Finance, Stocks, and Mining.

Free Lance, Volume II, Issue 76, 14 December 1901, Page 5

Finance, Stocks, and Mining.

THK wool sales, in London do not show any improvement m value, although the cabled reports are distinctly favourable to the extent that good business is being done. There ib no reco\ery in values, and tthat is where the shoe pinches New Zealand growers And the pinch is a serious one The advances are just about haJf to twothirds what they were last year, and as heavy reclamations have to be made the actual cash handled is very small Thus, a farmer who last year obtained .say £1500 advance on his wool, is this year not receiving more than £1000 and out of this about £500 has to be provided for reclamation, leaving only £500, oi just about one-tlurd of the sum realised last year The fall in wool would not be quite so serious a matter if mutton maintained its value, but frozen meat has been goang down steadily, and prices are very' low now At the moment, sheep-farming is unprofitable, and this may give an impetus to dairy farming next year # ■* * In spite of the gjoom\ outlook the wholesale houses report an excellent Christmas trade, and we have no doubt that there will be quite as much money spent this veai in pleasure as in an\ previous yeai The economic change is bean~ felt by the revenue. Foi the period ended 30th September, the revenue receipts of the consolidated fund exhibited an increase of over £118,000, as compared with the corresponding period of the previous year but the revenue for the eight months ended 31st October only increased bv £100, 21b so that there has been a falling off of over £18,000 in two months • ♦ • The decline m September was £5000, so that the decrease last month must have been ovei £13,000, and this suggests that the revenue for the nine months will show a fuithei shrinkage Economy is being forced on the State, and steps are being taken to keep flown the expendituie » « • The European Budgets aie far from satisfactory German\ has a deficit of nearly three millions sterling, the French deficit was very much greater, but the Italian Budget showed a surplus Germany is suffering from a very severe crisis, and the position is getting worse rather than better. ♦ * * France has ovei come the Budget, difficult^ bv realising on the Chinese indemnity and the Germans will, m all probability do the same Great Britain has to face the huge expenditure in South Africa, and another large loan will have to be placed earh next year » v * It has long been in contemplation to make the Transvaal and Orange Rivei Colony carry some of the burden, and it is now rumoured that this will be done The Transvaal could easih stand the burden of £30,000,000 to £50 000,000, and then there is the Chinese indennut\ loan which could also be draw n upon The British have many resources without adding materially to the national debt, which has been increased bv over one hundred million sterling since the South African war began The Standard Oil Trust has paid a fancy price foi the Shell Transport Company hut it n« worth it to the Standard Oil Trust The Shell Company had started an active competition m kero«ene oil and was cutting into the Australian trade « * The Shell Transport Company leeenth erected receiving tanks in Melbourne and S\dnc\ and started selling m hulk The compam owns extensive oil fields m Borneo but its supplies were hemg draw n from Baku ♦ » w The elimination of the Shell Compam will see the pnoe of kerosene go up m the colonial markets, and the -Standard Oil will i-eap tho benefit The £12,000,000 paid to the Shell Company will soon be got back Irom the consumers of kerosene and petroleum products * » » The balance-sheet of the North Queensland Insurance Company for tho year ended 30th September has been rereived and shows that thei net profit for the totalled £15,290 9s lOd and with the balance of £1224 4s 3d brought forward there was available for distribution CM) 114 14s Id Of tho sin plus profits the dividend at 8 per cent absorbed £4?8"5 the reserve

fund was increased by £uOOO, making that fund now £2b,000, the reinsurance reserve fund has been increased by £4000, and now stands at £10,000, leaving £2229 14s Id to be eained foi ward to the new account * * * The net premium income for the ve-di amounted to £84,908, and the losses to £48,847, or nearly -"38 per cent of tin* premium income , the expenses o\ management amounted to £24,04.) or nearly 29 pei cent The net underwriting profit foi the year was £12,010, and interest rent etc , brought in a revenue of £3274, making the not profit for the year £15 290 ♦ • * Tho North Queensland Insurance Company is pretty well established in all the colonies, and is doing a very fan business It is steadily gaining ground in New Zealand • ♦ •» The balance-sheet of the Gear Meat Company for the yea.r ended 30th November, is as usual veiv promptly cuculated, and is also as usual very satisfactory The amount available for distribution is £11 433 18s 3d The shareholders get a dividend of b\ per cent for the year, which absorbs £097<! 7s, leaving £5400 11s 3d to be carried forward. The actual net profit for the ye-ar totalled £1535 3s sd. as against £<>752 7s lOd m the pievious year and the decrease is easily accounted for by the great break in the prices of frozen meat » ♦ ♦ li. will be noted that while the net mofit totalled £5535, the amount of the dividend is £5975, so that the Geai Company did not earn the amount the directors propose distributing bv £440 In the previous year the substantial balance of £5900 was carried forv\aid, oi a sum sufficient to pa- the dividend just declared. The Gear Company has at one time and another, received a good deal of har-h and unnecessary criticism, but- it is mamlv owing to very close and careful management that the company has been bi ought to its present creditable condition • • • The present is a very trying time to the meat companies that are obliged to ship frozen meat on their own account A falling market is very difficult to handle, and a company might very easily lose heavily on a single shipment In the previous year good profits were madei because of the extraordinary dpmand for canned meats, as well as the high price of mutton, but this year the companies have to contend with a falling market foi wool and mutton Meat companies' shares have been veiy weak, with a strong downward +endenc\ and such of the balancesheets as have already been published indicate the reason of the adverse movement * • * The Otago returns continue vpiv satisfactory' the yield from 03 dredges being 13930z lOdwt. Last year, durmg the corrasponding week, 44 dredges obtained 10540z lGdwt, and in 1899 32 dredges obtained 788oz 7dvvt 23gr The steadiness of the returns just now is some compensation for the pooi yields m the winter, and what, perhaps, is of special interest at the moment is the fact that the market is showing moie activity and prices exhibit an upvv ard tendency The year's output from the Otago dredges will show a consideiable improvement on the yield of 1900, but not nearly to the extent that we had a right to expect The incompetence of so-called mining experts and engineers has done a good deal to disci edit the mdustr\ but there is some hope now that the experience of the past has been of an educational value which will result in permanent benefit to the di edging industry • « « The West Coast returns are steadiK improving, and the outlook for the distnct is very good In the new year many more dredge<s will be operating and the returns should then favourably influence the market ♦ * The Mofsfputo Company's dredge was to have commenced operations last Tuesday