COMMERCIAL ITEMS.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1640, 6 January 1913, Page 8

COMMERCIAL ITEMS.

•WELLINGTON WOOL SALE. , ' : \ Most of "the wool buyors who attended; tho Napier salo returned to town on Bat-', urday, and the inspection of the wool in tho local stores will begin to-day. . The. sale on 'Wednesday promises to be a re- 1 cord in every respect. 'The catalogues wcr« : ' to be issued this morning, and there will probably be about 25,000 bales oil ■ offer. ■ Prices will be high as compared with tho corresponding date of last year. Tho position of wool is very much better than it was twelyo months ago, and thiß may bo seen, in .tho.quotations for .Bradford tops. This oomparfson is given below: \ >, 1912. -1913. . AdJan. 4. Jan. 3. vance. Tops— d. • d. d. Sixty-fourß ......i..... 25 29 4 Buper sixties ........ 241 ' '28, . ■ 3J' • • Common sixties ... 24 27 3 Fifty-sixes 21 : 223. 19 . Fifties IB 201 j ■ 21. : Forty-sixes- ' 141 17 , ; . 23 Fortl« '. 131 16 ' U. Tho advances are substantial, and it will bo noted that crossbreds havo improved considerably. In tiew, of this tho Wellington sales will mo doubt .bo good. CANADA'S PACT; TOO FAST?' ; Although we, in common . with nearly everyone in this country, from the financier's of high standing and groat wealth to tho humblest investor, comments "Tho Statist,", are proud of the progress of. ' Canada, and ore desirous of providing, or assisting' to provide, all the capital tho country needs for its development, we recognise how essential it is that those (lirectly responsible for tho development' of Canada , should .temper boldness with wisdom, and that thb various measures essential to tho country's steady, indeed rapid, progress ' should be taken in their duo order. Tho ■ first of these steps is, of course, to bring 1 about an increase in the production of those things which, can be sold in, the world's market .with sufilciont rapidity that the country may experience no dllficuity in meeting its interest payments in the aggregate.. A country may bo of. unbound- - ed richness, but if it does not produce tho : things needed not merely by its citizens, i but by tho world, it will not easily meet . the interest upon its growing capital obligations. One of • tho great advantages of ' employing capital in tho colonies is that J tho .British race endeavour in all,cirou<m--1 stances to meet their obligations, and, if ; necessary, will curtail their, expenditures t' upon comforts, and oven upon necessaries, 1 in order to do so. Wo have 110 doubt whatever that in any or In all circumstances the Canadian people will meet their obligations, whether it bo in respect of capital raised for Government loans, municipal i loans, railways, or for any other purpose. I At the same time, in the Interest of Cmif ada herself, it iis'of great importance that 1 ' attention should bo concentrated upon in- . creating hsr Immediate productions as lAfidlx m vouibifti in tfidex Hurt ahs maor,

bo ablo easily and,comforlably to carry tlio increasing burden of intcrost upon tlio capital which the British pooplo are supplying 60 frooly. The work that, needs Lo bo done in Canada at the present time is, first, that ot placing people on the land and extending tho acreage and increasing the crops as rapidly as possible. Sccond, it is desirable that attention should bo directed to opening up the mineral wealth. of the country without delay nis Well as developing the lumber, fishing, nnd other natural , industries—in fact,' doing all those things that will bring immediate return upon the capital that has been spent,*and will continue',to be spent, in tlio country, in building railways, improving tho.'towns, constructing roads, erecting houses, etc. Of course, it is essential: that attention should be paid to,tho ultimate future, but in doing this the importance-of providing for immediate neceisities should bo duly ~ appreciated. .The. expansion in the crops of Canada iri the; last. IQ. years -has been onormous; nevertheless; ' it lias to bo remembered that the'population of'the country is growing in a wonderful manner, that the greater portion of. the. increase in production so far brought about lias 1 been required to maintain tho increasing population of the country, and that the amount of produce available for export has grown much more slowly in'proportion, than tho increase in output. In the year to March 31 last the value of .the exports of Canada wa5'315,000,000 dollars, in comparison with 211,000,000 dollars ten years previously, an increase of IM,OCO,OCO dollars, or nearly 50 per cent. • In. the same period the imports ' grow'from 205.000.0t0 dollars to 547.000.CCU, an ' expansion;" of. 245,000,000 ■ dollars, or" about 122 per cent.'' Tho; much greater, expansion .In imports than in exports arose, of course,', in the first place from-the much/larger amount .of capital imported lost yeair than' 10, years - previously (the capital '. sent "to Canada, 1 last year is, calculated to; have , .reached'£44,COO,ooo, 'or ■ 220,000,000 .dollars), and, in the second place, to the large qunntho goods or money taken in by settlers, :' .'the goods figuring directly in tho imports ' , end tile' riioncy flguring'directly in the pur-' chases-'of foreign goods that have bcon effected by moans'of tho wealth brought' in : by. settlers.. ■ ~ ■(.•... . • HEAVY : LIFE. ASSTJHANOE. . 'By the death of Lord Furness—an untimely death. measured by the dumber of his years in these days,- for he was only 60— ; the life insurance companies will ho call- 1 bd upon to find a large sum of money. Ho c was reputed to'bo tho most heayily insured • individual' in the three kingdoms, and tho larger i policies would seem to be of comparatively rccent 'date—taken out in view of .providing, for .the heavy: death duties. It is said that' the - deceased.. peer—Sir Christopher i'urness he then was—held himself to bo worth £2,000,000 Eome years ago, and tho remarkablo prosperity l whbh has attended British shipping during the past . two'years or so must have contributed to swell: his fortune, so.that at tho- ; time ot his death he may not improbably haio become possessed of another million. Apparently, the insurance . policies cover mu?H more than the death duties upon a'fortune of even £3,003,000; but had the duties had to be provided for directly out of "his lordship's estate., tho necessary selling ' might have disorganised the whole Furnsss,Withy iihare market. As it is, although, tho - insurance / oompaaiiea may'have to.realise, securities,- the eelling.vwill be ■'60 well spretfd, and so circumspect that- it. may hardly attract any notice. . Undoubtedly, too,, the losses .of the offices involved may, seldom be fevered. On company is known which has written more than £400,000 .on the' deceased peer's lifo,. but whicli stands .to .lceo very little. . .. . ;.' ! Bitmsir oow reserve. ■ . 'Some pertinent remarks''wero made by Viscount Gosohen in his inaugural address ■ jwforo tho Institute of-Bankers, in London recently; He ; was dealing , with the 'vexed 1 question 'of tho:gold.,reserve and' the vari-ous-schemce ' put forward 'in order to strengthen that reserve, and, among other' .things, this is what lie said:—"l have, never.' < 'seen ■a' scheme put' fonvard, however good :that scheme may. be, which does-not call upon someone' to . make" great. l sacrifices, r If' tho. Bank of. England substitutes 'gold •' for' securities in' tho issue. department,' it seems'to me that it must end in the bank selling securities in ' order to rectify tho ratio of reserves to liabilities in the banking: department.' .'.. In that, case,',you ore' asking the bank to be the. martyr. If youi persuade the Government: to pay",off its debt to the Bank of England there must bq' a loss of interest'.to, the bank if that capital sum is to be. converted into bullion.- If the Government' make , a ,conccssion t6 t!iti bank equivalent ito its; loss .of interest.(in. tho present debt, the Government itself would; then become . tho > martyr. . In my opinion, this, question is far from settlement:'unless the • burdon •, bo. distributed over many ; shoulders.-' Muoh may be done' by individual banks ' strengthening' tlu-ir own inner, reserves, and I venturotlo thfnk that much has already been done in this direction." . These' words fit the position •exactly,and demonstrate that.no cUt-n,nd- . dried plan tan bo devised whereby : a large /gold reserve' can be -accumulated without , ;6elf-donial 'all round:. To throw tho burden 'of gathering and maintaining it upon tlio : Bauk of England, or up6n the Government/ ,oi' upon, the two together, and leave ,the, great body of joint stock, banks out would be a gross Injustice. :' To make these .banks provide nil the additional cash would bo worse'than an injustice, a robbery: therefore, the remedy must lie with ,the individual efforts of each bank to strengthen its own reserves as to make the danger of 'appeals to the general reserve held by the ,Bank. Of England remote. Lord (ioscheu's 'observations on t>ie strength., of the London market during this timo of crisifj wero also much-to the :point and consoling,; ■ CUSTOMS. ' Customs duties collected at the port l of Wellington- on Saturday, .totalled ,£3<65 ,185.,-9 d... the amonnt-for itlie-week being .£18,051 9s. " ; The;'returns ~ for : each . of the past eight weeks,' compared with tho i , figures ..for . the corresponding. period^'.'of last year show as under.— "•- ■■ - '•• ■ • ' 1912. . 1511. ; ' .. . -. . y. ~ .: ■£'". ,^. : ' November !6 17,954 '. 21;392 'V : "November . •U. 083 :>: "10,176 ... November'3o 10,008 . 20.462 ■ • . ' December 7. 23.217.. . . ■ 9,870 Hecember 14 , 12,821 .18,858 ■ •'. December 21 .'. 26,501 ' ' 15,579 . December 23 • 5.968 .: . 12,636 . : • January .4 ..18,051: ; 15,434 ' •. ■;'■•" ,■ S' ■■■ 125,£03 263,327 . The beer duty collcotcd for tho weok i . totalled £254.35. . . I ■ : ■ , ' NAPIER, WOOIi fi'ALES. (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) , ■ : . Naplor, January' 4..* '; At the second; series of .the sea«on's wool sales; under 111*- auspices of the Napier Woolbrokers': Association, Bradford wools: . were keenly sought fdr, and Tealisod satisfactory prices, but American buyers were not operating freely,. and wools; suitable for that market showed a decline of-from Id." to 23d. per lb; Lambs' wool sold extremely well. Bellies and 'i pieces- ; also caused. good competition. Tho appended figures show tho range of prices, witli the figures for the corresponding solo of last year given in parentheses:—Best'halfbred, : 12} d. to 133 d.' (Hid., 13d.); medium, 10id., : 12d. (lOjd.. 113 d.); fine crossbred, lid.," Ifjd.: ; 1 (103 d., llld.); medium, 93d., 103 d. (9d„ 103 d.); coarse,' 3d., lOd. (7Jd., 83d.); inferior, 83d., , 9d. '(74m 7Jd.): '.pieces, 7d„ 9Jd. (6d., ,JJd.)j bellies, .63d.; 8d: (sid., 7id.); locks, 6d., 5Jd,; (3id., 4d.');. lambs, 83d., 12id. (6Jd., lid.);' dead, 7id.,'93d.;(7d„ 10fd.). Fourteen'bales ; ' scoured .pieces .realised 151 d.. ' , : • . WHEAT.- - 'The New Zealand Loan and Meroftntile Agency Company, Limited, and Reduced, have .received tho following cablegram from : their' London-, house.- under date January | -IWe quote 375. o.i.f. Australian cargo. , The market is quiet, but steady, owing to favourable crop reports. - The Argentine , outlobk is uncertain. ... 1 ' • ' LONDON MABKETS. By Telegraph—Frees Association—Copyright (Bee. January 5, 5.5 p.m.) . London, January 4. WTwat.—Tho market is steady;' 15,000 quarters Australian, ■ January-February shipment; sold at 375. : :■ Kauri Gum.—The' stook. ; ,amounts:,to .157 cases'. ■ ' Cotton.—January-February 1 shipments of American middlinff eotiori aro selling at ; 6.90Jd. -per lb. ' , 1 . Jute—Native, first marksof raw jute. ' January-February shipment, sjo quoted at £26 ss. per t0n.... New s Zealand Hemp.—The market is inactive. Jajiuary-March shipments are quoted at £33 15s. per ton. . . r Rubber.—Fine hard Para rubber is quoted . at 4s. 7d. per lb. - ' Copra.—The market is flrjn. South Sea, I bagged afloat, is offering at £26 2s. -6ti. !. 'per ton. ' ' ' MANUFACTURED IIETAI.S. .' 1 . . January 5, 5,6 p.m.) ' London, January 4. I Galvanised' Iron.—First brands, £17 ; 15s. 1 per ton; second brands, £15 55.: , 1 Tin-plates.—l.C. coke, 15e. 4Jd. (ljd, higher 1 since December 21); 1.0., charcoal, 16s. 4Sd. - (lid. higher sincc December 21). . Angle-steel is liow selling at £7 2s. 6d,' • per ton.- - , 1 i Tram-rails aro at £5 165.-per ton. . Wire-netting, 55 per cent, and 4 to 5 per ! cent, off list. : Cement.—Bnglitdi. 5i., lids per. cask, less > 2J per cent.; German, ss. 3d. , Quiclisilyer is quoted at £7 Bs. fid. : When attacked with a cold 'tis amusing ! to find, : How tlio friends round about 0110 so fussy > and kind, ; In suggesting a remedy seem to delight, ' And each one will swenr his concoction is ! right. I "Put your feet in hot water and mustI ard," sa>-3 0110, • Says another, "Hot whisky and water ' alone ; Will relieve you"—forgetting the remedy J | sure— ; IjDofl't xou know. it?, 'tis .Woods' Qrpat 1