THE MONEY MARKET.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 185, 8 August 1927, Page 4

THE MONEY MARKET.

REPORT FOR 1926. A PROFITABLE YEAR. \ iVrotn Our Own Correspondent.) 1 LONDON, June 24. '■ The year to March 31 lias proved as \ profitable to ilie National Bank of New j Zealand as its predecessor. The gross earn- . ings fur the twelve months, accoiding toil the iicciiunt.s now issued, amounted to 1<102.26H. as compared with £687,124. Att'T providing for management expenses, however, head office and branch charges, anil paying a bonus to the staff of £l.">, 000. against £14,000, the net profit ifiines out nt £312,27.">. representing a decrease of just over £20.000. The result i* that the directors, while maintaining the dividend at 14 per cent and again placing a sum of £20,000 to prcmiHcs account, reduce the allocation to the pension fund from £10,000 to £9550, iinrl refrain from recommending any transtrr to the general reserve, which :i year ago received £20,000. The usual comparative table is appended: — 1020-27. 10J5-26. 1024-25. X, £. € N>t prcifif .. .•'.r.'.a?.". :m,os7 270,520 Rrotiglif iii . 173.044 1«7.»«»S 1.V1..V1S Available .. 4K."i.:ilfl ."i» it »,7&5 4:'.."VtS4 IHvlrlrnri ... I'HO.ooo 1>77.741 L"<lß,f.S7 I Do. per rent 14 14 14 I Premises Ac. 20,0im 20,0 m 20,1*10 IVllsil.ll l\ . !I,.V.<> lO.lMio !»,mio I KesiTve I". . - L'O.Ooo 10,<H>0 ,<". Forward. 17."),7t>!) 107,01)7 The balance-sheet Rhowe few changes of significance. The largest movement is an • •xp.'Mision of £845,000 in deposits. The u'yurcs ;iic given below: — Mar .3l, Mar. 31, Mar 31, IICJ7. u>26. 1!»25. £ t £ n<7M>.:ii s ... ii,253,000 i0,4.';5,000 10,823,000 ItillM IHI.V--nfole, etc. . 2.01 4,000 2.73.",000 2.328,04X1 <'nsh I,:«).i,(KM> 1,405,(MX) liiv.stineiif.s i .1(71,000 1,!.M0,0uu 2,000,0W Bills r«>«-.iv-able, rtc . •..410,000 3.041,000 3,350,000 Advnni'Ps . . ln.l'.iH.OOH 10.0"_N.OOO B,OOC>,lX*> I'lscounts it.Vt.OOO ],08S,OOl> 8(»8,<X'O BRITAIN'S NATIONAL DEBT. TASK OF REDUCTION. In a speech delivered in Stockholm recently, Mr. F. C. Goodenough, chairman of Barclays Bank, made the following interesting reference to the Britisih debt: "You will realise that the first steps taken y ave involved considerable financial s orifice and the effects of heavy taxation ore undoubtedly reflected upon the community as a whole. There hae been applied in reduction of debt during the pant seven yeara the mm of about £800,000,000 and in current yeare £65,000,000 ias been provided in the Budget estimates for the name purpose. The war debts to Sweden. Holland, Spain, Norway, Switzerland, Argentina. Uruguay, Japan and ( anada, amounting to a 'ery substantial sum, have been fully repaid, and of the external debt, practically the only debt remaining is that of about £900,000,000 owing to America, which, as you are nware, has been funded, and for which interest and sinking fund are being regularly provided out of revenue. "The improvement in the credit of the country hae enabled the Government to borrow on more favourable terms and the interest on the total national debt, which, including the interest on the debt due to America, amounted in 1920-21 to £376,000,000, has been reduced in the current Budget to about £300,000,000. The floating debt which stood at £1,349,000,000 at the end of 1919, now amounts only to £700.000.000. The total deadweight debt of the British Government to-day under all heads, including the debt to America amounts to £7.550,000,000, as compared with the peak figure of about £8,000,000 000 in 1019.' LOAN TERMS 'N NEW YORK. The Canadian National Railways bond i««ue of 65.000,000 dollars made in New York recently is claimed to be the largest corporate loan offered in the American investment market. Details of the issue indicate the high regard held for Canadian securities in that market. The loan, which bore a nominal interest of per cent and a currency of thirty yeare, wae the medium of keen competition among the financial houses, and was awarded to a syndicate headed by Blair and Company (Jncornjffltcd). The bonds were offered to the public so as to yield 4.60 per cent. The term* of the issue are considerably more favourable to the borrower than those secured in New York by the New South Wales Government. NO SHORTAGE OF DEPOSITS. At the recent annual meeting of the Wellington Investment Trust Co., a shareholder asked if the company was experiencing any difficulty in getting deposits. He noticed that some banks, including the Post Office Savings Bank, were sending out circulars inviting deposits. The chairman of directors said the company was not feeling any shortage of deposits. There had been some increase in deposit rates by the banks, and they had had to meet this. The deposits laet year, amounting to £140,000, had constituted a record, and the directors did not desire to enlarge the deposits as they felt that £140.000 was as much as the company should hold.