COMMERCIAL ITEMS.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1714, 3 April 1913, Page 8

COMMERCIAL ITEMS.

INVESTMENT SHARES. The sales recorded yesterday we.ro Notional Bank rights at 195., and T'aupiri under-'- Th ° Quotatlons w « Euyors, Sellers. National Bank (rights) .. 0 18 0 0 19 "o Hank New Zealand 11 5 : 6 — liquitablo Building — *9 10 0 N.?-. Loan and Mercantile 0 9 9 _ N.Z. and Kivcr Plato — 2 n > Well. Trust, and Loan ... — 7 ° 6 Ohrfctchuroh Gas 7 5 0 7 10 0 Teildiiiß Cast« 0 —t«0 Napier Gas (£10) —' in in n "Napier Gas (£5) - o it Well. Oa-3 (pref.) ;... 100 National Inatirahco 2 5 3 K.B. Insurance _ x <1 n Christchurch Meat 15 5 0 — N.Z. Shipping • 16 0 0 Union Steam .... o ? n Kaiapoi Woollen lord.) ... — 5 " & Mosgicl Woollen — 1 10 X 'Well. Woollen fpref.j — ? Ifi Taupiri Coal uj f 1 , X ■Westport Coal • 170 1 Tariugamutu Totara — s> e, n C. M. Banks (nret.) .; ~ { 0 n Miariand's ordinary _ 1 ] , - 7 5 0 IMPERIAL TOBACCO COMPANY. Year by year the trading profits of tho Imperial Tobacco Company of Groat Britain tend steadily-to increase. Tho oxport for tho twelve months ended October oL l'linHKhes a, fresh record at £3,019,200, <111 advance of £231,500 011 tho figures of -1,l ,r( ' (:u, '! n ? yra-r. The special amounts wjittcn on, ill addition to normal denre. <-iatiou, are the n-amo as before, nsimoiv ~£IOO,OOO from freehold buildings and £25 000 From leasehold properties, and mana'trement and uitcra-.'t charges arc rediu-nT by £22,300, but the transfer to genera rou rVC . , M^ rcn f Ml fron .' • £50I) ' 0() I ) to £750,0C0. About £7100 extra was brought into the arcount*. .and tho total profits a-va-ilablo for distribution aro thus £60,000 larger. Or Huh, £13,100 goes 1,0 increase the bonus paid to customers, who thir> year receive £105!. TOO. The dividend and bynuis on the "IV' deferred ordinary i?hare* la the same a* before, worUins out., at 30 per cent-., And <i- balance of £27'1,800 is carried forworn ns eompared with £236,600 y, year ago. Tile trenernl reserve now -stands at £3.250,000, as fl-cnuist oil Jailed capital of £15,640,000. A WOOI, MARKIiT IN CHINA. Thc.ro is jusl. the notability that China will, ,m the near future, become au jmporlnnl, customer for Australasian wool .lutl. as Japan hats become. Consul-Gen-eral h. S. kiKibenshiie writew from Tieni"in. saying an inouiry is made regardintr tho reported intention of tho Chiucsc Government to start the manufacture of woolloll cloth ill various Chinese cities. Tills was merely n, suggestion 011 the part, ot an official, due to a, jrcncral feeling in favour of the introduction of manufacturing 011 <1. Jorge, i-cale. Hiieh an undertaking would bo impracticable, at the present, lime. There is a. woollen factory Willi modern machinery some eight or nine miles north-west of Peking. It was erected scvernl years oeo to manufacture uniform clotlh- for the Chinese ariuv. lis pro. duel, is «. very fair article of the notnro i.l Iweed, md it- used in making winter uniforms for the soldiers. The factory wa3 started with, foreigners to superintend

the various departments, but, these have nil been discharged, ond Iho factory "is now run entirely by Chiiic.sc workmen. Whether they will make a isuccess of R remainis to be m»«ii. The sentiment, "Uhlna. for the Chinese," represents the universal attitude of the Chinese to all foreigners. It was not confined to the old Manchii rulers. It permeates every class of Chlne.su to the very lowest. The wool produced in China, v nearly all a carpet wool. The pl a in. 3 of Mongolia. afford splendid grazing ground for large flocks of native sheep of the fat-tailed variety. This wool eouies I>.V camel caravans to Peking or Knliran. thence by rail to Tientsin. The larger portion of I his Mongolian wool goes to the United States to be used in the nmiuifflehire of carpets. A small portion of it. is capable of being woven into course fabric* Jiko the tweed referred l-o, but it Is not fitted for the manufacture of fine cloths. To the Chinese wool is simply wool. They have no idea, of fine qualities of wool, because they have never seen it. CO-PARTNERSHIP. In the course of a. paper on co-partner-ship, read before the Royal Society of Arts, recently, Mr. Aneuriu Williams expreyed the opinion that co-partnership cave the worker an accumulating interest in the capital, and, .as the worker's voice in control increased, the absolute regime t to which lie was subjected was necessarily modified, and eventually transformed. The example of the .South Metropolitan Gas Company had spread to quite half the gas industry of England, excepting those gasworks which were the property of municipal corporations. As for objections on the employers' side, it had been said that every form of profit-sharing meant the employer giving away a. part of Ins profit, which properly belonged to him in return, for his work and the risk which lie took. However, t.he speaker contended that where the employers showed more consideration for tne interests of their workers, and where the workers had a direct interest in the result of their work, the amount of profit to. he divided was increased, so that it was perfectly possible for the employees to receive a share without the employers receiving less than they viould under the ordinary wage system. Then as for the plea that the emiiloyerwas asked to give away the control of his business into the hands of men. who had never been trained to exerciso it, he declared that, while the working shareholders were accumulating capital and voting power, they were also accumulating experience. Another objection was that many businesses did not desire an increase of capital, and. that, therefore, their workers could only become shareholders by some of the other shareholders parting with shares which they might not wish to sell. That did not apply to expanding busineeses, which needed from time to time increase of capital. Coming to the objections from the labour side that co-partnership threatened to break up the solidarity of labour, and in particular of trade unionism, the utmost one could do with co-partnership would still leave the worker, at any rate for a very, long time, in such a position that his chief interest would bo the maintenance and improvement of the standard rate of wages and the improvement of the hours and conditions of labour. In conclusion, Mr. Williams pointed out that the co-partners in the South Metropolitan Gas Company owned, on an average, £80 each in the capital, which, lie eaid, must.mean that those who had been there since the pystem started averaged at least twice that sum. Might it not be that when the sv-stem had been working twice as long the capital of the workers would be several times as much? Applied generally, would not a change be gradually wrought which, acting with other forces of reform, would, to a large extent, do away with the distinction between owners and workers.and transform capitalism into ft form of co-operation? FINANCIAL CABLEGRAMS. " By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright London, April 1.. Yesterday's ' closing quotations were as follow:— Rank of Australasia, buyers £111, sellers £115. bank of New South Wales, buyers £38, sellers £40. Bank of Victoria,' buyers £4 2s. 6d., sellers £4 12s. 6d. Union Bank of 'Australia, buyers £56, sellers £58. National Bank of Australasia, buyers £5, sellers £5 10d. National Bank of New Zealand, buyers £4 103., sellers £5, ex rights. Bank of New Zealand, buyers £11, sellers £12. N.Z.' Loan and .Mercantile Agency 4 per cent, debentures, £93 10s. City of Melbourne, 4 per cent, debentures, £98. Melbourne Harbour Trust, 4 per cent, debentures, £97. Melbourne Tramway Trust, 4i per cent, debentures, £100. MoVnouHio and Metropolitan Board o! : Work6, 4 per cent, debentures, £96. Australian Mercantile, debentures. £95105. Dalgcty and Co., 4 per-cent, debentures, £95. . . ' ' LONDON: QUOTATIONS. London, April 1. Stock and eharemarket quotations include:—Bank of Australasia, £111 (buyers), and £115 (sellers); New Zealand Loan.' and Mercantile Agency Company, £93 ICe.; Melbourne Board'of Works, £96. SYDNEY ONION SHORTAGE. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright » (Eec. April' 2, 9.40 p.m.) Sydnoy, April 2. The inadequacy of t.he supply of Victorian onions to meet the Iccai want if New Zealand discontinues sending large shipments has been emphasised by tho arrival of a light shipment of 500 bags from Victoria. Prices have advanced 10s., to £8 10s. New Zealand are firm at from £7 15s. to £8.