COMMERCIAL ITEMS.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1451, 28 May 1912, Page 8

COMMERCIAL ITEMS.

IXVKSTMKST SHAKES. Ttinrp were no transactions in invcitmeiit -l>aros ywtcrday.. The buyins and selling iiuotatiuns were as under :- I)uy2i-a Si-llera £'s. (I. & s. d M?tropolitiin Ituilding ... 11 lj> J - Well. Trust and Loan .... 7 U 6 - Voilding Gas <r 7 » z 9 Well. Gas (£10) 18 5 0 - Christcluirch Meat - lj> f J r jUnion Steam — , J ? Leyland-O'.Hrien . - \\\ Tariugam-Jtu Totara — 2 ,J ? C. M. Banks, Ltd - 0 19 6 D.I.C. preference 12 6 13 0 Golden Hay Cement - I " » Mnnning and Co 1 ' ° BOGUS CLAIMS. Writing with respect to the operation of the Workmen's Comivomation Act in Gi'Mt Britain, the "financial Times" has the fol""WiTnced a much stricter administration of the Workmen's Compensation Ati, a- useful measure which h scandalously abused by multitudes of the st»ub '«'] wlioeo benefit it was trained. It con hardly be denied that too many of our working men seem to regard nn accident as a, sort of windfall, and in trying to make the most of it. they toiucnllj' lose both their independence and their lloncs i>'; w °i late there- has. we think, been a decided Jrowtir of common sense on tte Bench in all its grades, but a- good ciml of * rovement was needful in many places before tho employers could set anything like fair play. Only the other day a roarer ]^^rd e our Courts to make his practices fall Lack on his own head."

the cori'Ki: maeket. vr^tedatityioniKn£ni« SS bO,,^ rt prii^ueeJ l price of the metal is due majn.s to in Times" of April 18, thus refers to Uio | tl,e E s\ppl?e"Toomed on the horuon ,jS orts i,.,.. i,^ o ,, i,, nroereffi to increase uio f cili!ies P like most other ttunw in connection with copper mining, tmeltinK operations are not so .clastic as i to; Pji niit of material expansion, at a flai »o tice, aud consequently the >™ mClliat * p of tho reorganisation has been t° ™ ro ™, the current rcfinniu oruamsatipn out or gear. Indeed, it is partly owing to Me consequent curtailment of production that supplies have recently fallen so *" bel 9? the demand, and it is '' nl! ! i , elj ;, t^ n " le jeH creased output can make Us i"f' u ' !n ™ \\'l for some time to .come. In vie« of the present stringency in the metal, ths eoiirccg of supply are now beint! closely ecin.im.-tfl with the view of obtafning some .idea yf where the much-desired increased it, 1 hcl> to be obtained. Quite one of the features ot tho industry ie the very small extent of the increase during the past few J ear,.. Within recent times the onlr rcalij ..uo--1908 nnd 1909 are taken toeothoi, an increase of 125.000 lons is Shown, wierca, in 1910 nnd 1911 it amounted to but UM on . Examining the sources of snpp.j in detail, it may be of interest to state that no lo=s than 66.4 per cent, of the total emanSus from the. United States the next largest producer being Japan,.with 6.<, per "ntT Mexico following with b.l per cent SpaiA and Portugal with 5.9 cont. Aiiftralasia, with 4.7 per cent., uhile w .Hi 3.0 n»r cent., Euss a and Per\i each ,su>! U per conC-Canada with 2.8 per cent., and Germany with 2.5 per cent.

AMERICA'S AUTOMOBILE TRADE. .The American trade in automobiles grows nVacc The exports increase rapidly, and ?hc imports show a distinct decreasing lendcncy. From 1902 to 1906. or prior to ih" development of Up industry in the Automobile imports. The in that vcar (1306) about provided a eounter-bal-' ance The following year witnessed a hift'ins of Hie balance of trade irom the mport to the export side, since ihp excels of exports has sicaailj 1.1-creased creased until in 1911 it was dose upon £4,So imports in that year. been ; but £597,100, and exports In , other words, the United States now ox- j port- ahout nine times the.' value of tne automobiles she Ten years aco the exports to foreign countries wcij valued at JS2H.CCO, aud tins increase of nearly £5,000,000 in the valiie of ihe exports' of American-made automobiles wuiiin a «insle dceado is rishtly regarded as one" of the most notable achievements of latter-day' American rommerce. The increase is, of course, in part due to the rapid development of the domestic industry, and in part to the trrowmir use of vehicles of this character throngnout the world. Generally, the American cars have something of an "over-cheap" reputation. Tlioy are supposedly built to pell. ?e compared with European makes. But if twice as cheap, as sometimes occurs, and more than half as long-ljved as, say, an English car, the American is. at least, well worthy of consideration.- And not all the inexpensive Americans contain indifferent material or worltmanship. If only subjected to fair strains some of them continuo to render good service iong after they might be expected to have pasted their utility stage. The. home-consumption is enormous. The aggregate, value of tho automobiles''manufactured in the United States was estimated in 1909—last available fieurcs-at nearly £50,002.000. It was lere than a. tenth cf that total at the beginniiiß of the century. Tn 19C8 the exports of automobile? from France, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Italv the leading countries of manufacture-, aggregated f9.fM.KO, aud By 1910 it had grown to £15.M0,K0.

ITALY. AND LIFE ASRUIUXCE. The Bill by which the fiovernment of Italy will ultimately secure a monopoly cf life ii«nron~e in tiiat country, witlionf any obTißation to pay compensation to npy of the companies already transacting lilo business there, has recently neen approved bv'the Italian Parliament, ihe measure, contain' in it* accepted form n, provision to the effect that compaiiiM mar be authorited to seek new bn-incHi in" Italy durins a period not exten years iron! the date of (he Act. with the stipulation tnat 40 per cent, of all assurances efTcjlcd after tnat date must be offered as reassurances to tho Slate In 1903 there were fifteen Italian and 'twenty foreign companies transacting Hfo assurance in Italy, the latter including the Grc:.ham and the Norwich Union Life New assurances effected by nil- comnanics during the year mentioned amounted to about £10,JC0,CC0. which is » very modest total in comparison with the fiEiire.-, recorded in some of the other hiircpean countries. AMBKICAiV ACTION AOATNRT SHIPPING. The action of the United States Government aeaiflst a number of steamship lines tradiiiK East, via the Suez Canal, is regarded simply a* a niece of spectacular electioneering politics, and to be a stretch-, in" of the Sherman anti-trust law to a farcical limit. By agreements, pools, periodical conferences, and rebates, tho defendants are alleged to have acquired a complete monopoly of trade between the I'nited States and the Philippines, Japan. China, and other Asiatic countries; have discouraged and prevented the establishment of other regular hues; and have practically destroyed tramp tonnage. Tho Government seeks an injunction, forbidding this alleged conspiracy and combination, and compelliiiK a restoration or competition amoliK all the- companies. The Court is asked to prevent any 'of the snips of the defendants from enterinp or. irWring at New York or any otner American port, as Ion" as the alleged violations of the law continue. Pendinc dctevminalinii of the suit tho Attoriicy-Oencval reqiicfts the if ; sii. ance of temporary injunctions proliibifiii" the offences which he charges. The Government relics upon tile dirisfon or tiie finpreme Court in the tobacco case to meet the ca=c. where aliened agreements and some of the conferenew were made or held abroad. Iu that case, the Supreme Court held that while the agreement's of the Hrit.ish tobacco companies in the Tobacco Trust were made in Great Britain, they were carried out iu the United States, nnd consequently were cognisable by the Amcri-c-in" Courts' The companies included are the American Asiatic Stemnsliip Company, the Aaitlo-Amciieaß, Oil .CompaJijv the HamJauic-imtiiai Line, tB4 .Cau}ii'J.ara.B

Shewan. Tonics and Co., Andrew Wen .nil -Wording to the nctitioii, ihc Isthnnnn sfeamship Line fc merely a dummy co.ii'frn Oreaniscd five years aRo, it is alleged tli.it the company never owned a sleamsh'p. Instead, it chnrtorcd boaU at the direction of tile trust conferences. ", ml iinpni i frt PS common carrier. *is cMcf olii t acraidine lo the Attorneyfemoral' was to keep business from going lo any outside concern.

WOOL. The vool ofl'croil at l!ic seronrl scries nt London wool sales comprised 273,000 bales, made up as follow*:- ..^ Victorian M.5f6 New South Wales 35,000 Oi-cr«lai'd 15.000 South' Australian 10.0 CO West Australian 2»° Tnsmania 40Ii0 Vow Zealand 120.5CQ South Africa - c 3 273,000 In addition, there was available 21.C00 bales of Piuita Arenas wool, and 3COO Dales talkland kland wool. Customs duties colhctcd at the port of Wellington yesterday amounted to £1587 15s. 4d. NORTHERN STEAMSHIP COMPANY. I (By Telesraph—Press Association.! Auckland, May 27.. The annual meeting of ths Northern Steamship Company took place this afternoon. The annual report indicated that the net profit on working account for the year ending March 31, after making pro ; vision for insurance, depreciation, ami boiler and repairs account, was £11,607 2s. Transfer fees amount to £19 12s. 6(1., and tho balance brought forward on April 1. 1911, after deducting dividend, was a<l4o 19*. 6(i., making a total of £11,067 11s. 'Ihe following appropriation of this amount is now recommended:—To payment ot ui\idend at tho rate of 7 per rent. pjr onnnin (half of which was paid to siinrcholders on November 22, 1911), £11,298. 175.: Icftving a balance lo lm carried to credit of profit and loss- account of £1768 17s.

IS'.Z. MILLS COMPANY. , . Ounedln, May 27. The balance-sheet of tIK New Zealand Panel' Mi'ln Company, at Uio annual, meeting, showed that the actual not profit on the vear's transactions was £4892. This, though less than in the previous year, reprer42nts the earnings ot two mills only, and. at one there was a great deal of broken time. The directors recommend the carrying forward of JG2OOO of (lie ascertained fire'losses at Woodhaugh. \ ages showed a reduction of .€3139, and coal and repairs £621. Despite heavy expenditure oil nlant, the bank overdraft is only £1178. A hope was expressed that the Government, when revising the tariff, will assist tte paper-making industry to compete with the production of cheap foreign labour. A> the annual nicotine of the Now Zealand Paper Mills to-day, the report and balance-sheet, carrying a dividend of 5 per cent., were adopted. Messrs. Mmond fDuncdin) and Elliott lAuckland) were reelected directors, and Messrs. Barr, Lcarv and Go. (Dunedin) and Bruce (Auckland) were reappointed auditors. LONDON MARKETS. By Telegraph—Press Association-Copyright. London, May 26. Frozen Meat—Owing to the strike it is impossible to give reliable meat _ quotations. There is no business in rabbits. Wheat—An Australian cargo sold <it 395. Flour ; s a shilling dearer. Australian, m store, nominally, 28s. 6d. to 295.