Finance Stocks and Mining

Free Lance, Volume III, Issue 116, 20 September 1902, Page 5

Finance Stocks and Mining

THE report on the meat industry, w Inch occasioned Mr F. T. Moore so much anxiety and considerable unpleasantness, is at last available to the. public, and the conclusions arrived at are, to say the least, remarkable. Mr Moore maintains that it is imperative to make a complete reformation of the industry from beginning to end. This is a large order, and it is easy to see how Mr. Moore arrived at it. Throughout several months he agitated for co-oner-ative freezing works with Government aid, and he started to make his official investigations with that bias, and all the evidence that he obtained was. apparently, viewed with that bias. * * * It was a blunder entrusting such investigations to a man with the declared and strong prejudices of Mr. Moore, and Ins report though it may contain heie and there points of merit, is on the whole, worthless. It has taken nearly twenty years to brin^ the frozen meat industry to its present position Experience had to be gained step by step and the shareholders of the freezing companies have had to pay very heavily for the experience but all this experience is apparently of no account, and we are to completely reform the industry. It is stupendous nonsense. * * * It is difficult to know what Mr Moore w ould have the freezing companies do, for he complains that they run their business in the interests of the shareholders . Possibly, Mr. Moore thinks they should be conducted for the entire benefit of the other fellow. It is a very benevolent notion, but it is not in consonance ewith the business ideas of the twentieth century. The farmers and the Government should co-operate to establish the industry upon auite new lines, suggests Mr. Moore and inrdicates that the farmers should submit to a special rate to provide the required capital. This scheme Mr. Moore has propounded before and looks very much as if his investigations were of a character to support this scheme. * * * There is a, very big difference between production and distribution, and the one requires as much careful study and attention as the other. The farmers have not yet mastered the details of production , and it is because of that we find them agitating and allowing themselves to be worked by agitators. The cost of production in New Zealand is far too high, and it is from this end that the farmers have to begin their reforms. The price of land is too high, the mortgages are too big, the cost of labour is too much', the cost of livine is higher than it should be because the Customhouse exists not to rake in revenue but to protect alleged industries. * • • When the farmers learn that the cost of production is too high, and is kept so artificially, they may do some good for themselves by insisting upon reforms, but trying to bump a market 12,000 miles away is a waste of time and enr ergy. The Argentine farmer gets less money for his meat and makes a bigger profit than the New Zealand farmer. Why? And the Argentine farmer can compete with New Zealand in the Australian markets. Argentine maize has found a profitable market in New South Wales and Queensland, and now we have Argentine frozen meat coming to Australia. The local freezing companies should be blamed for this also. Mr. Moore suggests that the industry is languishing for the want of benefits that Government "grading" and supervision in all directions can secure. The export returns do not support this, for the figures show that the quantity is as great as ever. The meat industry is not languishing. The idea of Government grading the meat is the fond notion of some newspaper authorities on the meat question. The butter is graded, and the flax is graded, then why not the meat ? The meat is graded iioa\ , graded far better than it can ever possibly be by the Government, and the work is done by men who have learned the business, through years of experience It is these same men that would have to be employed under any Government scheme, and they could not do the work any better than they are dome it now. * ♦ » At. the present moment, the butter industry is engaging attention. The cows are coming in, and most of the factories have commenced, or are about to commence operations Market prospects are of special interest, and factory

managers are labouring under the delusion that prices will be quite as high, if not higher, than last season, and are besm'" quotations to dealers on this supposition. All the latest information obtainable points to the fact that ()rices will be considerably lower than ast season. An average decline of 10s per cwt is not unlikely, and this is indicated in ai way by the Agent-General's last commercial cable message. * # * A decline of £10 per ton, or anything like it will make a big difference to the dairy farmers, and, as matters now stand it would not be surprising if some enterprising politician suggests that the small farmers should receive compensartion from the State for the market losses. A declining butter market will be a very serious thing for New Zealand just now. With wool depressed, frozen meat inactive, and butter low, fanners will be in a state of chaos. * # * The markeit for investment shares has not been very good for some weeks past. Brokers complain of restricted business, and yet buyers are freely offering full market rates for all good stocks. Bank of New Zealand shares are steady at 635, but sales are few. National Bank shares have seen business up to 82s * * *■ Insurance shares are firmer. South British shares are wanted at £4 11s, which is about the highest price these shares have touched. The balancesheet for the year ended 31st August is just about due, and that is probably influencing the market . at any rate the present quotation represents an advance of 11s per share upon the price ruling a few weeks ago. The company is expected to show a good balanee^sheet, and probably an increased dividend will be paid. • • • Meat companies^ shares generally are weak, and, in view of the steady and persistent attack of certain people, it is remarkable that even present values are maintained. Gears changed hands at 295. • ♦ « The prospectus of a horseshoeing company will shortly be circulated The project is being well supported, and some convincing facts are brought forward bv the promoters. • • * The mining market is very much out of joint. Two years ago such returns as are now being obtained would have caused the wildest speculation, but now no noticei appears to be taken. * • * The record of the Alexandra Lead Dredging Company is marvellous. The output of gold since the dredge commenced operations has been enormous, and several big dividends have been paid. Still, the shares are under par. ♦ ♦ * The gold won by the dredges in Otago and Southland up to the present is 75 per cent, greater than for the corresponding period of last year, and the value of the total obtained is put down at over £280,000. But, speculators cannot be impressed. ♦ * * The collapse of the dredgin boom struck hundreds of people with considerable violence, and the disaster is not forgotten. It will be, however, sooner or later.