COMMERCIAL ITEMS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 824, 24 May 1910, Page 8

COMMERCIAL ITEMS.

INVESTMENT SHARES. No sales in investment shares were recorded yesterday, a not unusual Monday feature. There were comparatively few quotations, there being more buyers than sellers. National Hank, buyers .£5 165.; Equitable Building, buyers £9 55.; Wellington Trust and Loan, buyers £7 3s. 6d.; Gear Meat, £4 paid, buyers £10 ss. j £1 jiaid, buyers £2 145.; New Zealand Shipping, buyers £8; Jlikurangi Coal, buyers 19s. 6d.; Taupiri Coal, sellers 19s. 9d.: Westport Coal, buyers £6 55., sellers £6 Bs,; Leyland-O'Brien Timber, buyers £1 4s. 3d.; Sharland's ordinary, sellers £1 Is. 9d.; Taringarautu Totara Sawmills, buyers £14s. LONDON MONEY MARKET. The Bank of Englaud discount rate was raised from 3 to 4 per cent, on March 17, so that wo have had this high rate for practically ten weeks. The advance of tlxe bank rate in March has been unknown for 32 years, which in itself is significant, and to have had the rate held at 4 per cent, for ten weeks means a good deal. Originally, no doubt, the political crisis over the Finance Bill cauFid the money market to take an unfavourable turn, but that is not a disturbing factor now. The revenue is coming iu freely, and in the last return the Govern l went deposits were £17,190,000, as against £12,625,000 in the previous week, and £14,S64.CCO in the corresponding week of last year. There is apparently plenty of money in tho .Bank of England- for the proportion of reserve to liabilities is as high as 53.36 per cent., and was higher in the previous" week. Notwithstanding this 'apparently favourable showing, call money was last week up to £3 17s. 6d. per cent., as against £2 15s. in the previous week. The rate for three months' bills was £3 10s. per cent., as compared with. £1 7s. 6d. per cent, a year ago. Looking at the Bank of England figures for the pa-st four or five weeks, the deposits, other than Government deposits, show rather violent movements. There has ' been a big shrinkage in these deposit's this year, which no doubt accounts for the tightness of the money market. The deposits for the past four wpeks compared with the figures for the corresponding dates of last year, compare as under — 1910. 1909. £ £ April 28 43,508,000 49,691,000 May 5 44,137,000 43,934,C00 • May 12 59,610,000 40,840,000 May 19 35,874.000 40,985,G00 In May there is generally 4. stroug demand for funds from Scottish banks to meet the Whitsuntide payments, but it will be seen that although in both years the decrease from the highest point is practically the'same, the total on May-19 this jear is over five millions less than it was a year ago., Tliero is thus less money available to the markets, and this must be a drag on trade. LONDON MARKETS. Messrs. Dalgety and Company, Ltd., report having received the following cablo message from their London : house, under date May 28.—Frozen Meat.—The market for mutton is weak, but without quotable change, except for Australian, for whicli holders are asking fcd. to Ed. more. Lamb | is in very good demand,, with prices firm at last quotations, Canterbury, however, being higher. Prices for . beef are Jd. to ; Id. higher, and there is a large demand for best descriptions. c BRITISH SHIPPING RETURNS. The returns of Lloyd's Register for the first quarter of the current year shows that tho total gross tonnage of steam and sailing vessels launched amounts to 1,057,636 tons, as compared with 912,272 tons for the corresponding .period of last year. The tonnage now under construction is -about 144,000 tons more than that in hand at the end of the previous quarter, and also exceeds by about the satno amount the total building twelve months ago. The total under construction at the present time under the supervision of Lloyd's Register is 356 vessels, of 948,098 tons. Of these, the largest number, 266, is being built in the United Kingdom for Home account, and 48 for foreign and colonial account. Tho number of ships which are in course of construction abroad for United Kingdom is four, and for foreign and colonial account 68.

The number of steam- and sailing vessels being built abroad for foreign account and over 100 tons is , 252, with a gross of 490,191. It will thus'be seen that the number of ships of this class 'under construction at Lloyd's exceeds tlioso under construction abroad by 134 vessels, or a tonnage of 457,907 tons. Warships to the number of 77 and of 3C3,h05 tons displacement are under construction in the United Kingdom, this being the largest tonnage for warship 6 reported since September, 1904, Seven of this number are ordered for foreign or anonymous account.

LOSSES OP COTTON SPINNERS. [• A very unfortuuato state of affairs' is disclosed by the balance-sheets of the Lancashire cotton-spinuing companies. It appears that one hundred of these spinning companies, representing six millions sterI ling of capital, have disclosed losses on 1 tho past quarter's working amounting in tho aggregate. to £20,000. Dear cotton is the principal , cause assigned for this-most unfortuuato state of affairs. In the light of theso results, the treatment accorded to Mr. Patten, the American cotton mauipulator, by the Manchester Exchange, is .not greatly to be wondered at, if it cannot be altogether excused. TUB TRANSVAAL OUTLOOK. With the opening of tho first Parliament of the TJnion of South Africa, now near at hand, South Africa will claim a good deal of' attention from the rest of the Empire. The outlook in the Transvaal appears to bo very favourable, and the chairman, the Eon.** Hugh Crawford, of the National Bank of South Africa, at the annual meeting of shareholders hold in Pretoria, made the following interesting remarks on' the mining, industrial \nd agricultural position of the Transvaal:—"The year has been one of advancement—gradual, it is true, during tho first half, but increasing during the past 6ix months, and at tho present moment, I am pleased to say, giving evidence, of continuing in a satisfactory manner. It has also been a prosperous one to many of tho large financial corporations which are connected with the South African mining and investment business. The sharemarket since we last mot has firmed up very satisfactorily, and the benefits therefrom have been

widespread. During the year extensive developments havo taken place in , the mining industry, and the number of white employees has increased by about . 3000, with beneficial results to tho trade of tho Rand and district. Our valuable connection with the important mining companies goes on increasing, and evidenco of this is shown by the much larger shipments of native gold effected through us, our figures being for 1909, £12,202,000 out of total exports from tho Rand of £30,259,000, as compared with £10,181,000 out of £29,594,000 for 1908. The tin industry has made progress, and-the value of the output of this metal has increased

from £97,128 in 1908 to £227,752 in 1909. Prospecting is being actively carried on, and hopes of further rich discoveries are entertained. Tho coal production in tho Transvaal has also increased, the values being £793,949 for 19C8 and £916,452 for 1909. Railway construction in tho Trans, vaal is being extended in various directions and the general business of the

country is improving steadily, the number of insolvencies in British ■ South Africa having fallen fr6m 1409. in 19C8 to 1194 in 1909. The farming community specially has benefited largely by the favourable seasons which we have eu-

joyed, the crops as a rule being good and the live stock increasing satisfactorily. The .Land and Agricultural Bank of the Transvaal is still lending out large sums to farmers, over £500,000 having been drawn, from that source during tho year. Our institution was fortunate in the early part of the year in success-

fully floating for the municipality of Pretoria a loan of £1,000,000, thus securing for our bank a fair share of the total loans issued in which South African municipalities were interested. The value of imports for the twelve months ended December 31, 1909, into British South Africa amounted to £29,842,056, as compared with £26,202,855 for the same period to December 31, 1908, or an increase of £3,639,201. The exports for t.lie respective periods amounted to £51,151,<163, as compared with £45,870,714, an increase of £5,274,749. Together, these improvements make a total of £8.913,950, a very important increase in the business of the country, and foreshadowing, wo hope, :i further large expansion, which will bring prosperity to all and sundry."

AMERICAN MOTOR INDUSTRY. To tliosc who profess to be unable to where the present output of indiarubber is ffoinp to, unless it is behijr "cornered." the great development of the American' motor-ear trade may come as a revelation. This is undoubtedly the outstanding feature of the motor industry at the moment, and may be fraught with serious consequences to the manufacturers of Great Britain and France. The possibilities of the motor-car as a means of transport have been, perhaps, more fully realised in the United States than anywhere, but it is somewhat of a surprise to learn, on the authority of two of the leaders of the industry in Germany, who have been making an extensive tour of the chief American centres of production, that this year's output will not be far short of 300,C00 cars. The value of this huge output is given at fully <£82,000.000, which works out at about £290 per car. ft is safe to say that the recent development of the industry in the United States has exceeded the expectations of even those who may be reKarded as experts.

l»ast year Mr. Durant, president of tho General Motor Company of New York, predicted that 1910 would be the most successful year the American automobile industry had ever known, and ho placed the output at 200,000 \chieles, of which his own corporation would turn out onefourth. The "Hub," a well-known trade journal in tho States, put last year's production at 125,000 vehicles, and estimated a total. production of 200,000 for IJIO, including 165,000 pleasure vehicles, 50,000 high wlicel vehicles of . the buggy type, and' SCOO steam or electrically-driven cars, but it estimated the total value at only £40,000,000. Since that time the development of the productive capacity has been pushed on with extraordinary energy. The chief centre of the industry is Detroit, where the output this year will approximate 100,000 cars, Flint, Mich., coining next with 41,C00 cars, and, Indianapolis following with 32,000 cars, Cleveland with 32,000 cars,' Tarrytown, New York, with 20,C00 cars, and Lansing, Midi.. with 12,500 cars. CUSTOMS REVENUE.' Customs revenue collected at Wellington yesterday amounted to £1843 12s. FEILDING MARKET REPORT. Messrs. A. H. Atkinson and Co., Ltd. of Feilding, report on - their last weekly sale as. follows:—Pigs were forward in small numbers, and prices show no Quotable change. The poultry pens wore filled, and sold at quotations. A fair Quantity of produce was quitted. Quotations:— Poultry, at per pair: Hens, 25., 2s. 62,, 35.; roosters and cockerels, 2s. 3d., 2s. 6d.. 2s. 9d., 35.; pullets, 2s. 9d.; chicks, is.: ducks. 45., 4s. 9d.; turkeys, 6s. 6d.; Bs., Bs. 6d., 9s. Gd.; P.B. brown leghorn roosters, ss. j and 6s. each. Pigs: Slips, 45., 65., 75.. Bs. | 6d., 10=., lis.; stores and porkers, 12s. 3d., i 13s. 6d., 155., 165., 18s.: Yorkshire boars, 15s. and 275. Produce: Bran. ss. per sack; peas, 155.; wheat, 12s. 6d.; wheat and tares. ss. 6d.; Cheviot. barley. 2s. 7d. and ss. 6d. per bushel; Cape do., 3s. Id.; Algerian; oats, 25..8 d.; maize. 4s. 3d.; potatoes,'table, Bs. fid." to 10s. 6d.; pig do., 35.; onions, 3d. per lb.; pie melons, Is. 6d.. 2s. per sack; marrows, 2s. 6d.; apples, cooking, Id. per lb.; dessert. 2d.; factory bacon, sides, 7d ; hams, Bid.