COMMERCIAL ITEMS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 845, 17 June 1910, Page 8

COMMERCIAL ITEMS.

INVESTMENT SHARES. Tlio transactions recorded yesterday were Union Steaxn at £1 13s. 6d.; Taranaki Petroleum, 13s. 4Jd.; National Bank, buyers £5 195.; Equitable Building, buyers £9. 7s. 6d.; ' Metropolitan Building, buj'ers £12; Wellington Trust and £7 75.; Wellington Deposit, buyers.Bs. Id.; National Mortgage, buyers £3 45., sellers £3 65.; New Zealand and River Plate, buyers £2; | Gisborno Gas, sellers £2 125.; Napier Gas, \ £5 paid, buyers £12 55., sellers £12 .10s.; 1 Wellington Gas, £10 paid, buyers £18 55., £6 15s. paid, buyers £13 7s. 6d.; National Insurance, buyers £1 95.; South British, buyers £3 2s. 6d.; Standard Insurance, buyers £1 45.; Christchurch Meat, buyers £12 17si 6d.; Gear Heat-, £4 paid, buyers £10, £1 paid, buyers £2 135.; Meat Export, third issue, buyers £2 18s.;'Union Steam, buyers, £1 13s. 6d.; Wellington Woollen, ordinary, buyers £3 . 4s. 6d., preference,' buyers £2 95.. sellers £2 10s.; Taupiri Coal, buyers 19s. 6d.; Wcstport Coal, buyers £695., sellers £6 10s.; D.1.0., preference, buyers £1 2s. 3d.; Leylaud-O'Brieu Timber, buyers £1 55.; Manning and Co., buyers £4; New Zealand Drug, buyers £2 Bs.; New Zealand • Paper Mills, sellers £1 3s. 3d.; Taranaki Petroleum, buyers 135., sellers 13s. 9d.; Taringamutu Totara Sawmills, buyers £1 75.; Ward and Co., buyeTS £4 17b. 6d., sellers £5. W. AND A. M'ARTHUR. Tho roport,of W. and A. M'Arthur, Ltd.,' for tho year ended January 31 last states that, tho net. profits for the period, after making provision for the depreciation of leases, furniture, fixtures and plant, and for bad debts, .arid reserving £20G0 for discounts and doubtful' debts, amount to £21,064., After deducting directors', trustees' ana auditors' fees and managing director's remuneration, debenture interest and reserve for income tax, together amounting to £13,020, there is a balance of £8044. From this sum must bo deducted £2957 for dividend paid on the five and a half per cent, preference shares for the half-year ended July 31, 1909, leaving a balance of £5086.' To this must be added £364, brought forward, making an available balance of £5450., The. directors recommend that, £3044 be appropriated for payment o! dividend, at the-rate of 5* per cent. per. annum on the preference shares for. the half-year ended January 31 last, and that £2QCO be placed to reserve, leaving a balanco to carry forward of £406. WOOL EXPORTS. Tho following is a statement of Austra* lasian wool exports from I 'July' s lj 1909, to May 31, 1910, compared with the corresponding period of last season, compiled by Messrs. Dalgety and Co., Ltd.:— . ' 1909-10. ;1908-09. | State. .'Bales Bales. I Victoria ' 498,179 449,202 N.S. Wales 904,458 894,007 ' i • Queensland 213.461 163,707 ' I S. Australia 160,560 162,454 • W. Australia /■ 63,651 56,285 j Tasmania 17,304 19,283 I New Zealand 497,396 474,145 j , 2,355,009 2,219,083 ! There is not much change in tho cpmpara- j tivc position of wool shipments from Aus- I tralasia.at May 31, as compared with that on April 30, the increase in tho exports j for tho past eleven months, as against I those for tho corresponding period in tho previous season, being now 135,926 bales, as i compared with 134,035 bales at April 30. . GOLDEN BAY CEMENT. • Tho directors of the Golden Bay Cement Works, Ltd., held a meeting yesterday and allotted 4575 shares, which brings the total issued to date to 56,000 shares, out of 60,G00 offered to the public. The share-list so far as the public is concerned is now closed, and the directors have decided to offer tho small remaining balance to tho existing shareholders. Excellent progress, it was reported, is being mado with the company's undertaking at, Golden Bay. Somo forty men are engaged erecting buildings, preparing sites for machinery, ete., and another gang is busy constructing the wharf, a most substantial struc; ture of Australian hardwoods. Large shipments of machinery have been made by the English manufacturers, and everything points to the works- being in activo operation very early in the new year. FROZEN MEAT. Writing with respect to frozen meat, under date London, May 6, Messrs. W. Wed- ; del and Co. state that "there has been a 1 very good inquiry for lambs during the week, and as stocks iu store are light, values have been well maintained. Prirno Canterbury lamb 3 have been selling freely at 5 3-16 d. to 5Jd. all grades, and Southlands and Wellingtons at sd. to 5 l-16d. Ordinary brands of North. Islands.' realise , 4£d., and secoudary carcasses 43d. to 4&d. I Australian and River Plate lambs are not, plentiful, and the few available I about 4fid. per lb. Mutton has again be-' ! come weaker owing to the accumulation of stocks and the exceedingly poor demand I ruling. Secondary New Zealand sheep are | particularly weak, and sales have been ! mado as low us 3 5-16 d. for wethers dclivI ered at Smithfield. Australian mutton rcI alises about 3Jd. to 33. per lb., with buyers very cautious not to go beyond their I daily requirements. River Plate sheep are ! weak, quotations, although 3d. per lb. 1 higher than for Australians, being only nominal. Small carcasses are ofi'ered at 3gd., and heavies at 3£d.' The beef market is fvrm, but at the higher prices ruling buyers arc operating for only small quantities, quotations being 3!jd. fores and 4i hinds for'all descriptions of frozen beef of good quality. . I LIVERPOOL AND LONDON AND GLOBE INSURANCE. The report of the Liverpool and London and Globe Insurance Company for 1909 states- that the profit and loss account, with the addition of lire and accident profits, and of the intere.s-t earned on the funds other than those of the lite and accident departments, after deducting the amounts paid for the Globe Six per Cent- Perpetual Annuities for 1909, leaves a balance of £1,270,647. Out of this amount £ICO,GGO has been carried to general reserve fund, which now stands at £1,600,000. It is proposed., out of the remaining balance of £1,170,'647,. to pay on each £2 of stock a dividend of 355. on account of the Are and accident departments, and 3s. out of the life profits earned at the end of the last Quinquennium carried for this purpose to this account, making in all 385., free of income tax, leaving a balance at credit of £937,289. On November 22 last, an interim payment of lon. was made on account, and it is proposed to issue warrants for the balance —namely, 22s.—payable on-Juno 23. AVIATION FINANCE. The successes of the cross-Channel aeropianists, M. Blcriot, M. dc Lesseps, and tho Hon. C. S. Rolls have given a great impetus to aviation. Bleriot's historic flight gave a great stimulus to company promotion. Up to then registrations were unostentatious and related us much u> academic concerns as to manufacturing enterprises, but afterwards the scope of joint-stock enterprise in aviation rapidly extended until few fields were left untouched. To this has to be added the fact that many of the established motor coinpanics now undertake the manufacture of these machines, so that the development of the practical side of the science is even greater than is to be gathered from the catalogue of undertaking* scheduled. Altogether up to about the end of April last 41 companies were registered, and their combined nominal capital amounted to £442,200. Many of tho companies are, .of course, insignificant, and some, i»erluij)fi.

the majority, arc ephemeral in character, but it is tlie interest of which they are the fcigu and the manifestation that counts. Most of the work of these early concerns must, in the nature of things, he of a pioneer kind, and its trend is perhaps bettor indicated by the constitution of Aviation Investment and Research, Ltd., than by any other flotation. The object of this venture is described as being to "investigate and turn to commercial advantage tho various branches of aviation," aud it has four committees composedooff f well-known men, whose duty it Is to give' expert advicc respecting types of machines, motive power, and propellers, trial and competition courses, and factories, and appliances and general questions. It is a remarkable proof of the attentiou now being devoted \to aviation matters that within a week of the appcurance of tho company's prospcctus tho secretary announced that no fewer than 60 inventions had been submitted for consideration to tho various committees. . AUSTRALASIAN TEMPERANCE. At the half-yearly' meeting of the Australasian Tempcraiice and General Mutual Lifo Assurance Society, Limited, held in, Melbourne on Juno 3, Mr. Henry MpcUh, who presided, said that the shareholders would remember that last year in tho ordinary department a very ilarge volume of now Imsinoss was written. When, however, the figures came to be analysed, it turned out that that business had cost proportionately more than the society had latterly been accustomed to nay for new business, and, following the principle which tho directors had always advocated, that they would not push for extraordinary figures if by doing so it becamo necessary to increase the price paid for business, they had taken steps to curtail I those sources of new business which were proving tho most costly, and they anticipated that the price paid for new business would this year return to at least tho rate prevailing previously, if not below it. That would probably mean a reduction in tho total amount of business written for the year. In the industrial department the rate of progress and tho proportion of cost, continued to bo about the same as in the previous year, and there appeared to be now no doubt whatever but that the society's funds would show a total of over £1,000.000 nt tho of the. year. Referring to the recent iFsne of recommendations by tho Royal Commission on Insurance appointed by the Federal Parliament, lie said that if recommendations were followed no essential modification would bo cnllcd for in the operations of the society. The oom> mission, however, had failed to discriminate KUfilciyntly between industrial and ordinary life insurance. CUSTOMS REVENUE. Customs revenue collected at Wellington yesterday amounted to £2570 18s. sd. WHEAT. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. London, June 15. The American visible supply of wheat iB 30,569,000 'bushels. TALLOW SALES. By TelcgTaph-tress Association-Copyright. London, June 15. At the tallow auctions, 1170 casks were offered and 321 sold. The following prices were realised:—Mutton—Fine, 365. 6d.; medium, 335. 6d. Beef—Fine, 355. 9d.; medium, 335. ■ AUSTRALIAN PRODUCE MARKETS, "v Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright (Rec. Juno 16, 11.30 p.m.) Sydney, June 16 Wheat.—Little is doing; shippers offer 3s. 3d. to 3s. 4d.; hclders want 3s. sd. to 3s. s!d. Flour, £9. Oats, Algerian feeding, 2s. 3d. to 2s. 4d.; seeding, to 2s. 6d.; sparrowbills, 2s. 6d. Barley, Cape feediug, 35.; seeding, 3s. 2d. Maize, prime local, 2s. 9d. Bran, £4 10s. Pollard, ,£4. Potatoes, Tasmanian, £5 to £6 10s. Onions, £4; picklere. £2 10s. Butter, 114s. Cheese, 6Jd. to 7d. Bacon, 5Jd. to 6d. Molbourne, Juno 16. Whoat, 3s. 4sd. to 3s. sd. Oats, Algerian, Is. lOd. to 2s. 2d. Barley, prime malting Chevalier, 4s. 3d.; Cape, 2s. 7d. Maize, 2s. Sid. Bran, £4 10s. Pollard, £3 15s. to £4 15s. Onions, £3. Adelaide, Juno 16. Wheat, farmers' lots, 3s. 2d. to 3s. 3d.; parcels sold at 3s. s£d. Flour, £8 10s. Bran and pollard, ll£d. Oats, Algerian, Is. lid. HIDES MARKET. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. (Rec. June 16, 11.30 p.m.) Melbourne, Juno 16. In tho hides market competition was dull. > Medium and heavy sorts were *a farthing lowers m Kips wero unchanged. O.C. AND D. CO. v ' (By Telegraph.—Press. Association.) Napier,. June 16. The Colonial Consignment and Distributing, Company to-day cabled tho followiug report on frozen meat:—Mutton market steady, but value of lamb declined. The supply of beef being more plentiful, there is a considerable fall in value. To-day's prices: Mutton—Canterbury, 4d.; Napier, Wellington and North Island, 3j|d. LambFirst quality, s§d.; second, s'jd, BeefHinds, 4d.j force, 3gd.