FACTS FOR INVESTORS.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 174, 25 July 1928, Page 4

FACTS FOR INVESTORS.

ONAKAKA ORE. In a pamphlet dealing with the New Zealand iron and steel industry, issued by the Onakaka Iron and Steel Company, the statement is made "that in no country in the world are the raw materials which form the basis of a profitable industry so conveniently situated as here, all working by _ gravitation to the furnace site." Relative costs of iron ore are quoted as follow:— Cost of ore. per ton. England 21/ India 11/ America 22/ Australia 14/ Onakaka 2/6 The writer adds: "When -it is considered that it takes approximately _ two tons of iron ore to make a ton of pig iron, the first cost of iron ore plays a large part in the cost of production." WERE'S investment trust. Latest Australian mail advices bring particulars of the formation of a new company designated Were's Investment Trust. Ltd., with a nominal capital of £1,000.000 in 5/ shares, and headquarters situated in Melbourne. It is proposed to issue immediately 500,000 shares. As the name implies the new organisation will carry on business on the lines of the investment companies at present doing business in U.S.A.. Canada and Great Britain. These methods have already been described in these columns. Briefly, they provide for the investment of shareholders' funds in other interest earning companies throughout the world, so that the small investor receives the benefit obtainable through the general pooling of financial resources, and their utilisation through a wide range of securities. Stocks are bought and sold as market conditions seem to warrant. The movement is far from being a new one. but its growth in recent years has been grdatly accelerated, and it was only a question of time when it should find its way to this end of the world. J. B. W ere and Son. who are behind the new company, are well known as brokers in the Australian finaneial world, and their lengthy experience should eDsure the experiment being made under favourable conditions. The leading British Trust Companies last year returned to their ordinary shareholders dividends ranging from 10 per cent to 20 per cent, but J. B. Were and Son frankly emphasise that these results were aided by a preponderance of cheap per cent to .5 per cent debenture and preference capital not at the present available to an Australian concern. Nevertheless the directors of the Jatter anticipate that dividends of at least 7 per cent should be r ssihle practically from the time the whole £125.000 is subscribed.