FINANCE AND TRADE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XVI, Issue 4985, 26 March 1895, Page 3

FINANCE AND TRADE.

(Specially compiled (or tho 'Wilwapa Dally Time*'] SOME BALANCE SHEETS. The balance sheet of the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company, which will be presented to the shareholders at the fourteenth annual meeting on the 3rd prox., dis■k closes highly satisfactory figures. <j The gross traffic receipts for the year ondiug 28th February last, amounted to £91,77912s 2d, and the expenses incurred to secure this traffic wore ,£43,151 14s Bd, Other expenses such ns rates and taxes, office charges directors' and auditors' fees, reduced the amount of profit t0£8,304 3s 9d, which together with tho net profit of £1,962 10s 9d on tho Land Account, and £13,336 lis 2d, carried over from last year, making a total of £23,603 5s Bd, becomes available for distribution, and a dividend of 6 per cont is announced. This will obsorb £10,200 leaving £13,403 5s 8d to be carried forward, The paid up capital of the Company stands at £170,000, and the sum of 1680,000 is owing to debenture holders. Of tho profits of the Company, very little remains in the Colony. £34,000 is sent to England to pay the annual interest on the debentures, aud £6855 goes to British shareholders who hold 114,262 shares out of a total of 170,000 shares. The divijj deud payable in the Colony amounts Wto £3,345, British capital has played an important part in the development of this portion of the Colony. The shareholders of tho Palmerston North Gas Company, held their third annual meeting on the 19th lust. The net earnings of the Company for the year, amounted to £034 4s, and the sum is very insignificant when the amount of capital employed is taken into account. The paid up capital stands at £15,000, and there is a bauk overdraft of £4386 Bs, so that the year's earnings does not exceed 3J per cent on the capital. Poor results indeed for a gas company with a habitation in a town reputod to be so nourishing as Palmerston North Tho truth perhaps is that the Company paid too much for the concern in the first instance, and the value set down for , plant, buildings, holders and mains, given in the balance sheet as £19,228 16s 2d, must be book value and not actual cost. The price paid for goodwill is evidently included in the sum given above, and it is pretty good deal of " writing down " will havo to be done. At the present rate of travelling, it will be many years before the Palmerston North Gas Company becomes a 10 per center.

MONEY. When will the Post Office Savings Bank rate of interest on deposits be lowered, is rather an important question just now. The monetary institutions cannot see their way to give more than 3j per cent, per annum, and, as already noted in this column, show a disposition to further reduce the rate, How then can the Post Office give i per cent, for call money. Colonial finance is earned out on peculiar lines. Thrifty people, who subscribe for Consols under the Act of last year, are to receive 3s per cent, only, while depositors in the Post Office get i per cent.; is it any wonder then, that the thrifty find their way to the Post Office. It is a hackmL handed way of encouraging people invest in Consols. The Colonial Treasurer of Victoria found it necessary to very largely reduce the Savings Bank rate, while in all the other Colonies, the interest paid is lower than in New Zealand. The inference is that the Treasurer pro km. stands in need of these deposits and is therefore willing to pay the

pnee, The Consols Act has turned out a " frost.' Very little money has been obtained from the public, but a good round sum is alleged to have been invested by the " thrifty " Bank of New Zealand, and the money so obtained by the Government, is said to have been lod«ed on fixed deposit with the London office of the Colonial Bank. This is the Seddonian idea of encouraging thrift among New Zealanders. The finances of the Colony are in a pretty puddle, and it will require a good load of loan money to cover it up, A Pawn Bill, pledging the credit of the Colony for several millions, will be one of the principal ut measures before Parliament, next m session. The roturns of the Bank of England for the week ending 21st inst., show the reserves of notes and coin to stand at an ad-; vance of £610,000 as compared with the previous week. The reserve for the corresponding week of last year, was £22,905,700. STOCKS,

British 2| per cent, consols (Goschcn's) show no variation for the week at £lO4 10s. Colonial Government i per cent, stock exhibit a forward movement, three out of the six denominations advancing, Victoria and South Australia are quoted, ex interest and allowing for the deduction, the prices show no alteration as compared with previous quotations. West Australians appear to have reached the limit at £ll2. The comparison of quotations is as follows :

Mch. Mch, Move. 14 21. ment. N. Zealand 1929109>- 1091 lliscSs B.S. Wales 1933110 UOJ EisclOs Victoria, 1920101 102* ~ „ S. Australia 19361081 106J* - Jk Queensland, 18211061 107 Eiscos lT'W.Australial934ll2 112 - *Ex interest. In the 3j per cent stocks the noticeable feature is the fall of £1 in New South Wales. New Zealand and Tasmania are unchanged, the others showing an advance of 5s each, aB under ; Mch. Mch. Move M, 21, ment, New Zealand 1910 lOli 101! - N.S. Wales 1921102 101 FaU2oa Victoria 1023 98} 98|- Eiscos f>. Australia 1930 102J- 102$ Eiscos Queensland 1924 99J 100 ItisoSs Tasmania 1940100 100 -

FROZEN MEAT, The market continues lifeless, and pricos rule low. Second quality has dropped another {A, as compared with last quotations. The ruling prices are as follows:—First quality mutton, 3 5-8 d; second quality, 2{d; lamb, average 41d. On the 7th inst., Australian mutton was ku quoted at 2jd; Australian lamb, 3M, ™ HEMP. ' New Zealand hemp appears a drug in the market and cannot get beyond £l3 per ton, a price consignors do not seom disposed to accept. Early in the month 100 bales, a Wellingtonconsignment, wasbought in at £l3 per ton, and the latest report announces a buy-in at the same figure. This is an industry the Colony has sadly neglected, the sudden demand and the good prices ruling a, few years', agocauttd rash

speculations in machinery and mills, and t.ho toning down of the market stranded not a few in the Bankruptcy Court. Plnx mills havosincebeen held in pious horror, aud no systematic effort has been made to foster the industry. The Government did offer a bonus for improvements in machinery, but if any bonofits have resulted they are not apparent,

WOOL. The recovery in wool is the one cheerful note in the recent cables. The opening sale of tho year betokoned disaster to the wool kings of Australasia, and the" social pests" wore beginning to feel uncomfortable, but the recovery in tho second series has sent a thrill of pleasure throughout the colonies, The prices ruling at this series aro equal to the December sales last year, and that is something to be thankful for in this period of depression. The fall in prices is generally attributed to oyer prodnclion, but those who have a leaning this way will be astonished at the following figures taken from the report of Messrs Goldsbrough, llorfc &, Co. just issued :

Supplies of Australasian, Cupe. lllvcr Mate, mill ' other sorts "o[ wool .nibble for European anil North American Consumption, 1892. 1503. 15W. ImporU ol- Mules. Bales. Dales. Australasian and Cane 2,120,000 2,074,000 2,152,000 Hlver Plate .. ~ 415,000 414,000 41:1,000 Olhjrsorla .. .. 497,000 470,000 487,000 Howe MucltanIlritlsli production (in equivalent of colon. ial Vales) .. .. 050,000 038,000 000,000 United States (do.) „ 823,000 000,000-820,000 Total iu|i|illiwiilalile 4,511,000 4,602,000 4,515,000

This report goes on to say : " These figuros do not include the " wool produced on the Continent of " Europe, for which the 1894 figures "are not yet available, but which is "believed to bo stationary or de- " dining. Tho position of supplies " is thus in no way oppressive, hav- " ing been practically stationary for " the last two years, during which "a substantia] decline of values has " occurred, and when it is borne in "mind that the wool-consuming " population of Europe and North "America is increasing at the rate "of from 4,000,000 t05,000,000a "year, it will at once be seen that " so far from there being any undue "increase in the supplies, they actually show a substantial decrease " per head. For the current year it "is estimated that there will be " little material alteration, a moder- '' ate increase from Australia and " the River Plate being nearly coun- " ter-balancedby reduced production " in the United Kingdom and North "America." Percy Pkslys.