COMMERCIAL ITEMS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1124, 11 May 1911, Page 8

COMMERCIAL ITEMS.

INVESTMENT' SHARES. There were a fair number of transactions in investment shares yesterday ennsidcin" the difficiilty that is experienced in gctlin" holders to quit. Sales wern undo of N'T. tional Bank at, ,E5 Ms., Wellington C:ii (£lOl. at .£l9, Wcllinirton Orwr.i House. .£8 The huyiiifc and rclling riurjlaiions were aa under:— Buyer?, Sellers •C 3. A. •£ s. rj KiUional Hank 5 1C 0 5 19 6 Hank of Sew Zealand 11 IS 0 - Wellington Investment ... 0 11 3 Ml e Well. Tniit and lioan ... - 7 16 0 Wellington Deposit — 0 9 0 Ghriftuhnrcli Gas 9 12 6 9 17 6 WelliiiEton Gas (£10) — 19 0 0 Meat Export '.£4) - 5 7a Meat Export (525. 6d.) — 3 7 (I Union Steam 2 0 9 - Kaiapoi Woollen 5 9 0 Wellington Woollen (ord.) — 4 2 o Westport Coal 13 3 18 9 U-yland-O'llrien 16 9 - lliramar. Ltd - l!l New Zealand Drug 2 9 0 — N.Z. Paper Mills 116 Tarnnaki Petroleum C 12 6 I) ;4 0 Tnringamutu Totara — 2 10 0 Ward and Co 5 0 0 Well. Opera House 7 18 6 _ DONAOIirS ROPE AND TWINE CO. Tho balance-sheet of Donnjrliy's Rope and Twine Co. for tho year ended March 31 lait has been circulated. Tiie net profit for tho I year amounted to £5505 17s. lid., and there was brought forward from the previous year £3016 4s. 7i1.. ranking available £6572 2s. 6d. A dividend of ? per cent, is an-

nounccd, and this will absorb £lf-.5, leading £4877 2s. 6d. to be carried forward. In their report the directors "Six hundred pounds was written olf phut.- account last year, and. this year, the directors da not propose to make further appropriations in this direction. Owing to the exceptionally dry season and diminished crop?, the demand for binder twine was exceedingly floor, while Has values declined heavily a, few month;* atter we had contracted and purchased at ligures which we. thought were likely to prove lowest market rater, for our yearly supply. The subsequent fall in value wt* could not possibly l'oreea.-t. instead, therefore, of taking stocks of twine and flax on hand at their cost, it became necessary, when taking slock, to write it- down to the lowest price at which wc could purchase at- that date in the open market, and this entailed a reduction below cost of some -SKCO which had to be written ofr." The directors propose to increase the capital of the company to the amount which it stood nt prior to reconstruction in 1937, viz., £<17,CC0 by the creation of 23,500 new shares of £1 each, of which it is proposed to issue 11,750 sha"rcs to present shareholders in the proportion of one share for every two now held. The company has .-£ISXOO current in debentures bearing interest at 6 per cent., which are redeemable on August 1, 1911, and the cnnital now asked is to assist in paying off these debenture?. A further lot of debentures for JCII.CCO mature in August 1, 1914.

EQUITABLE LIFE ASSTJEANCE SOCIETY. The report of the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States states that the society's assets on December 31 amounted to £100,2G7,W8. an increase of £954,666. while the surplus over liabilities was £16,047,665. The society paid out in cash bonuses to its policy-holders during the year the sum of £2.171,711, which is the largest sum over paid in one year, and shows an increase over the previous year of £215,895. The total amount paid out tn policy-holders during the year amounted to £10,923.112, an increase of £299,911. The amount paid iu death claims shows a- very substantial decrease, the total (£3,934,191) expended being £232.000 less than in the previous year. The amount of new assurances was .£22,888.821 on 39.4C0 policies, and the outstanding assurance increased to £276.841,111. The income from interest, dividends, and rents amounted to £4,<85.865. The premium income now stands at £10,744,547, while commission and expenses show a decrease of £44,680, as compared with 1909. Customs duties collected at the port, oj Wellington yesterday amounted to £1030 Is. 2d. AMERICAN COPPER. By Telegraph—Press Association-Oonyrieht London, Hay 9. American stocks of copper total 165,CM,C00 pounds.