COMMERCIAL.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 139, 26 April 1862, Page 4

COMMERCIAL.

■'■•■- Duxedin Customs, 25tii April, 1362. The quantity of gold entered to-day amounted to 63 oz, upon which the duty levied was £7 17s. Gd. ~ The imports realised £486 4s. Id. '■

ENGLISH COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE MONEY MARKET AND CITY INTEILIGEKCK..

City, Tuesday, February 25.

Tenders for £1,600,000 of Victoria Government Six pev Cent. Debentures, being the remaining portion of the total authorised to be raised under the recent Railway Loan Act of the Colonial Legislature, was opened'on the 28th January soon after 2 o'clock, at the London'and. Westminster Bank—Mr. W. Larnnch presiding, as on previous occasions. The attendance was large, and comprised many of the principal members of the Stock Exchange. The opening and reading of the tenders occupied two hours. Tlie letter containing the official minimum was not. opened until this process had been completed-, and the consequence was Hint the reserved price was not known in the Stock Exchange until 4. o'clock. It is urged that it would have.been much better to have announced the minimum after all the tenders had been lodged, and before they were opened, as was done in the case of the recent Indian loans. The intimation by the chairman '.hat the minimum had bee;n fixed at 102 was received with applause, being a lowttprice than had been generally expected. The total number of tenders proves to be about 900, representin "• an aggregate of about £G,100,000. All bidders at £102 IGs. 6d. will receive allotments in full, while those at £102 lGs. will get about 14-loths. All below £102 16s. will of course have none. The highest tender was at £105 11s., and the lowest at £92 I3s. (id, The latter must have been a mistake, £102 13s. 6d. being probably meant. One tender was phrased as "at, the minimum fixed by the committee," but was rejected as informal. Amongst the largest bidders were Messrs. Mullins, Marshall, and Co., P. Cazenove and Co., Laurence, San, and Penree, Barber Brothers, Hitchens, Harrison, and Co.. Hill, Fawcett, and Hill, 11. Raphael and Sons, Walker and Lnmsden, Scrimgeour and Co., Ellis and Co., S. W. Waley and Co. ' # , . The loan, no doubt, owes its success in great measure to the low value of money, but it is worthy of remark that the price accepted by the Government now, when the Bank rate of discount is only 2£ per cent., is much below that required in July last, when the Bank rate whs G percent., and when £1,000,000 of these debentures were placed. The reserved price on that occasion was 105.|, or 3£ per cent, above that fixed on Jan. 28. This comparisonshows the effect of the constant issues of the bonds. The first portions of the loan were placed at (in round numbers) 107 arid 108.— Home Nmus. ' ~ : '•

The chief event In monetary circles since our last has been nn attempt on the part of the French Govern ment to borrow £4,000,000 in the London ; market, in order to force through the conversion of .the Four-and-a-Half per Cent. Rentes into three per Cents. The rate of interest paid was to be equal to. 6 percent., and the security to be given by the borrowers was to be French Rentes. The negotiation; so far. was actually completed through Messrs. Baring with the London and Westminster Bank and Messrs. Courts and Co., when,to the surprise of all concerned, Messrs. Baring intimated to the subscribers that the:proposed loan could not be carried out, in consequence of the inability of the French contractors to supply the requisite securities. The; view taken in London is that the affair, in consequence of/the injudicious magnitude of the sum involved, had. obtained.a.publicity which defeated the peculiar objects aimed at by the Government. It hasbeen made a subject of damaging reproach.to the ministry, in the Chambers in the course of the debates' on the conversion scheme. The Government has winced the more under the criticism inflicted upon its policy, because the loan is. avowedly part and parcel of a grand scheme of Bourse legerdemain, whereby the public were to be duped, and prices, for. the time, bolstered up. It is said:that a feeling of extreme annoyance prevails in official circles in Paris, and. that to the strong, impression entertained with reference to the matter in a jstill more exalted quarter the present collapse of the perfected negotiation is mainly due. .The original design was,, probably, to raise money in England with.complete privacy. The inability of the French contractors to supply the Three per Cent. Bentcs which formed the stipulated security betrays plainly ;what_, was always pretty : clear, the origin of the Negotiation; and helps to bring.out in-stronger relief what the JJaily News calls " the unscrupulous men-7 dacity" of the Government journal,, the Moniteur, The result shows that, as the Government is prevented by, high intervention from supplying the requisite stock, no one else can do so. But itwasaways absurd to imagine that the transaction could be for account of the Bank of France, which, on this hypothesis, would be carrying; on the very lucrative game of borrowing at 6 per cent., or up : ards, and lending at 4.. The common sense of the public on both sides of the Channel carries them straight to the only possible conclusion, which is, as before remarked, that the loan was a mere manoeuvre to •' rig." the market for an interested,object, and has failed from the inconvenient publicity acquired by it. There is some consolation in finding that the strictures 'of the English press have some influence . towards helping to straighten the tortuous course of French finance- It is now more than ever a question whether the Government will be able to foroe the proposed conversion through, and whether, instead of trying for a loan in a hole-and-corner fashion, it will . not be ultimately obliged to appeal to the moneyed classes in the ordinary way; . .- : . . . ; -. ■ S ■ ultaneously with the news that the French loan negotiation:.bad: fallen through, the Money Market became easier. An active demand has, however, been generally experienced at the Bank of England,

Subjoined are the usual rates of discount for paper of various dates:— . ■■ • . . ; 80 days ... .. '.. 2£ par cent, CO days ... .. .. 2)j per cent. 3 months ... .. .. 2$ per cent. 4 months ... ... ... 3 percent. 6 months .. ■'-.. .. 3^ pci-.ceut. — Trade ditto .. -i percent. , The Trust and Agency Company of Australasia, a very respectable iusociation, announce that they are now prepared to receive loans -on debentures for investment on mortgage in Australia and New Zealand. This company's bonds are the first charge upon the undertaking-, including/the guarantee of all the property mortgaged to it. it is nlso provided that there shall be at all limes uncalled share capital available for the liquidation of the full amount borrowed. It. would appear that with good management a considerable andlegitimate profit maybe gained by t.king advantage of the hh;h rates of interest current in the colony. ' . . ' .The Bank of Dei>osjt. -Mr. Peter Morrison not having made his appearance on the day appointed for his examination, was therefore proclaimed an outlaw, and under the new Act is liable to penal eonsequencca. . " ,