— 224,650- quarters chilled beef, 40.241 quarters' -frozen beef, 71,697 carcases ■frezen mutton, 69,393 - carcases ■ frozen lamb. .-. ■-....'•■-.-

. The quantity shipped to - the Continent of Europe during the. same period totalled 168,550 quarters frozen beef; '12,92 V carcases frozen mutton.