COMMERCIAL AND FINANCIAL

Evening Post, Volume LXXXV, Issue 30, 5 February 1913, Page 11

COMMERCIAL AND FINANCIAL

Evening Post Office, Wednesday. COMMERCIAL BANK.— The Commercial Bank of Australia, which is now operating in New Zealand, made « net profit for the half year ended 31st December, of £66,893, aa against £65,109 for Hgie first half of 1912, and £61,081 for the latter half of lflll. The deposits for the last half-year of 1912 were £6,217,264, and the advances £5,522,385. It is proposed to pay out of the half-year's profits (£66,893, with £6226 carried forward), a dividend on preferences shares of 3 ' t per cent., absorbing £31,760. to appropriate £30,000 for reinstatement of capital, £5000 in reduction of bank promises, and to carry forward £6359. The old bank assets are now reduced to a. small atnounti COMMONWEALTH NOTES. — The Commonwealth Bank note 3 will be issued in March nexfc, and will gradually replace those of tho various banks, whkh have been surcharged by the Commonwealth. Tno now notes will range ffoto 10a to £100. About four or five million notes will be required by tho banks. «■ ' AUSTRALIAN TRADE.— Returns furnished by the Federal Minister for Customs (Hon. Mr. Tudor) show that imports for the year 1912 were £11,000,000 over itnd above thoee of 1911, While the exports had diminished by £647,500. The returns for the past five years (including specie and bullion) comparo as follow: —

The net Customs duties and exciie revenue rose from £11,126,039 in 1908 to £16,643, 293 in 1912. ' r " j MEAT.—- The suspension of killing 'at practically aTI the freezing works in the Dominion will materially affect the total Value of exports % of- the country, and that .at a time When, great as the productivity is there was every need to keep it up 'to the /level of last year if it were not exceeded. The following ' af e ' the latest figures obtainable, • viz., for the twelve months ended 31st 'December, also those fo* the year 1911, showing j;he values of beef, lamb, and mUttbri exported:—

January .and February are tho busiest months ill the freezing industry in #ie Norths .Island, and as there is ,no immediate proßpbcfc of the settlement of the Blsughtertaon's dispute it-would seem that one of the moet' lucrative export industries will fecelve ffi severe blow,- foi" ih, addition' to the meat alone there is a certain amount of wool (a very > important contri^ bntion "to the whole) contributed by the freezing works, ' also . tallow; ' skins,- and hideßj 'the last two years' • exports (31sfc December)* of these lines being ae follow:—

But these are net All. There are canned meats, glue pieces, sausage' casing), meat extract, and other articles, all the product of meat, the jvalues of whieh h ar© not ittimediately ascertainable, but tlie above items alone snow the frozen and other meat export industry to have been worth well over five and a. half millions sterling last year. River Plato expprts to the United Kingdom Uiefc year are flow to hand and show the following comparisons :

It woiild jseem 6& the above showing .that the _' ArgetitMe reaqfated , its natural limit of expotts to the Hhited Kingdom. Oft tn&'Qtfier^Tiftiia; so 1 , far -&S beef/ and muttoil are concerned, if>, is .quite possible th&fc the preponderating interests in the tritde held by the North American, killing houses are responsible for the judicious "feeding" of the British markets, HEMP,— Tha hemp market has been active for the past week, and enquiries have been, strong, but at the moment ihers is no tendency on the part of buyers to "spring" on, < their prices offered last week. , Good fair was, %yanted yesterday at £29 (to millers), with a possible advance of_ ss, but tier© is not very much offering, millers being fully engdged on contracts. High point fair ruled at £28 and low point fair at £27 per ton to tho end of May, and from June onwards 10s to 15s less. , Tow, No* 2 grade, is showing a slight rdapse at £9 15s. WOOL.— The offering of 16,000 bales of wool at the Wellington 'sal© on Friday is expected to attrapt a t fair number of buyers and good competition. The wool contains a lot of back country lihes, as is to_ be expected, but prices, quality and condition considered, are efcpect6d to rule on a par with last sale rates. . BUTTER.— The London butter market is naturally causing some concern to the factories, especially those who elected to coneigk and 'take th© risk of the market themselves. Prices to-day are equivalent to 104s to 105s per cwt. f.0.b., Whereas 112s per owt. was, offered, and in , Very Jnaily cases refused, at the opening of the season. In the absence -of the , artificial .depression of the market it is difficult to account for the present prices ruling for New Zealand , butter, in London. Trade was never better in the, Old Country thati it is to-day, arid the spending power of the people ha« been correspondingly enlarged, and, moreover, the prospects are ©xtremely good. ' Also the supplies from overseas are less to-day than for the past two or three years. Australia, is very short ,in production this year, and the following fagures, for, the twelve weeks ended 21st December (the period when New Zealand butter goes on to the London market) will show how, statistically, the price 4 ought to rule higher to-day than this time last year: —

It catbiot be> said from present indiea J tions that there will be atoy improvement in tho nlarket for the rest of the importing season. Extwrts of butter from the Commonwealth to the United Kingdom" from Ist July last to Ist February show a shrinkage of, roughly, 7000 tons when compared with the corresponding portion of 1911-J2, which was itself 5000 tens behind the exports for the corresponding, paj't of | ipid-11. Melbourne exports show tho heaviest shortage, while Brisbane exhibits an increase. _ CHEISSE —-In reporting on th© position of cheerie in the English market at tho end of December, Wdddel^s state that the demand had becou\e somewhat relaxed, as wa3 U3ital just before Christmas, and would continuo bo until after tho New Year camo in. "There appear to be somo holder? who are wil•ljttg to accept^ lower figdrcia for deliveries in January, in the belief that supplies &ta in excess of dettiand. This, however, is _ ndt oonfirmod by the dttttistical position. ,It is unreasonable to oomparo the .position now with, twelve months ago, as • 1911 was phofloraenal on account of short eupplics and high prices. If he compare tho position with tho year 1910— a normal year— wo flud * that Canadian stocks ih Canada on Ist November this .yoar wei-o 261 pel- cent, below ( tho sam^ date in 1910, and Canadian Stocks irt this country at the Bafflo dato Wore 21.3 per coht. below. New Zealand stocks at , Ist November are practically nil. There is no record kept of the homo make of cheese, but it may be'tpken as about tho sanio as m 1919. Reports have bneii citcUlatfft as to tin enormous increase- that will dome frbm New Zealand this season (20 ijc? 1 cent, nod even 25 per cctit. havo Leon mentioned), but tip to tho present shipment's do not bear out tlieso anticipations. It is somewhat early yet— as only about v quarter of the season has

gond"-but the amount shipped to date since the opening of the season, shows an increase of only 7.2 per cent, on 1911, and considering the very late season that prevailed in Now Zealand last Seat, tho 1912 increase is exceedingly moderate. The opinion is being freely expressed that tho consumption of Canadian and New Zealand cheese in this oountry is now 60,000 boxes a week. If this bo correct, it would appear as if stocks in this country would be exhausted by the beginning of June, even with a big increase in arrivals from New Zealand." What ha 3 been paid under tho heading of butter applies equally to cheese, viz., that the New Zealand article, on the showing of the figures, Bhould_ be receiving, better prices. To-day it may be quoted at 52s 6d to 53s f.0.b., which is much below the price f offered to and refused by makers when the disposal»of outputs was under consideration. Here, agairi, it is dimcttlt to understand the ruling prices taken in connection wi{,h the United Kingdom exports for the twelve weeks ending 21st December last, They were as follow: —

It wdul'd eeem that something is going on at the moment in London, which will require a' lot of explanation when the disposal of outputs for. next season is under consideration. • TEA.-^At last week's Colombo tea sales .prices Were dearer all round owing to the smaller quantities offering in the market. Tho quality of • the teas offering, however, was reported to be very fair. ODL'S. — Tne Cape Finnisterre, now at Auckland from New York, has on board 40,000 cases of petrol and kerosene for the Vacuum Oil Company, Wellington. PRODUCE.— The United Farmers' Cooperative Association, Ltd., Wellington, report for the week as follows: — Wheat, whole fowl, prime, 4s 4d per bushel; maize, prime Gisborne, 4.4 lOd ; oats, prime short feed 2s lOd, Algerian seed Ss 4d, Garton seed 3s, Duns 3s, SparroWbill seed 3s,_ Black Tartarian seed 3s, Black Excelsior seed os, Stormking seed 3s _ 3d : Cape barley, seed, 4s 3d : chaff, prime -oatensheaf, new season's, £5 per 'ton; bran, £6 6s; ricemeal, brown £6 10s, white £6 15s ; pollard, £6 10s; barleymeal, £7; floUr> Timaru roller, 200's, 20s; pure ground pea flour, £7 per ton; cocksfoot, farmers' dressed. s£d per lb, machine dressed 7|d ; perennial ryegraae, machine dressed, 30lb seed, 4s 9d to 5s 6d per bushel; Italian ryegr&ss, machine dressed. 301b seed, ss; bacon, prime factory 9£d, rolls lO^d per lb ; beans, horse seed, 4s 9d per bushel ; peas, Partridge seed 4s 3d, Prussian blue seed 6s ;_ whole linseed, £18; crushed linseed, £20; linseed oiic&ke, £13 6s per ton.

190040 1910-11 > 1911-12 Cwt. ». 842,000 ..., 957,000 , ... 866,000

1910 1911 1912 Mutton, Lamb, Beef, ' Carc^es. Cdrcases. Qrs. ... 2,.740,00Q 570,000 3,295,001 ... 2,954,579 1,820,424 3,546,29' ... 2,955,123 896,639 3.244,041

* ■' Tallow Skins jfr. Hides l»wl »w "•*•. '«!« 1912. . .£> . 688,129 836,761- ■ 221,696 1811. £ 608,760 716,097 ■165,757 ] L 746.&86, ' ' 1 1 1.490i14 '

1912. £S Beef .. ,.. ... -„ 331,448 Mtttton' 1,518,068 Muttoft pieces ... 55.192 Lamb „.. ( ... /.. 1,925,740 55,830,448 •1911. £ 296,112 1,111,086 44,304 1,934,663 3,386,165

1908 1009 1910 1911 1912 Imports. £ . ... 49,799,273 ... 51,171,896 ... 60,014,351 ... 66,957,488 ; ... 78,098,313 Exports. £ ' 64,311,058 65,318,836 74,495,150 79,482,268 78,834,730

1909-10 1910-11 1911-12 1912-13 Uwfc. 653,501 659,001 694,001 576,001