FINANCE AND TRADE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XVI, Issue 5002, 17 April 1895, Page 3

FINANCE AND TRADE.

[Spcclkll; compllcdior tho 'WalrarapiDallj Times.'] || BANK OF ENGLAND, * The roturns of the Bank of England show the total reserve of notes and coin to stand at £27,185,000, as compared with £28,420,000 last week, a decline of £1,282,000. There has thus been a decrease in the reserve for the past two weeks of £2,104,000. STOCKS. British 2f percent Consols (Goschen'sj have advanced 5s during the week and are now quoted at £lO5. Colonial Government 4 per cent stocks show a strong upward movement, except in the case of New Zealand which shows no variation, and West Australian which has receded ss. Tho Evening Post in its tabulated list published last Saturday credits West Australia with an advance of 5s while the reyerao is actually the case, tho error is no doubt due to an oversight, Tho itble of comparison shows tho following B Apl. Apl, Move4. 11 ment. If. Zealand 1929 108J* 1081 - N.S. Wales 1933 111} 112f Eiso2os Victoria 1920 102} 103J Rise 25s S. Australia 1938 107 107} Eise os Queensland 1924 107 10/f liiselos W.Aus(ralial934 IJ3} 113 Fall os *Ei interest. Tho 3j per cent stocks show an upward movement in New Zealand, New South Wales and Tasmania, the others showing no change, us under : Apl, Apl. Movei, 11, ment. JV Zealand 1940 102 102} Eise 5s N.S.Wales 192-1 102| 103J lliselss Victoria, 1923 99 99 S. Australia 1930 103$ 103} - Queensland, 19241CJJ 103! - Tasmania 1940100J- 101* RisclO.i ft KIIOZKN MEAT. TO'he market continues, dull, still first quality mutton at 3jjd is |d better than the quotations ruling on the 4th insfc.; Second quality at shows no change. Lamb averagec 3|d, and compared with the prices of tho previous week is a j lower. The frozen meat industry hp r . been brought prominently before the public during the past week through Mr David Nathan, who placed before tho Wellington Chamber of Commerce the details of a scheme for fostering and expanding the trade. The scheme as propounded by MiNathan is impracticable, and ho appears to have overlooked several essential points, To adopt Mr Nathan's scheme would be to put stepping stones before the other competitors in the trade, Argentina and the Australian colonies are making strong efforts to secure a sharo of the business, and to raise any sort of barrier between the New Zealand product and the London buyers would tend to cripplo business and drive the dealers to the other ■jlrket, The idea of advertising PjewZealandfrozenmeat throughout England is not new, still it ia one of the best features of Mr Nathan's proposals. The export of live cattle ] and sheep is another factor that will ] haye a depressing effect on frozen i meat, no doubt the shipments of live i stock now being sent to England are ] more in the nature of experiments, ! but so far the trial shipments have i not been altogether unsuccessful, i The sheep sent by the s. s. Buteshire ] are selling at sfd to 6d per lb, as i oompared with 3jd for first quality frozen mutton. j wool. f The third of the series of London 1 wool sales was to bo opened on the 1 13th inst., and was to be limited to 40),000 bales. The bulk of the J catalogue will be made up of Colonial • wool, Australia being responsible ' for 260,0 CD bales, and New Zealand * f0v65,000 bales. The average of ' l|l|sales will nodoubtbeniaintained ' and there is a probability of an advance, as the manufacturers of tops and noils have experienced better business of late. (

THE BONDHOLDERS AND Ml! WAKD. The holders of Now Plymouth Harbour Board Bonds haye been taught to believe they have a grievance against the Colony. The Council of Foreign Bondholders, by no ■ means an uninfluential body, have had an interview with our own Colonial Treasurer and sought a guarantee, Mr Ward's reply to the Bondholders' Council is intensely amusing when viewed in the light of recent events. He told the Bondholders that the Government was unable to guarantee the loan or aid a private Company in any way whether its position was good or bad. How do these remarks fit In with the action of the Government lakAession guaranteeing the Bank Zealand a purely private concern, more so than the New Plymouth Harbour Board. Tothoso who look below the Burface it will . be unnecessary to say that the collapse of the Bank of New Zealand would havehurledintotheinsolvency court many prominent politicians on the Liberal side, and the assistance given to the Bank of New Zealand, was to stop thiß contingency. If the New Plymouth Harbour Board passes into the Receiver's hands, no harm will befall any of the semibankrupt politicians of the " right color," and the Liberal Government finds comfort in assuming a virtue. Government aid to the New Plymouth bondholders will not serve the personal ends of Liberal polii ticians, as the Government guarantee to the Bank of New Zealand did. The threat of the Bondholders' Council, to stop the quotations of New Zealand loans on tho Stock Exchange, may be flouted by Mr Ward as empty swagger, but'with iiftstors sensitive to every change, tmraew Plymouth Bondholders will ' be a thorn in the side of New Zealand's financing in London. i'loin in danger. How. easily the London Stock Exchange is influenced, is illustratod by the experience of West Australia. ■ The success of the loan sought to be placed by this Colony on the LonJ don market was, so we were informed a few days ago, assured, but now the collapse of a Gold Mining Company like the Londonderry, owned by a London ring and highly capitalised, threatens disaster to the Government venture. The bulls and bears on 'Change require close study, and the failure of the Londonderry . mine is undoubtedly a . bear point of considerable importance. The quotation for West Australian i per cents,, has" climbed down" ss, since the Londonderry fizzle, j PUBLIC ACCOUNTS. The New Zealand Times has floated a financial baloon, and we gfc, assured on the authority of this 1 Hhisteri&l mouthpiece, that the . miss surplus for the financial year just ended, is about £40,00, and the net surplus £150,000. If the y results are as good aB the Wellington morning paper says they are, then j why not . publish the figures in almo in the official organ of the I

Government. The alleged surplus pans out as estimated by the Hon. J. G. Ward, and as ho has been assailed on all sides, it would bo ut graceful act on the part of the Acting-Colonial Treasurer to publish the figures confirming the absent Treasurer's estimates, and so float bis detractors, The New Zealand i Times says there is a surplus, but the New Zealand Times publishes the statement "by order,' and therefore it is impossible to accept the statement as fait. Let us haye the balance sheet and see tlio figures for ourselves.

FREIGHT ON BUTTER. Mr Reynolds, of the great Waikato firm of dairy produce merchants, is ondeavonriiig to get the Shaw, Sarill, and Albion Company, and the New Zealand Shipping Company to reduce the freight on butter by one-eighth of a penny per lb. It is a small concession to ask in the face of the present low price of butter, but will Mr Reynolds succeed, The weak point about the dairy industry is the fact that it is in the position of being obliged to ask for concessions. The pawnbrokers and money-lenders have got the butter trade in a tight grasp, and any expansion of tho industry must come about at the expense of the producers. Mushroom factories with little or no capital of their own, unable to move or act independently, are the curse of tho country, and their collapse would ho a boon. How is it possible to get a freight concession with hundreds of factories obliged to grind away season after season, and ship as best they may to pay interest on " overdraft." This question of freight must be faced sooner or later, for the present charge is out of all reason, Dairy produce is shipped from Canada to England at an average cost of 2s per 1001b, while it costs lfd per lb or 14s 7d per 1001b to ship butter from Wellington to London, not including insurance, In Canada thero is a through freight I from any country town connected with a port by railway, to London, which includes railage and shipping charges. Victoria has beenbammering at the freight question for some time past and is now inviting tenders in England for the carriage of mails and produce, and it is an opon secret that several companies are prepared to tender at a lower rate than that now charged by the P. and 0. Company. We make the mistake in New Zealand of fancying that there are no other shipping companies in the world but the Shaw, Savill and Albion Company, and the New Zealand Shipping Company. Perot Pe.vltn,