COMMERCIAL ITEMS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1092, 3 April 1911, Page 8

COMMERCIAL ITEMS.

INVESTMENT SHAKES. On Saturday sales were reported of Metropolitan Permanent at £12 IDs., Meat Exporo (£4), at £5 5.5., (£2 12s. 6d. paid) at £3 Vs., ant . Ward and Co. at £5. The buying and soiling quotations were as under: liuveri beliefs £ s. d,. £ s. d. National Bank — 6 16 Metropolitan Building ... 12 10 0 ' — : Wellington Investment ... I) 11 0 0 11 6 ChristchurCh Gas 915 0 . — ■• Feilding Gas 12 0 12 9 Wellington Gas. (£10) - 19 0 0 (iear Meat (205.) 3 10,0 — Union Steam 1 19 0 ' —' Kaiapoi Woollen ■ 5 5 0 5 10 0 Well. Woollen (pref.) 3 0 0 -■ Taupiri Coal 116 — V/estport Coal 19 3 1 9. 9 Manning and Co. — . 4 12 0 Miramar, Ltd — 0 2 6 N.Z. Con. Dental 12 6 13 6 N.Z. Drug- 2 9 0. N.Z. Paper Mills - l 4 0 Taranaki Petroleum — ' • 0 14 0 Taringamutu Totara. 2 7 9 2 90 Ward and Co 5 0 0 — ' Whitcombe and Tombs ... 6 6 0 — THE MONEY MARKET. There was a substantia! withdrawal of gold from the Bank of England last, week .and this made a-considerib!e difference to the figures. Further great changes may be expected this week owing to the quarterly disbursements, but the money market should thereafter tend towards extreme casinos" An indication of this is afforded in the rate for three months' bills, which har, declined 53. on the week; the short loan rate, however, is unchanged, at 3 per cent. The position locally is unchanged. The balancing period of three important banks closing on Friday naturally caused some quietness, for the customers of these institutions no doubt desired to see their accounts look satisfactory. This strain is now over and there should consequently be more acSHARES FltOJt PROMOTERS. Kot infrequently company's articles of association, stipulate that the' qualification shares shall be held by the director in his own right, but do not provide that the shares must be taken from the comoauv In such circumstances what is the uos'i tion of a, director who has received his qualiflcation shares from tho promoter and has privately declared between himself and the promoter that he holds the sharci in trust for the promoter? That was the question .which was decided by J[r. Justice Bwinfcn Eady on January 24 in the case of the London aim Mouth-Western Canal Company. The promoter of the com pany had purchased the Basingstoke Canal for £500, subject to a debt of X12.0C0. and three months later sold it to the company, which was incorporated on February 20' 1908. for £100.000. Tho purchase price' was satisfied by the company taking over the .debt and issuing to the promoter or his

nominee £66,000 in shares' am , , debentures. There were five directors, and their (iiialifieation was lixeel by the article:! of association at ICO shares each. All the dhve'cors, received their qualification shares from the- promoter, ana when the cninoany went into liauidation the liquidator applied by summons for a declaration that tho directors had been guilty of misfeasance, and that each was liable lor £ICO, tho price of the chares. All tho directors admitted that Ihey had not paid'anything for their shares, but one of them claimed that he was entitled to hold the shares in payment, of services which he harl rendered to the promoter. It appeared that (he other directors had given the promoter blank transfers of their shares. lli:i Lordship held that it was not only improper, but a misfeasance, for a director to Rive a blank transfer to a promoter for the shares which had been provided for his qualification. ]lo ordered each director to pay the sum of £ICO to the assets of the company, and also that they should pay the costs of the summons. It is to be observed that until tho actual windins up of ;i. company occurs a director is sufficiently qualified, so far as holdine is concerned, to long as he holds the requisite not entitled to Ro'.behind the entry iii its register of members and inquire- how the directors obtained his shares, or on what terms he holds them. It is only when liquidation supervenes that the question can. be raised, and sometimes, as in tho above ease, with had results to those who have acted fairly towards the company. EETUKXS ON INVESTMENTS. Tho difficulty of obtaining suitable investments for spare capital, owins mainly id the absence of industrial activity, is having a marked clt'cct on shares. What are locally termed investment shares on ureseut market, prices cive comparatively very poor returns to the investors. Taking tho last share quotation list issued by the Wellington Stock Exchange, and dated March 14, tho market prices and yield per cent, based on the last dividends declared, show as under:— Yield Price, percent. £ s. d. £ a. d. National Bank 6 16 4 18 9 Bank of X.Z 11 5 0 4 5 4 Union Bank 6S- 5 0 5 5 8 Equitable Bui'dine 9 15 0 5 2 6 Woll. Investment 0 11 3 5 6 8 Well. Trust and Loan ... 7 12 6 5 4 11 Feilding Gas 12 0 5 9 1 Well. Gas (£10) 18 17 6 5 5 11 Nat. Insurance 1 15 6 4 18 7 N.Z. Insurance 4 3 6 5 19 9 South British 3 11 0 4 18 7 Gear Meat (Ms.) 3 4 0 4 13 9 Union Steam 1 17 6 4 16 0 N.Z. Shipping 13 0 0 4 15 5 Westport Coal 18 6 6 10 6 Well. Woollen (ord.) 4 0 0 7 0 0 Leyland-O'lSrien 16 6 5 13 2 N.Z. Con. Dental 13 0 5 4 4 Tariiigamutu Totara. 2 8 6 6 3 8 The prices siven arc those current a. fortnight ago: many of the shares have sineo risen, for instance, Gear Meat is now quoted at 705., and the return at. this price is £4 ss. Bd. per.cent. The yields all rous.a arc exceptionally small, or to state tne case differently the prices are exceptionally high. In some cases the quotations may be warranted, because of prospects; at tho fame time investors are swayed by fashion. should be expected from tile Union Bank than from the Bank of New Zealand or from Gear , Meat. The position is more or less an artificial one, due, as already stated, to the difficulties of obtaining other investments. It is nevertheless an unsatisfactory state of affairs, and unless the companies continue to pay their present dividends there will bo heavy losses. TEE LINSEED CROP. "Dqrnbusch," commenting on the linseed, positions and prospects, eays, "the world's production of linseed last year was not only the smallest since 1901. but nearly 800,000 tons short of the 1907 out-turn. Although India again made a considerable increase in her yield, America, proved very disappointing, owing to the prolonged drought, and finally produced such a poor crop that reference has to be made a3 far back as 1897 to find a. worse one. Russia gave a, very favourable out-turn, although probably not equal to the preceding season. Argentina, however, produced the .most unsatisfactory crop, which, after promising in its early stages, a return of 1,000,000 tons, eventually shrunk, it is considered, to' 6CO.CCO toils, with private estimates that even another 100.CO0 tons should be taken off. Concerning shipments for 1910, India, besides disposing of all the 'pure' seed, also lot go 36 per cent, of the 'mixed' harvested. Since the first week in December shipments thence has practically ceased, and no fresh movement can be expected until the advent of the new crop in late March or April. Indian houses, have not offered much' of the new seed: on tho contrary, they are known to have bought bae.lt some Calcutta contracts, ris the outlook is only indicating-about 4C0.M0 tons, for export instead of about 5C0.C00 tons for export at one time anticipated. North America not only shipped barely anything, but imported 2CO.CCO tons, and may be.expected to take nearly as much this year. Kussian and Danubinn supplies came in very useful, contributing, with but a single exception, and that only slightly, much in excess of any season of tho ricc.icio. The United Kingdom proportion of the nast, years, viz., 20* per cent., which is a striking contract to 19C0, when our .home needs absorbed 43 per cent, of the world's exports." CUSTOMS. The Customs revenue collected at, the port of Wellington on Saturday totalled £2079 ss. 6d., the amount for the week being £10,557 16s. Id. Compared with the corresponding periods of last, year, tho receipts .for the past eight weeks show as under:— " -" 1911. . . 1310. £ ' £ February 11 ' 7,372 21/67 February 18 21.C06 9,335 February 25 27.C01 10,959 March 4 12,614 11.938 March 11 13,225 1f!,3« ' March 18 v 18,890 10,338 March ■ 25 21,124 13,165 April 1 • .'. 10,553- 12,426 131,750 1C8.C04 The beer duty for tho week totalled £205 11s., as compared with £205,45. for tho corresponding week last year.