THE MONEY MARKET.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 4, 30 September 1907, Page 7

THE MONEY MARKET.

Tho open- market discount rate for best three, months' hills is 1.16 lower at 3f per cent. The Bank rate is 4J per cent. 1 COLONIAL AND OTHER PRODUCE. Wheat.—Tho market has experienced a.slight reaction owing to heavy shipments and the official estimate of the French crop at 46,700,000 quarters, which leaves a surplus of eight or nine million quarters in excess of domestic requirements and available for export. The American markets are firm, owing ,to large demand in Europe and reports of frosts which have seriously damaged Canadian crops, Australasian cargoes are firm with few offering. Victorian September-October shipment is held for •Us. (the highest quotation for 25 years). Australian spot is quoted at 40s. Gd. to 41s. Gd.,'and New Zealand is nominally worth-38s. to. 395. for short-berried and 395. to 40s. for' long-berried. : Flour is receiving more enquiry. Patent brands are quoted in London at 275. to 275. , 6d.... ' Butter.—-The market is quiet, though firni/ There have been a few sales oi choicest Victorian and New South Wales at 112s. for salted, up to. 116s. foi unsalted. There is no demand foi stored butter. Sugar.—Market is quiet. German beet, f.o.b. Hamburg, 10s. per cwt.; firs', marks, ljs. 9d. . ... Bradford Tops.—The Bradford market is strong, with an improved enquiry. Forties IGM., forty-sixes 17id., common sixties 28d„ super 29d. The London sales saw keen competition for all descriptions, and in sellers' favour. The' Gear "clip ' wad' sold" for lljd. . . -. Sheepskins.—At the sheepskin, saler 4400 bales -Australasia]] offered, practically all sold., There was a. full attendance of buyers and fair competition. Compared with last auctions, merino combings are Id. dearer, merino clothings unchanged,' fine crossbreds jd. dearer, and coarse crossbreds Jd. lower. METALS. . Copper.—Spot, 15s. lower, at ,£66 ss. per. ton; three months, 15s. lower, ai .£G6 ss. - ... Tin.—Spot,. 20s. lower, at ,£165 ljs. per ton; three months, ss. higher, .£163 15s. v. Lead, 17s. 6d. higher,, at ,£2l 10s. per ton. . Spelter,.2s. Gd. higher, at .£2O 15s. per ton. Iron, unchanged, at £2 15s. 9d. pa ton. Silver is quoted at 2s. 7 3-lGd. for l;is share, or, in fact, ever was called upon to pay for it. Each looked to his employer, W., to provide any money which might be required to be paid in respect of, the beneficial ownership of the shlies Each )!' thriin would have considered hiinse'i bound to deal with the shares as requested by W;, and each was aware of the position of the plaintiff towards the company. 'It was .u\>ucd oi' the defendants who claimed to bts lisnificjally entitled to the shares in question, torios of a memorandum who sign ii without being told who will indemnify them in respect, of the shares, or thai, the shares were not a present,-incur the risk of being called en lo undertake the liability attaching lo the beneficial ownership of the shares, and are !ikc wise entitled to this benefit, (if any) to 1)0 derived from . such Hi< lordship, however, made a declaration .that the defendants were nut beneficially eutitled to the shares in que-ition ■ bar held them as trustees for tin plaintiff. SHIPBUILDING. The returns of shipbuilding for the first half of the year are not as satisfactory us could be desired. Froir. the returns compiled by Lloyd's Register of Shipping, it appears that, excluding warships, there were 561 vessels of 1,250,318 tons gross under construction in the United Kingdom on' June 30 last. This was 50,000 tons less than at the en dof March, and 150,000 ton." less than the aggregate toimagebuildin;: .twelve months ago. The figures for the United States show a slight shrinkage but those for Germany and France show considerable recovery. The tonnage under construction at June 30, in the several countries, compare as under:— 1907. 190 G. it .. , Tons. Tons. United Kingdom... 1,250,318 1,409,456 United States ... 117,256 124,237 Germany 278,7G2 2G9.238 Franco 100,336 . 32,628 Of the 564. vessels building in the United Kingdom, 501 aggregating 1,236,230 tons were steam vessels. THE BANK OF FRANCE. During the financial panic in March last, the Bank of France released .some of its gold with the view of helping the market, but a few weeks later set about reconstituting its reserve, of gold. From the first week in May to tho second week in July no less than ,£8,290,506 was added to the stock, which then stood at the enormous sum of ,0111,933,599, but the note circulation of this bank is very larxe. 'At tin dato named it amounted to <£191,886,169. In France, as in Germany, little, usis made of the cheque, bank-notes being largely employed in the settlement of even big accounts. At Hie beginning of this year the note circulation of the Bank of France consisted of ,£G1,534,000 in ~-IO (lOOOf.),. notes. •£12,297,120 in- ,C2O (509f.), .£101,968,026 in <£4 (lOOf.) notes, and ,£25,168,754 in ~£2 (50f.) notes. There wore also a few old 25f., 20f., and sf. notes still in circulation, making together .£201,001.322. The note issues of the Imperial Bank of Germany were .£19,831,400 in <£'511 (1000 m.) notes, <C'Gt,538,080 in .(.'5 £2,634,325 in £2 10s., and .£1,791,026 in £1 (20m.) notes, making a total of .£88,794,531. Ky far the greatest numbers were -£4 "or .€5. Neither of those banks issues the notes of large amounts which are to be found in the issues of tho Bank of England and ill some other countries.

WOOL. The 190G-7 wool season has been a satisfactory ono for Argentina, as, though tho quality turned out smaller than in tho previous season, the quality of tho clip was excellent and realised nood' prices. The outlook in tho middle of July was said to be eminently favourable. The abundant and general rains of 'the previous mouth put tho grazing ground in good condition, tiio flocks were in fine condition to faco the winter, and were remarkably free from sickness. Everything justifies tho expectation that the coming clip will be considerably in excess of Inst year's.' In the neighbouring Kcpublic of Uruguay, the prospects of tho coming clip were excellent, and tho iiocks aro reported in fine healthy condition.

A Leicester authority, writing on the now clip of home-grown wool, says:— The main results of this season's sales may be summed up in this way.. Taking 29,000,01)) as - the number of sheep shorn this season and the yield of their wool at about 200,000,0001b., there lias been an average decline of fully 2jd. per lb. on the rates of last season. This gives a total decline in the value this year of over .£2,083,000. Last year tho clip of an equal number of sheep produced, about ,£11,060,000, and this season ,£9,583,000, tho direct and immediate result of the grower being a loss this year as compared with last of 083,OOO! This heavy decline is based on the 1 estimated reduction of ss. lOd. per tod of 281b. on the average; but a great (leal of wool has changed hands at an actual decline of 6s. (id.., to 7s. per tod as contrasted witli last year's result?. . The reduction in values -is greater than was anticipated, especially when it is remembered that the consumption is very heavy, with every prospect of its continuance, while tht supplies are of very moderate extent and considerably below the average. The demand is-practically unbounded as far. as- quantity is concerned, but there has been a practical demonstration of the strict limitations as to price. Tho control and domination o! manufacturing conditions have been strikingly exemplified. • - • : COTTON V. WOOL, Tho position of consumers may be stated thus:—"We must have raw material, but we must have it at a price, and .if we cannot have wool which we and our customers prefer at that price, then wo must have cotton. We havo now to compete with the whole world, and particularly with German, Belgian, French, and America;, manufacturers, who have a3 good and as efficient machinery as we havo. .We have somo natural advantages; but wo have also ecuiiouuc disadvantages whicn largely equalise the position, and we must, have cheap wool to maintain our trade aud to meet competition." I'oi the present that claim has been established, and there is every indication that it will be maintained to a greater or less extent for a considerable period, or till somo more powerful factor comes into play. As a matter' of fact, the strength of the manufacturing position for cheap wool is exceptionally great. It seems as if the fixed price for enormous quantities of many classes ol manufactured goods and fabrics hat brought into active force or into promineuco aii important principle. Once t low -pripo has been iixod and brought iiito oxtensive operation it is almost impossible to revoko it, at all events sc long as there is a raw material eithei by/itself or in combination with otliert out of which the goods can be manufactured at the given low rates. Thai seems to bo the fundamental principh which iir actual operation has brough. about the enormous displacement o: wool by cotton and the blending of tin. two raw materials on a very big scale. Cheap wool, it is recognised, will bri:n about a great increase in the consumption, but it has to be remembered tha; even at the lower rates now in foret tho best growths of home-grown woo! are still 75 to 100 per cent, dearer thai they wero about nvo years ago. And yet* in many .branches .of the wooile; industry manufacturers are still fac. to face with the demand for fabrics a almost oxactly the same wholesale am retail rates which prevailed when woo.' 'iras practically at'half its present value. On the other hand, it is true that tli Itome demand for almost all classes o goods has greatly revived, and tho colonial trade has shown a great expansion These changes. havo not, however diminished the overwhelming domain for oheap fabrics, which have become an enormous proportion of the businessdone. Hence these changes, which o: the faco of them might seem to givt a hardening tendency to,raw material, in reality accentuate the necessity foil low range of prices. Find came vei? cheap all-wool yarns and fabrics. Then .is tho trade grew by leaps and bound.' and the price of wool advanced, tin demand for cheap yarns and fabric: remained, and even extended. As thr irico limit was fixed, producers had l; 1 bring more cotton into use until tli original woollen yarns became coin riosed of half wool and half cotton, aw Frequently a good deal more. In fact, tho fabrics in many cases have a mor facing or veneer of wool to give a sof'and warm effect to tho cotton. It is of course, difficult to say whether thi; is the only factor which has brought about the present great declino in tli? orico of home-grown wool at a time oi large consumption and very moderate supplies, but at all events it hf.: ilaycd a very important part.—"Th; Timos." ' '

DREDGING RETURNS. I

The following returns arc reporter j-om Dunedin Electric No. 2, lOloz 15dwt.; Mystery _ Flat, GOdz. sdwt. iVaikaia, 310z.; Nov." f v i\> —v 1, Sloz.; Mas tor ton, 2ioz. sdwt.; Hartley .and I?.iley, ITok. ; linnicn i'Oliy, ju» 18dirt,; Hessey's. 12oz. lidwt.; Switzer.]2oz< 12dwt ; Central Chailton, 12oz. iOrtirt. '

MINING NEWS.

Dunedin, September 28. Dredging returns: Waikaka Unitei' No. 1, 30oz. 15divt.; Waikaka Unitei N'o. 2, 13oz. 7(1 wt.; lilackwater River IGoz.;'Sandy Point, l!oz. Bdwt. 12gr., bailor's ' Bend, lOOoz.; Manuherikia 770z.; Kopntai, Gsoz. 17 divt.; Rise am 11, 560z. Bdwt.; New "First Chance■ll., 'l3od. 7dwt.; Waikaka United I. :)ooz. Gdwt.; Cralton Creek, 230z.; 'Enter-S-lv.'t.; Charlton Creek, 230z.: Enter nrise, 200z.; Rise and Shine I, 19oz. Waikaka Queen, 18oz ladwt.; Cluth: River, lGoz. 15dv.-t.; Sandy Point, Host Sdvt. 12frr. i Central Charlton, 12oz. lOdwt.; Punt, lioz. 7dwt-i, Chicago Ooz. 3dwt.