COMMERCIAL AND FINANCIAL.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXI, Issue 86, 12 April 1911, Page 4

COMMERCIAL AND FINANCIAL.

Eveniu^j Post, Wednesday. Tho coming of the Eustor holidays and the consequent ciosiiig ot tho banks for several days is naiui-ail" expected to gfivo a. slight set back to city business part of this week and p<irt of next. Tiie nncstmont market h dull, and no move in that quarter is now expected until Easter is well over. Tbere 13 a strong enquiry for Union Steam Ship Co.'s shares, at £2 0s 6d yc-gierday (£ll 12b a year ago). It h rum- , oured that "somo big move" is contemplated by the company, but precise and accurate dfau'ils are extremely difficult io obtain. It nT.'.y bo that the company having had a good season will pay an increased interim dividend, tho half-year having closed on 31st -March. The values of New Zealand produce exported as supplied by the Commerce Department show- a, slight falling off for tlio twelve months ending Slst March, 1911, eorupiii-ed with 1910. The figures for tho former t>eriod being £19,954,504 as against £-20,048,699. Inci cases tire shown in value 3of butter, cheese, meats (especially mutton and lamb), hemp, rabbits, and tellov.', but there have been substantial de creases in wheat, oats, kauri gum, and wool ,has been reduced in quantity and valuo from 204,383,8241b, valued at £7,941,655, to 152,933, 4631b, valued at £7,104,454. The excess of imports over exports, which characterised New Zealand's boom year. 1908, was followed, as is well known by a corresponding excess of advances over de. poa'ta In Australia at the present moment there is still plenty of monoy in tho ntnds of the bank> avaibblo for investment; a.t the same time tho exoorts sire diminishing while the imoorlb aro inereatsling. For the first two* months of 1911 imports of the Commonwealth havo increased by £1,323,005. whilo exports have decreased by £2,40'i,474 in comparison with the first two months of 1S10" The figures for January and February are as follow : — 1310. 19U. £ £ Imports ... 9,385,327 ... 10,917.465 Exports ... 14,835,528 ... 12,333,215 Exports of wool are smaller by £1,529,857,- ', aflirv/Keat'and flour by £1,473,301. Sydney ■ would seem to bo outstripping tho other 'capitals in business' development ; but 'already the question is being asked: How long is this state of things going to last? The seasons have been remarkable for plentiful rains, placing the pastoral and I dairying industrie*. on a solid basis, but those who have some knowledge oi the financial situation arc somewhat apnrchen- , sive lest, iiiuirncient provision lias • been j made jfoi* coping with two or three dry | season" in succession, a by no means reI aoie contingency. > Australian (Federal) notes issued to Ist April amounted to 1,860,257, of a face j value of £4,548,361. There were issued ■ 1,498,456 £1 notes. 235,613 £5 notes, and 101,349 £10 notes. The gold coin reserves at that date were £1,525,005. The Com-manvt-ealth has ordered ££00.000 worth of new silver coins, making £800,000 worlii in all received for circulation. The latest British banking amalgamation is that of the Sank of Liverpool and Carlisle^ and Cumberland Sanking Co. The capital of the latter bank, which is absorbed, is £100,000 in £20 share*, on each -'of which £5 has been paid. There is also a, reserve^ of £70,000. Shareholders will receive £8 15s in cash and two shares in *?i r,? ank of Liverpool credited with. £12 10s per share paid for every five | shares in their own institution. The Bank of Liverpool increases its capital to £11,300,000, in 113,000 shares of £100 each on which £12 10s has been paid, and upon which £o0 is callable. The Carlisle and .Cumberland Bank was one of the few Jin^hsh banks with the privilege to issue aotep. ILS1 LS disappearance will reduce the number of joint stock concerns with the privilege to issue notes to seven. Sneaking recently at Biadforcl on bank I amalgamation, Sir 'Felix Schuster, the eminent financier, remarked that what takes place when an amalgamation is effected is | taat money is collected in those centres (where there is no profitable uso for it i thl \ough the instrumentabty of the banks and it fends employment in trading centres SfcVfT b ° T ed i Ec did " ot evader that the remit of amalgamation was W«f °?e? c - y ,P»w<n»ly employed for the benefit of industry in certain locarties was *fe ' but - ° n *b° contrary, that money hitherto used purely in the London markets perhaps on the Stock E S eh a n° c found its waj' mto the counter " to the benenfc of the trade of the countrY gener? rlnl V( MM L"L "T Loo , k;nff - baCk U P° n the Lonthat Sf\ Bale t lfc wfll be recognised *,??, f th ? y hav £ b f en . on «^ who'e very United PlK-f • /^i 6 "J«y. brisk in the United Kingdom, but there is no denyinS ft "ftbft there is financial uneasme^ in the United States. In the latter coun! tZ S A° me - Wooi *> of course - needed, b^t th» t^T 0^ ' W6 T e "Pectad to come to the front at the January sales, whereas tney^ ere but spectators when the extent rn,,n( A- r b u nym f was taken int ° account It is thought, however, that the outlook for the -London May series of sales is full oi promise, and that c-ices, A I they do not exceed those of the March ofiering fi , Wl ll at l east be on a pSrity t.J.h the closing rates. Political disturbances in the United States, too, will no doubt largely influence buyers on American account, so that it would ba hardly prudent to assume that they will become prominent m Coleman-street next month Goldsbrough, Mort and Co., in their annual review on the- local wool sale question, state that the local sales have grown from 724,465 bales in 1803 to 1671159 bales in 1911 (estimated), or from a percentage 733 per cent, to exports to 85A oot%£ B ?.S the , e x P°rts for 1903 bein| 883,306 bales and for 1911 1,955,000 bales. SKINS AND HIDES.-There was a smaller attendance- of buyers than usual at the local skin and hide sales on Friday and competition was not quite so brisk as it generally is. Only inferior dry skins were offering, owing to tho late -period pi the season. Butchers and freezers skins met .with a good- sale at la&t .sale rates.- ' Hides were easier by £d per pound. From ,Bermondsey comes information that merchants in that tannin^ centre would like to ccc a larger number oi both A-ustralian and New Zealand leathers. For all boot leathers thero is a good demand. Basils sell readily. DAIRY PRODUCE.— Th s factories are now moderating- their pries for butter and business is reported at 10|d -per pound, a reduction of about per pound on last week's quotation, which was generally lid per pound. J. B. MacEwan and Co., reporting on exports, state that the exports of butter for this season compared with 'last, to 7th April, were as follows : — Tons. 1910 15,675 1911 15,534 — an increase- of 2 per cent. Cheese shows a falling-off of 7| per cent., the exports being : — Tons. 1910 18,993 1911 17,700 .Commonwealth exports of butter, however, show a larga increase for the season for the period -from Ist July to Ist April for the paSt four years, the export in boxes having been as follows : — - Boxes. i 1908 800,280 ! 1909 559,550 1910 1,082,550 . - 1911 1,£&8,922 increased exports of Australian butter have unquestionably had their due effect upon the "colonial" butter market in London. Supplies are still going forward, and / tho record export Vr as established quite eaTly in the season. Dalgety's, reporting on let April, state that conditions in regard to the production of butter continue favourable throughout tho Commonwealth. Victoria, New South Wales, and Queensland are still shipping . heavily to tho United Kingdom. Sydney jnarket remains firm at 86s per cv.'t. for •choice. Brisbane best makes realise up 'to 88s for local consumption. Melbourne tquotes best Western Districts at lOd. Tho London cheese market, in viov. of diminishing supplies from r.il (juarteu (Australia exc&pted, although not yet a heaiy exporter), is pjrticulcrlv healthy at the present time. The market is iirm uuu advancing. It is estimated that the total

quantity of South Island cheese exported : this season will be from 5 per cent, to 10 per cent, less than last year. MEAT. — Prices for mutton and lamb in London aru slightly lower this week compared with last waok. There is a poov demand for both mutton and lamb, and they may be quoted id to 3d lower on tho ■week. Beef, however, keeps film. Sales have b^en made here of Canterbury lamb (under 421b) at 4-id, c.i.f.e., and Canterbury mutton (under 641b) at 3^. Beef has been sold for export at aid (160 to 2291b), equal price for fores arid hinds. The slaughtering season is now "slowing down." Both shesp and kmbs have been raiher disappointing as to weights this Beaboii. Farmers have rather large ideas as to the value of beaf pt the present time, but it is believed by thote in the trade that it is not so scarce as has been represented, but rather that stock will be leapt back .until the end of May and beginnin? of June for fattening for the winter. The end of the dairying- beacon being- at hand, :uul the consequent drying- on" of cows, is likely to make pork fairly plentiful during tho nest five or sLx wseks. HEMP. — The London market is reported to be somewhat easier, and prices on Monday to millers were £16 ,10s to £16 15s for g-ood fair, and £16 for fair grade. London buyers only were operating. Quotations for tow were £7 15s No. 1, £7 5s Ko. 2, and £6 15s No. 3. PRODUCE.— Supplies of Australian pollard are now slackening off, the price in Wellington being £6 15s to £7 per ton ; New Zealand, £6, f.o.b. South Island ports; and bran, £4 per ton. Good samples of fowl vilieat are selling at 3s 2d per bushel, f.0.b., with 6muity samples Id to 2d per bushel less. Oats are still firm at 2s 4£d per bushel for both A. and ,B grades, at South Island ports. Barley is difficult' to quit- at 2s 9d to 3s in Wellington. Maize, also epot, distributes at 3s 3d to 3s 5d per bushel; onions ore firm at £3 5s to £3 10s per ton, and good table potatoes have advanced to £4 ss. There is a, large quantity of more or less wormaffecrod potatoes offering. There is a strong demand for Wairara-pa chaff from Hawkes Bay. Blenheim prime oaten is 'quoted at £4 2s 6d f.o.b. . OILS.— The Vacuum Oil Co. reports for the week no change in the prices of oils. With regard to Pratt's turpentine, there is every likelihood of present prices being maintained for tome time to come. There is a general shortage all round of spirits of turpentine, and turpentine substitutes are meeting with a ready sale in consequence. Russian turps is now finding its way into the Commonwealth market. Linseed oil is still very firm.