COMMERCIAL ITEMS.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1347, 26 January 1912, Page 8

COMMERCIAL ITEMS.

INVESTMENT SHARES. There were no transactions in investment shares yesterday. The buying and selling quotations were as under:— Buyers. Sellers. £ s. d. £ s. d. Xapier Gas (.£10) - 24 10 0 Wall, Gas (£10) 18 2 6 - Christchurch Heat 15 17 6 16 2 6 Meat Export (£4) - 5 0 0 Meat Export (525. 6d.) - 2 19 0 N.Z. Shippiug - 16 5 0 L'uion Steam — 2 0 0 Taupiri Coal 110 - Wcstport Coal — 1 i 3 Lcvland-O'llricn 1 8 3 Parker, Lamb Timber ... - 19 0 Donaghy Hope and Twine — 12 6 Golden Bay Cement 13 0 — Vanning and Co 4 10 0 4 12 0 Ward and Co 5 2 6 .5 6 0 AMERICAN WOOL TABIFF. On December 20, President Taft presented to Congress tlio report of the Tariff Hoard on the wool duties. It will be remembered that last year the President vetoed the Wool Bill, which wae paused by the Democrats, justifying his action by stating that it would be wiser to await the report of the Tariff Hoard. The report, of this board is to the effect that, the present method of levying dutios upon raw wool is defective in that it operates by reason of the, varying shrinkages- of the different kinds of wool, to prevent the importation of main- heavy conditioned sorts. That there is no" valid reason for the discrimination that now exists as between merino and crossbred on the one hand, and English medium and lustre on the other. That the present duty of 33 cents per pound on scoured wool is prohibitive, preventing effectually the importation of clean -and lowpriced foreign -wools of the lower grades that would be exceedingly useful ill' the manufacture of woollens in America; and it so used, might displace in large measure the cheap substitutes now so frequently employed in that industry- Then an ad. valorem rate is open to grave difficulties, as it would give a high duty on each pound when prices are high; that is, when the consumer most ncedn relief, and the producer is most able to bear competition. With a low price of wool, the duty por pound would be low; that it at the time when the consumer has less need of competing w->u>'.-, and the producer is least able 11 bear competition. The cost of lEMiufiuturing woollen and worsted yarns and cloth iu the United States is much higher lhau in Europe. The main elements of the cost of production are cost of plant, material, and labour. The cost of erecting and eoiiippinc both woollen and worsted mills is much higher in America than in England. President Taft recommends a revision of (he duty in the direction of reduction, and suggests a. sliding scale of ad valorem duties as the best way out of the difficulty. The fact, however, that, the Americano are oporatiug at the current London sales would go to show that uo immediate change in the tariff is anticipated. CELLULOID. Two factories for the manufacture of celluloid have lately been established in Japan. In a report on the celluloid industrv iu Japan, the British Vieo-Ccnsul in Osaka sayis that the output of celluloid is naturally limited by the available supply of camphor, and there .ire at present in existence only fourteen celluloid factories, of which two are in the United States, seven in Germany, three iu the United Kingdom, and two in France. The erection of two additional factories in Japan, therefore, with an estimated daily output .-,f four tons, fe a feature of considerable importance in the progress of the industry.