FINANCE AND TRADE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XVI, Issue 5013, 30 April 1895, Page 3

FINANCE AND TRADE.

ISptclally compiled tor tho 'Walrarapa Dally Times.) t QUEENSLAND LOAN, Tho success of tho Queensland loan of £1,250,000 at 3| per cent., shows the voracity of the English, money market. Any security of fair average quality, is eagerly competed for, and tho amount tendered on this occasion, was five times the amount required, The minimum . fixed was 971, and tho averago of tho tenders was 101|, The quotation for the Z\ per cent, stocks of Queensland, has been at 100 to for a long time past, and yet this fresh loan at the same rate of interest, sells at £l2s Gd percent, better. The money now raised by the Queensland Government, will bo applied in redeeming short dated debentures and Treasury Bills, of which, over £600,000 worth are hold in tho Colony. Queensland, however, stands well in the London money markets, and her Treasury .Statements are of the most satisfac|hry character. For the nine months ending 31st March, the excess of revenue over expenditure, amounts to £114,000, and it is expected that the surplus at the end of the financial year, 30th June, will be not less than £150,000. NEW ZEALAND LOAN. Mr Ward has arranged with the Bank of England, to issue a loan of £1,500,000, the full amount under the Advances to Settlers Act. The loan is to bear interest at 3 per cent., and the minimum is fixed at 90. This is quite a new departure, and one of those clover moves of an admittedly clever Colonial Treasurer, but all tho same, it looks like a sop for the brokers, who ought to make n fat commission out of the New Zealand loan. Mr Ward is not Biidcrstandable at this end of the Arid, He tells an inteiviewer that j he does not intend to interfere with | the work of the loan agents, and j now we find him the central figure | of a big loan. There is no doubt' whatever, that the loan will be a success, the low price fixed, added to the fact that it follows close upon another Colouial venture, will ensure its floatation at a good price. It would perhaps have been better to have kept the interest at 3i per cent., and fixed tho minimum price'' at par. i

A VA.MI'IIiE. Mr A. J. Wilson, of the Innslors Review, has made a correspondent's letter the peg for abusing the Haul: of New Zealand. Some importance appears to have been attached to the article, for it was made the subject of ut cablegram to tho Colonial papers, I give the piece in full, as it is interesting alike to friends and foes of the Bank:—" Bitter com- " plaints reach us from Auckland " about the conduct of the Bank of "New Zealand. It is gradnally J drawing the whole of the business of the country into its grasp, and " killing out the private trader. As "a correspondent puts it:—" Slip- " pose I, as an ordinary trader, sell a " parcel of woollens to a tailor up "north, and draw on him through "the Bank of New Zealand, the " manager sees the transaction, and " arranges that an agent shall go " and give the tailor a strong hint "that he must get his goods " front one of the numerous bank''rupt firms carried on by the Bank "under different names." If the " tailor is not independent of the "Bank—and very few traders in I "New Zealand now are so—he has! "to obey, and the wholesale mer- " chant loses his customer. By tactics " of this kind, independent trade of " all kinds is heingdestroyed in New " Zealand, and the business of the " Colony is more and more conducted "by the Bank of New Zealand and ■Liber Banks, through the agency insolvent concerns which they " have taken over against bad debts. " Clerks are put in as managers, and " then the whole stall is set to work "to divert business from private " linns into the channels controlled I "by the Banks. The natural result "of this kind of trading is not only j "the destruction of the private " trader, but such incidents as the "confession of the Chairman at the " last meeting of the Company in " the Colony. " The losses to be pro- " vided for," said he, " exceeded by ] " £300,000, the call ot > one-third; " made on tho reserve." It will " never occur again, of course—not " till next time."

" We have often heard this private "traders' complaint before, and " have no doubt at all that it is just. " But it is much easier to make it " than to suggest a way to remove "the grounds for it, The Banks are flWoubt destroying themselves by ut this nefarious kind of sapping and "mining, and in time they will go " the way of the businesses they " have first started, then sucked dry, " then taken over,and now " run" at " a constantly augmenting loss. But " they can hold up their heads much " longer than the private trader, and " now that the Bank of New Zca"land has become a Government " institution, its collapse can only be " looked for co-incident with that of " the entire Colony. In these circum- " stances the position of the private "trader is extremely pitiable. He "will soon have nothing left but his "vote, and he cannot always put " himself in office with that.

MASK OF KXGLAXI). , 'The returns of this institution show the reserve for the week to staud at £28,314,000 as compared with £27,536,000 the previous week, being an advance of £778,000, making a total increase for the past fortnight of £1,176,000. 'W STOCKS. British 2f per cent Consols (GosJ chen's) are quoted at 105 i showing . an advanco of 5s upon last week's quotation. Colonial Government stocks show ut decided upward movement all round. Taking the i per cents Queensland's have risen £2 in sympathy, no doubt, with the remarki able success of the loan just floated: all the others except New Zealand's have advanced as the following table will-show : April April Move. .. „ . , 18 25 mcut New Zealand 1929 1084 1081 - X.S. Wales 1933 lU{ 115 l!iselss v Victoria 1920 103 10-1} Bisc 25s ' S.Australia 1936 107$ 108 ItisclOs Queensland 1921' 107 109 Pise-lis W. Australia-1931 113 113} BiseSii _ In the 3£ per cents the most noticeablo feature is the strong upward movement in South Australians which have jumped up GOs. New Zealand's havo recoverod the fall noted last week and stand at tho samo price as that given a fortnight /jtoo, This fact would lead to the Belief that the quotation given last week must have been erroneous caused possibly by an eii'orin transmission. The recovery cannot be '• accounted for otherwise, Thewho e of tho six denominations have, however, advanced and this is

doubtless due to tho better feelinq of the London market towards the colonics. Flooding the market with loans as is threatened must materially affect the quotations but the present amiablo state of the market must be a happy time for tho "bulls," Tho quotations for the 3| per cent ruling this week as compared with those of last week are given below. April April Moyc--18 25 incnt. New Zealand 1913 ICO 102| Kise 45s N.S Wales 1924 103?101 liise os Victoria J323 Oil 09? Kise 15s S. Australia 1930 100? 103? Kise 00s Queensland 1924 IC3? 10U liise 25s Tasmania 1910 102 102.! liise 10s FROZEN MEAT. Tho New Zealand mutton has dropped another jd per lb., but this is confined to the first quality, which on the 20th inst., was quoted at 3|d, and is now given as 3}dj, second quality has declined a farthing per lb., from 2jjd to 2jjd. Lamb has gone down from 4jd to 4d. These are quotations sufficient to make the averago farmer throw up the sponge. PAVING BLOCKS. Notwithstanding the many glowing accounts of the enormous demands for timber for street paving, the price of paving blocks has dropped os, and this is owing to a glut in the market. If the market is to be glutted with merely experimental shipments from the Colonies, what must be the effects when the industry is thoroughly organised, and regular and continuous consignments are dumped on to the market. The fall does not promise any good for the Socialistic sawmills of the New Zealand Government. Percy Pexlys.