COMMERCIAL ITEMS.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1372, 24 February 1912, Page 10

COMMERCIAL ITEMS.

INVESTMENT SHARES. There were no tr.infactions in investment shares yostorday.. The buying and- selling quotations were as under :•- Bnvc'rs. Rollers £ 3. d. £ s. d. Bank of New Zealand ... 10 17 6 - Ohristohurch Gas — 9 5 3 Well. Gas (third issue) ... - 1? 10 ° S.B. Insurance ' — ° " S Moat Export (£4) - 5 0 0 Meat Export (5Za. 6d.) ... - , z r « °. N.Z. Shinning : : ,- . 1„ 5 n ° n ° Union Steam 119 3 ? 2 P Westport Coal - 1 ' 6 Tnringamutu Totara 25 6 — C. M. Banks, Ltd - J 0 0 Crown Brewery — , i i Donaghy's Hope and Twine — J & J Golden Bay Cement — J 2 S N.Z. Con. Dental - lit Sharland's preference — i , . Ward and Co. 6 3 0 6 4 -a

■ RADIUM GAS COMPANY. The prospectus of the Radium Gas Company of Now Zealand, Limited, has been circulated. Tho capital of the company is £25,000. in 25.CC0 shares of £1 each. Ut these 2CCO shares credited as fully paid up are to be allotted to Radium Gas Company, Limited, a duly incorporated company carrying on business in Sydney, Jiow boutli Wales, and in addition is to receive £ZoGO in cash. A further sum of '£1500 is to be paid to John Gilruth, of Wellington, engineer. , Tho objects of tho company are to acquire, so far as New Zealand is concerned, a certain invention or device for automatically carburetting air with a proportion of hydro-carbon vapour for the production of gas for lighting and heating. .".•'.

PROFIT SHARING.' ' Various profit-sharing schemes have been launched from time to time, but they are all devised primarily with the object to improve the relations between the employer and the employee. An experiment of an entirely different character is now being made bv a large Manchester grocery firm, and it'is designed to bring about a sharing of profits with customers, as well as employees. The directors of the firm propose to distribute 45.0C0 fully paid £1 shares, and to guarantee a dividend of at least 5 per cent, per annum until the end of the financial year in April, 1917. Of the total issue, SCM shares are reserved for employees. The distribution to customers for goads bought at ordinary retail prices and paid for during the year ending December 31, 1912, will bo made on the basis of one £J,7share for,.each £20 worth, of goods so purchased and'paid for, and from January 1, 1903, and onward, until the whole of the 40,000 sharos aire given away, one £1 share will be given for each £40 worth of goods so pnrchas.cd and paid for. The scheme is at least calculatod to encourage prompt payment of accounts, as coupous will not be issued on a.ny bill overdue, unless paid within a week of receipt of a "written demand for settlement. The Arm has a considerable cumbor of branches in Manchester, and shops in several other centres of population in tho county, and the development of the scheme v/ill be watched with interest by all students of economics, as well as those engaged in rotail businesses.

INDUSTRIAL PROFITS. Profits of industrial concerns operating in Great Britain showed substantial increase in 1911,- as disclosed in an interesting article in the "Economist," to hand by the last mail. The review deals with 774 companies—apart from banks, railways, mines, and insurance offices—and the net profits are shown to aggregate:nearly £53,000,0C0,' an increase of 8.6 per cent, over the corresponding figures of the previous year. There are at least two busincuses which have in the twelve months under notice made profits exceeding £1.C00,0C0. The sttl-' dent of sociology will find food fpr much thought in the fact that one of these' firms manufactures cotton, and the other is a brewery. In the case of other companies, whose profits exceed £5C0,0C0, the relationship with the public is striking. One is a gas company, another is engaged in the manufacture of chemicals, and still another in the production' of soap. The Eastern Telegraph is included, and two armament firms have also experienced another successful year. The profits of all these companies show advances on the preceding year, those .of two armament firms totalling no leS3 fha.n £400,0C0. In tho list of firms which made' profits of over £3C0,C00, textile manufacturers appear very well, the year's inoreasc amounting to over JEICO.COO. The biggest rise is shown by the Cunard Co., the profits advancing from £83,000 to £303,000. There are quite a'largo number of firms which made profits between £100,000 and £3C0,0C0. The aggregate capital of the 774 companies dealt with is £534,268.440, and the profit for the year on that investment was practically about 10 per cent. Tho final comment of the "Economist" on thoco figures is that "it needs a pessimist of unusual strength of will to believe in the decadence of • English trade."

'Customs duties collected at the port of Wellington yesterday amounted to £1501 10s. Bd. ' WOOL SALES. EFFECT OF LABOTJK TROUBLES. IBy Telegraph—Press Association.) ' Invercargill, February 22. The last wool sale of the local series today was poorly attended, and had a, small •atalogue of 40CO bales of wool, many of which were passed iu. The New Zealand mills were represented, and there was no direct American competition. There was not a good selection offered, and prices showed a drop of Id. to id. all round. Tho bulk of he wool sold was bought by Bradford buj'crs. Prices, however, were not on a trade basis, purchases being mado really for speculative purposes on chances of demand later on from America. . The latest advices from the Continent indicate that wool there is down. Buyers state that tho labour troubles have knocked the bottom out of the market, wool being a very sensitive barometer, and in view of tho continued strikes, it is stated that he final sale at Wellington is likely to be seriously affected.

THE GRAIN MARKET. Christohuroh, February 23. There has been a fair amount of both wheat and oats offering tains' tho week. The wheat market is firm, ond sales have been generally mado at 3s. id. at country stations, and for specially prime and, dry grain another halfpenny has been paid. The oat market is easier, in consequence of the falling-off iu the demand for Australia. During the middle of tho week 2s. Id. was paid at, handy stations, but tho outside limit of price is now 25.. at which a number of lota have been purchased. There is nothing fresh to report in the barley markot, only a limited business hav. ing yet been done. There is n lirinor tono in tho grass seed market, in consequence of the continued wet weather in Southland preventing the sowing of the crop thore. The offerings of seed locally are not largo, and tho bulk of what is coming forward is Italian.

COMMERCIAL BANK OF SYDNEY. By Telegraph-Press Association-Copyright (Rec. .February 23, 11 p.m.l Sydney, February 23. At a. special! meeting of tho Commercial Hanking Company of Sydney, it was decided to increase tho capital ■ to'i3.3CO.CCO by tho creation of 20,« M additional £20 shares.