TRADE REVIEW

Hokitika Guardian, 2 March 1926, Page 4

TRADE REVIEW

1-OXDu.X stock EXCHAXGE. I.OXDOX. February 27. Stock Exchange conditions show little change. Business is still on : moderate scale, with a certain muokei ol lorced sale-, which, apparently, art an attormath of tlie laic rubber boom. Cilt-c Igeds temain fair and steady despite some selling, and (he success ol the recent l.omhm County Council per cent: £7.ti!Hl.()D;i loan is regarded a< a good sign. The lerm.s of [hi., loan, which was issued under par were the ease with r.i-eiit- gilt-edged i.-sim". favourable to investors than hits been am! this I net is taken hv some fi :i;\ iicial writers as suggesting t|;al siill more lavourahie term.-, must ha oflere l by big borrowers. like XVw South Wales, which is siiorilv to float large loans. MEAT TPADF. Depression reigns in the frozen and chilled meat trade. Prices lor all varieties are declining week by week. The chief cause of the unsatisfactory position is tiic enormous supplies of \rgcntine chilled beef whit'll are arriving in haphazard fashion owing to the failure of the River Plato shippers to arrive at an agreentent regarding regulation of shipments. The eunsefltience is that the quantity of Argentine beet marketed here is far beyond I consumptive requirements, and fore-1 quarters are selling at 2’.d per lb. One j authority says the excess of chilled I heel marketed weekly is equal in weight, at a modest esiimnte, to fully •it).(III!) sheep and lambs. The result is that stocks of mutton and lambs are accumulating, and the downward tendency of prices continues. The seriousness of the position is illustrated by the ease of an importer wdio had

jii-t sold 12.000 tons of Australian lamb, which had been here since X'ovomber. Not wishing to incur further storage charges lie disposed of them at a price which showed a loss on the cost of the parcel of £7OOO. WOOL TRADE. Describing the wool position, a Bradford correspondent writes:—"A distinctly improved tone has come over the. market. Spinners who had been holding hack orders for tine tons to cover business in yarns have thought it inexpedient to run the risk of further delay. Consequently, during the past few days there has tieen a considerable turnover of merino and fine cross-bred tops, and it is stated many spinners ate now covered for two months ahead. It is satisfactory to know that tops have been bought for definite orders, and that speculative operations are hardly being entertained. Extensive inquiry points to mm'-' business in the background.” STATE OF TRADE. The •‘Economist." in a review of the state of trade, says: •• Although since tec beginning of the year the trend of business has been upward, a slight feeling ot hesitation has tieen noticeable during the last week or two. Among

tlio most honeful items is the steady fall in the total unemployed, which now number 112,000 loss than at the beginning of the year. Other favourable signs are the increased volume of orders recently secured in heavy inm and steel trades, and the placing of contracts for new ships on the Clyde, which one may hope is the beginning of better times in the shipbuilding trade. A note ot hesitation is sounded in most ot the current re-

ports from industrial centres. For instance, although the volume of business in the coal trade has not fallen

off to any great extent, the market has become easier. In the iron and steel trade many makers will he employed for possibly a month ahead in fulfilling orders, but the new demand is appreciably less insistent than it was three or four weeks ago. The cotton and wool textile trades are belter than a month ago, but the increased activity i-, unevenly distributed. There is little pleasing to report in shipping, what is normally an active month having passed without any sign of improvement so far as tramp steamers are eoneerned.'’