COMMERCIAL ITEMS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1043, 4 February 1911, Page 8

COMMERCIAL ITEMS.

INVESTMENT SHARES. A fair business in'investment shares w.13 done yesterday. There were Mies of Equitable Building at £9 15s.j Wellington' Trust and Loan s.t ffl 125., Wellington Woollen, ordinary, at £3 17s. Gd.; Manning and Co. at- £4 10s.; and Ward and Co.-at. £5 Is. The buying and celling quotations were as under:— ; -r;vBuyers. - Sellers. . .£ 8. d. ' £s.dNational Bank -. 515 6 — Tf.Z. ar.d River! Plate 1 19 0' i —'' ; Well. Trust and Loan ... 7 11 6 — Christohurch Gas 10 0 0 10 5 0 Feilding Gas 119 — fiisborne Gas 2 19 0 . • Well. Oas (£6 155.) 13 15 0 ■ ( Well. Gas (new issue) .... 210 0 — ■N.Z. Insurance 4 8 0 — Standard Insurance 1, 7 3 ..- 1 . Gear Meat (£1) 3 2 6 —• Meat Export (525. td.) 3 0 0 — Well. Woollen (orcU 3 17 6 3 18 6 Well. Woollen (pref.) ... 21G 0 . - Taupiri Coal 110 — Leyland-O'Brien —. ■ ' 1 7 J Manning' and Co. 4 9 6 ' - 1 - Miramar, Ltd. ; • — • o*2*6 N.Z. Drug —. . .2. 9 6 TaranaUi Petroleum — 0,13 3 Ward and Co v. — ' 5,1 0 NEW ZEALAND INSURANCE. The balance-sheet of the Now Zealand Insurance Company, Limited, for the yoir ended November 30. 1910, has been circulated. The company has dono very well, and the shareholders have ever? reason te be satisfied. The net premium income for the year, amounted to £605.509, and this was absorbed in lesses. expenses, and profit as under, the ratio to premium Income being shown in each case:— £ Tosses 391,321 eaual 64 63 per cent Expenses ... 172,592 equal 26.50 per cent. .. Profit 41,596 ouual 6.87 per ecnt. 605.5C9 equal IOO.CO per cent. ( Tho underwriting profit was fairly 6ub* ctantial, and to this must be added income 1 d?"ivod from interest and rer.ts, £30.159 and brought forward from the previou? year, £9861, making a total of £81,607 avaiiaole for distribution, aud this amount has been'allotted as^uu^er:— Reserve tod 25,000 Dividend 30.CC0 Bonus 7.500 Provident fund S.CCO Carried forward 14,1uv . £81,607 The investments of the company includo mortgages and shares, £86,657, freshold oflico premises £271,G<0; Government securities and debentures. £407,226; fixed deposits, £15,566, a, total of £781,089. The reserve fund now stands at £220,C00.

LON'DON STATISTICS. The statistics of the London County Council for the year ended March Ji lasi are extremely interesting. The total expenditure of the council under every head of service on both iucaiuo and capital accounts during the year totalled .CM,700.000. The net debt on March 31 last was £51,316,721. The length of tho council's tramways'at !tlie: close of the year was about 136 . route miles, including about 119 miles of electric lines.. The average daily number of cars running is 953 electric cars and 120 horse cars. During the year 451,<39,216 passengers were carried, there being over 21O.CC0.CC0 passengers at penny fares, while 43,160,185 car miles were run. The total receipts amounted, to .over G2,023.000, the working 'expenses totalled €1,234,000, so that there was a balance of nbout £789,C00. AfteT allowing for debt and . other charges, the surplus carried to appropriation account'was £192,109. Tn respect to the housing of tho working classes, new buildings, containing accommodation for 2695 persons' were completed nna opened, the cost of the buildings "mounting to about £79.837. The total number of persons for whom accommodation has been provided by the council, calculated on the bans of two persons to each rcora, is 49,003. During the year 6982 motorcars and cycles were registered and 32.171 drivers were licensed. Tlie total assessable value of the administrative Counts of London oil April 6 war, £41.875,809. an increase of £275,116 upon tho previous year.

NOTES. The risk of Sir. Lloyd-Gcorpc becoming Prime Minister of Fnglind within twelve months has been injured against by Lloyds at 25 guineas per cent. The directors of the Ocean Accident and Guarantee Corporation, Ltd., have appointed Mr. Charles Monte Montefiorc, who, since 1902 has beer, their general manager in Now Zealand, to be their general, manager in Australia', with headquarters" at Sydney. During 19D9 thcTe were 212,529 new life insurance policies issued by the 43 German companies, with an insured amount of £?a,930,634. During the same year 96,801 policies expired. 27,296 with an insured value of £6,145.314 through death of tin? insured, and 12,187 of the value of £3,£63,395 by falling due. The total life insurance policies in the hands of German companies at the end of, 19C9 numbered 2.177,889? with an insured aggregate of £516,^36,168. A decision of commercial importance was recently given by the Irish Master of tho Kolls (Cade and Sons, Limited v. John Daly And' Co., Limited). An action had been brought by the members of a trado protection society against a former member, who had entered into an agreement not to sell certain goods within a specified area at lower prices than those set out in a schcdulo embodied in the agreement* It appears that he had sold goods at lower prices, and an application had been made

for an injunction to restrain liim from further breach of tlie agreement. It bad bc-cn argued by counsel that the devd of agro2i.nont was void and could not legally bo enforotd, being, "in restraint of t-rady." Tho Irish Master of the Rolls, however, decided that the contract was not illegal, and that the Court would uphold it. It-has usually 'been held that an agreement binding one persor. not to compete with another as to prices is unenforceable .it law, but that an undertaking not- to tvado at all within a fpccifiud area is perfectly valid.

Customs revenue collected at the port of Wellington yesterday amounted to £2243 4s. Hd. LONDON WOOL SALES. OROSSEREDS DECLINE. flyTckcrapU—Press Association—CopyrightLondon, February 2. At tho wool sales there was good allround competition and a large ofl'enns. are ceiling at sliEhtly below the opening ratc3. Tile Opaiva clip realised top price—lid., per lh.. average, 91(1.; Gear, Is. and 103 d.; Maxivelltoii, 23d. and 221 d. BETTER AND CHEESE IN LONDON. Foley Bros., Ltd., Tooley Street, London, have sent the following cabled advico to their New Zealand representatives, Messrs. Henry Kember .and Son. Wellington—: ' DAIRY PRODUCE PRIOES. Per cwt. Danish butter, finest salted...' 115s. to Ufa. N.Z. butter, finest salted 106s. to ltßs. Victorian, finest salted 102s. to lMs. Victorian, finest unsalted 104s. to lt6s. N.S.W., salted 101s. to ll;2s. •N.S.W., unsalted JMs. to lC6s. Queensland, salted IC..*. to lC2s. Queensland, v.nsalted 104s. to l(6s. N.Z. chcose, white : 575. to 58s. N.Z. clicess, coloured 595. to bOs. Tho Board of Trade returns show imports of butter into the United Kingdom for last week lCß,74<cwt. For tho corresponding week las/vear the amount was 97.R24 cwt., giving an increase for the current year of 10,910cwt. WOOL, HIDE, AND TALLOW, SALES. Messrs. Abraham and Williams (Palmer*ston branch) report:—At our monthly wool, skin, and hide sale held on Friday we offered a small catalogue, which sold at lata rates. We quote:—Wool: Crossbred, fine, 7J(!., 72d. to '6d ; crossbred, medium. 61d.. 6Ji . 634.. to 7id.; crossbred, inferior, 52d. to 6d.; lialfbred, 63d.; merino, 73d.; litrnbs, 5d., 7d., 7id. to 7Jd.; dead. 23d., 51d., 63d. to 7d.; locks and pie'eos. 3id. to 3fcd.; locks, ?.?d. to 3jd.; pieces, 2d. to 33d.; bellies, £d. to SJd-: crutchings. <£d.; black, 53d. Skina: Crossbred, medium to lino. 6Jd. to 69d.: crossbred, inforior. 2d. to 3ld.;' dead, 3d., ?*d., 42d. to 5Jd.; ouarter wools, 2Jd.; lambs. Sd., s*d., to 6Jd.; nolts. dry. 2Jd.. 3£d. to 32d.: nclls," damp. Is. 6d. to Is. 7d.; pelts, salted. Is. stf., Is. 9d.,. 2s. 5d.. 2s. 6d. to 23. 7d.: lambs, pelts, raited, Is. Id. Calfskins: Bound calf. 7d.. 7*d., 8?d.; cut naif, 6d.; rlippv calf. 3£d.: half dry. calf. 5d.; yearling. 6'Jd t-o 7&d.: hid*?, ox. heavy, 6?d.; ox.', medium, 63d.. 6fcd.. 63d. to 7d.: ox. lieht, 6d.; cows, medium. 6d., 6*d., 6\d. to 6 5 d.; rows, lj*?ht, to 6d.; cows, inferior. 5d.. s}d. to si!d.: cows, cut. 4?, d. to 53d.; hoiicr , s and Pt-ecrs, s*d.; bulb. Sid.; horse, 7?. C-d. Tallow: Tins/£25 15s- per ton.; caskS, £25 s<?. to £27 15s. per ton: horecrhair. Js. 3Jd.: rabbit skills, sd. per lb.;, cow tails, at Is. CHRISTOHURCH GRAIN MARKET. (By Telegraph— I'ross Association J Christchurcii, February 3. The local wheat market remains without change. is a consider?-b c airount of stook. Threshed wheat is being offered, and bo far the demand on the part or millers and ■ merchants has been good, and fifties of milling wheat are not difficult tc effect at 3s. id. to 3s. 2d., at country stations, while, wheat not quite up to the standard has made -3s. A considerable nropoTtion of. the /wheat purchased has been on account of North Island millers. Local millers are- not unite so keen as they were to make purchases at prices they have been giving, and now that they have laid in stocks, may &oon bo expected to ea-se off. in .their oncrations. .

Oats, arc still slow h. coming forward. A few Fnlet? of Gartons at 2s. and Duns at Is. lCd. at country stations, have been inrulo durinir the week.

There if nothine fresh to report in barIcy, ond little bnsinc?s' has vet been done in oaisheaf chaff. Growers of cocJcpfont nn the Peninsula arc still holding firmly for their own prices, nr.d business in this seed i 3 thercforo limited.