FINANCE AND TRADE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XVI, Issue 5019, 7 May 1895, Page 3

FINANCE AND TRADE.

Specially compiled for the MVairarapa Dally Times.'] TUK LOAN, Tho million and a half loan for Advances to Settlers ba9 been floated very successfully at 3 per cent., at an avorago price of 94|, at which figuro it represents something like per cent, per annum. Tho saving amounts to about £3750 a year as compared with the lowest rato of interest we now pay, The total amount offered was £5,963,400 or nearly four times the amount required. The highest tender was 97. The last time the Colony went to the London money market was in connection with tho Bank of New Zealand last year. The subscription list for tho Bank of Now Zealand two million guaranteed loan of 4 per cent, was opened on Tuesday, 24th July, 1894, and closed at 4 p.m. next day, and the total amount tendered was very nearly £10,000,000 or nearly fivo times the amount required, The Advances to Settlers Loan was bound to be a success, and f with the Bank of England behind it, nothing but success was possible. GLUT or MOSEY. The London money market has been glutted with gold for many months past, and investors have been driven crazy in their hunt for suitable investments. Tho buoyancy of the market is such that a brick could be floated with comparative ease, indeed it is astonishing what success some of the most notorious wild cat schemes have met with in London. The state of tho market may be gauged from the following ditty which appeared recently in a financial journal at Home Money's a drug, a nauseous dose, At cash the market cocks its nose, 'Tis useless as a buried talent. Or the half-crown to a pal lcat, m As gilded oats to hungry nag, Away with bulging purse and bag, They are a bother and a post, I will not store, I can't invest, With your "old stocking" be content, I can't afford you one per cent. The refrain is uttered by a Bank to a would-bo depositor, THE RESULTS. The price at which the loan was floated will givo the Government £1,417,000, and if wo deduct tho expenses, the net amount available j for advances to settlers will not exceed £1,400,000 or £IOO,OOO short of what is needed. If the whole of the £1,400,000 is invested, as no doubt it will be,on which mortgagors will pay 5 per cent, interest, the Government will receive £70,000 a year, and will have to pay the Brit- 1 ish Money Lender £45,000, leaving! 1 £25,000 to cover working expenses; and losses if any. With the fat billets that have been provided ' under the Advances to Settlers Act, and tho risks that are inevitable ' through faulty or careless valuation, the margin is not a very large one. ' JkThe debt of the Colony is, of course, |! increased by this issue, and this fact j 1 must not be lost to sight. On the ■! 31st March, 1894, the net debt | stood at £38,874,491, a further in- j! crease has taken place during the j. year, but leaving this out, the debt j 1 of the Colony now stands at over ■! forty millions sterling, oran avorago j of nearly £54 per head. Besides 1 this we have to reckon the contingent liability of£2,ooo,oooinrespeet of the Bank of New Zealand. '

TUB TIIDXDEBEIi's WAIIXI.VIi. The unparalleled success of the Colonial loans recently floated has drawn from The Times a warning note, it cautions the public against repeating the mistako of recklessly lending money to Australian Colonies, thereby inviting needless loans, the avarice of tile investor will not be cooled by this bit of advice; with piles of money and Up outlet for it lenders only too anxious to meet with borrowers, who can obtain money to any extent on the mere semblance of solvency. Just at the moment attention seems to be focussed on Colonial Government stocks, and the" bulls" are getting the full benefit of the turn of affairs. STOCKS. British 2f per cent. Consol's (Goschen's) have dropped ss, and are now quoted at 100 j. The success of the Queensland, West Australian, and New Zealand loans has been a strong bull point for all Colonial stocks which without exception show an advance. The jumps are very marked and display the tone of tho market, In the i per cents, all the denominations show an adyance of 20s and more except Queensland's, which have Airs follows

April May Jlove--20 2 mcnt. New Zealand 1920 108-1100} liisc 20s N.S, Wales 1933 115" 116 liisc 23s Victoria 1920 lOlf 105$ llise 30s S.Australia 193(5 108 10!) I!ise2os Queensland 1924 109 109} liisc os W. Australia 1934 113J-11G liisc 55s Fortho firsttime,perhaps,in the his-1 tory of Australasia, wc witness the spectacle, of the percent, stocks of all the Colonies, at over 100. New Zealand saw a smart advance on the lirst instant, to 104}, and the rise was attributed to the Hon. Mr Ward's statements regarding the Colony, but this advance appears not to have been maintained, as the quotation the next day showed that the fraction had dropped. At 101, New Zealand does not head the list, but ties with Soutli Australia for second place; Freetrading New South Wales tops the poll at 104|. Colonial stocks have reached a giddy height, and the point of recoil cannot foe much higher up. The movements Jfring tho week are given in the table below

April May Move--25 2 ment. New Zealand 1940 102} 104 Eise 3os N.S, Wales 1924 104 10iJ ltise 10s Victoria 1923 99? IC3| liisc 15s S. Australia 1930 103J104 Eise 5s Queensland 192-1 1011 102 : |- Eise 25s Tasmania 1940 102} 103 liise 10s ( MUTTON, The cables would be more interesting to our farmers, if they recorded an advance in the price of New Zealand mutton, instead of New Zealand stocks, but there appears "no such luck." First quality, at 3jd, shows a further fall of one-eighth of a penny during tho week; second quality, at 2jd, shows a drop of {d por lb., and lamb at 3|d, has receded jd. After this, even Mr Nathan's Utopian scheme is worthy of the most serious consideration. The prices now ruling, must tend to devolop tho over-sea trade in live stock; and if such prices as have been obtained for the ijheep consigned far tho Banffshire, Buld be accepted as continuous, "ere is money in the venture. If the live stock trade develops, tho freezing business must retire into second position. The experiments bo far, have turned out not altogether unprofitable, and if freight and

incidental charges can bo kopt low, thero is nothing to prevont the healthy growth of the shipments of live cattle and sheep.

This staplo product shows a drooping tendency. The third of the series of sales which is now being held, is not. encouraging, although the prices exhibit littlo variation as compared with the last series. The market, howover, is flat, and but for the Continental buyers, who have large contracts for Army clothing, prices would be down to tlio lovel of the JanuaryFebruary series of sales. The market for Bindford tops is flat, in sympathy with the London sales, no IRON. There is a wolcomo advance in pig iron. Tlio industrial inotals are tlio best indicators of the state of trade, and no metal shows the move mont so readily as pig iron; an improved demand indicates that employment is being found for hundreds of hands, who in turn find employment for others, and so tlio hall roils. Pig iron has advanced from 41s 9d on April 4th, to 44s on May 2nd, at which price it is firm. Activity in the ship-building yards, will probably account for the advance. KEROSENE. New Plymouth seems to have "struckoil." Four barrels a day may be a small output, but after years of experimenting and boring, tojgefc any result at all is sntisfactoiv. The syndicate that has now got the matter in hand, is very hopeful, and I heard, a few days ago, from a New Plymouth gentleman, that any shares in the market, are quickly snapped up, With petroleum and E. M. Smith's ironsand, New Plymouth must boom, NEW ZEAI.AXD TIMES Co'Y. The New Zmltinil Times Company has sold the balance of its unallotted shares, which have been taken up in large blocks. I understand that Mr John Plimmpr subscribed for 500, Mr Martin Kennedy for 1000, the Hon. It. J, Scddon 500, a Civil Servant also took up 500. There has been several transactions in paid up shares at 10s to 15s, one of the chief operators being a northern journalist. Percy Pf.xlyx.