MARGARINE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 274, 11 April 1913, Page 4

MARGARINE.

Otago Daily Times directs attention to the remarkable commercial success which is attending the preparation ami sale in the United Kingdom of margarine. The earliest conception of margarine was that it was a crude imitation of lratter. composed partly of lard and partly of fat, the sweepings of butchers' shops, and that its cheapness was a necessary compensation for its mistiness. Of the margarine of the present day, however, the principal ingredients are Huts and seeds, which are crushed and refined prior to use, and quite apparently the commodity has acquired a very distinct popularity. This is to he gathered from the results. us narrated in a London daily, of the operations of a company which was established in IS.IB through the amalgamation of a Manchester linn of provision merchants and a Birmingham trading linn. The company stocks three commodities only—butter, tea and margarine—and it is to its margarine business that its immense succes3 is

mainly due. The purchase consideration of the company when it was formed, leas than 15 years ago, was fixed at £588,703. The prospectus stated that the profits of the amalgamated business for the two .years to the end of July, 1898, had averaged £01,400. The first

year's trading of the company resulted in an increase, £05,908 being realised. Profits have since risen steadily from year to year. Ten years ago the £IOO,000 mark was exceeded; in 1908 the profit reached £247,157; in 1911 it was practically double this sum, and on an issued capital of £985,000 a profit of £551,093 was earned. This astonishing profit of over three millions in 14 years lias been employed in a judicious way. As' compared with the first year of the company's existence, the increase in the issued capital has been about 07 per cent., while the "net trading profit, dividends, and rents received and accrued" have advanced by about 850 per cent., by far the larger part of the increase having taken place within the last five years. Three years ago an issue of 270,750 deferred shares of 2s each was made to the then existing proprietors at par, thus constituting a bonus estimated at 50 per cent., and later in the same year 342,250 of the same class of shares were placed at 225.. tlie latter issue furnishing the company with over £405,000, while only adding £02,000 to the nominal c-apitalis-. ation. It is mainly the premium of these shares which has raised the reserve from £IOO,OOO to £020,000 in the course of a few years. For the past year the holders of deferred ordinary shares have received a dividend at the rate of *212% per cent! Incidentally, it is to be observed that a system of profit-sharing and co-partnerghip has been adopted by the company, the staff of which is now largely interested directly in the financial welfare of the business. CURRENT TOPICS.

CONSUMPTION OF TOBACCO. Statistics which show the average consumption per head of tobacco in various countries during 1911 place New Zealand half-way down the list. ' Holland, with 0.921b, occupies premier position, followed by the United States, with 4.361b. New Zealand, further down the list, is placed between New South Wales, 2.691b, and Queensland, 2.051b. Tasmania an<J South Australia come next, with 2.301b and 2.141b respectively, above Victoria, with 2.021b. The United Kingdom is credited with I.4Ub, and Russia ends thg list with 1.231b. The chief source of supply is the United States, which in 1010, out of a total of 2,053,000,0001b, produced 1,103,415,0001b. Contrary to general opinion, Virginia is not the largest tobacco-growing State in the Union, Kentucky, with 303,000,0001b, producing more than twice as much as Virginia does. The ranks of the cigarette smokers continue to increase yearly, and the number of cigarettes on which tax was paid during the last fiscal year in the United States of America totalled 11,239,000,000, an increase of 1,984,000,000 over the preceding year. New Zealand's imports of tobacco for 1911 totalled 2,780,0001b, on which duty to the amount of £592,000 was paid. The smokers who pay this sum, as well as the profits of importers and middlemen, should (says the Lyttelton Times) be interested in the attempt now being made to grow tobacco at Ruakura.

CULTIVATION OP TOBACCO PLANT. Several attempts have been made to establish the tobacco plant at the Government school of instruction at Ruakm;a, near Hamilton, and it appears frohi the last- number of the Journal of Agriculture as,if success had been achieved, some splendid specimens being almost l'ine for harvesting. A tobacco expert, who inspected the plot, said that he had never seen better plants in'the'United States. He estimated the crop at Ocwt of dried leaf per acre, and-valued'it at Is Cd per lb. Growing the plant, however, is not the only problem to be solved. The price of'labor is a difficulty, for the 'crop requires much attention, and must be grown to perfection to compete with foreign tobacco in quality and flavor. The growing areas are limited to places where the crops may be sheltered by plantations, and lie exposed to the sun for the greater nart of the day. If these conditions can be provided the production of tobacco should become one of the Dominion's industries. It has been established beyond all doubt that .plants of good quality can be grown at Puiakura.

THE LIBERAL LEADERSHIP. . Interviewed bv a Southland Times reporter, Mr. H. Ci. Ell, M.P., was asked, if he thought there was any - prospect of the Liberal Party meeting the House •next, session under "a leader acceptable to the Party. "I can only say that tlje matter js uppermost in the lninds of the members of tho Party in the House," ■Mr.-Ell replied. "We have one, suitable man in our mind, hut I nm not at liberty to disclose his name." "Will the Liberals under their new leader have anv prospect of defeating the Government before the expiration of the-life of the present?" the reporter asked. "The possibility of tho Government being defeated is remote, almost nil," Mr. Ell replied. "Mr. Massey is certain to bold the Treasury benches until this Parliament has run its usual course."

AN OLD MAN'S HOBBY. The death occurred rece'itlv at Surniton Hill, near London, of Mr. Thomas Sutton, who. by exercising a unique hobby, had for many yearn at Christmas made thousands of children happy. Al* though an old man (he (lied nt the age of eighty-four), and an invalid, lie had for several years spent the greater part of his time in converting discarded match-boxes, cigar and cigarette boxes, chocolate boxes aiid tobacco tins into attractive receptacles for sweets, and every Christmas the boxes, artisticallv ornamented outside with art paper, adorned with a colored scrap or Christmas eaid, were filled with sweets and gratuitously distributed amongst the juvenile inmates of various London pub lie institutions. Last Christmas Mr. Sutton broke his previous record for a year by turning out over 8000 boxes, and since taking up his hobbv he had covered and lined nearly 40,000 boxes, all of which he had given awav. He was at work up to a few days before his death on a new consignment of boxes, which ho intended to distribute next Christmas,