FINANCIAL JOTTINGS.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 13095, 21 April 1908, Page 2

FINANCIAL JOTTINGS.

(raoM otm own , correspontjknt.) LONDON, March 6. Although the shareholders of Messrs Day and Martin ,had a vory fair warning at the last annual meeting that the immediate prospects of the company were not too rosy, the annual report is likely to oome as a shock to most of them. The net profits fox the year amounted to only £7260, which compares with £5900 for the preceding twelve months, and with £10,100 in 1906. The change in fashion from the U66 of blacking to wax boot-polishes has hit the company very hard. An interesting report, published yesterday, is that of Lever Brothers, the crreat soap firm. The profit and loss balance is £405,331, "after £50,000 cash received in an action for libel"— ihe only reference made to a now celtbmted case. Of the profits, £32,246 goes to the "prosperity-shar-ing' , account. After paying an ordinary dividend at the rate of 8 per cent, po- annum there is £455-1 to be placed t<: reserve. The drectors of Metis's Brewery obsorve:—'Having recrard to the tenor of the licensing Bill now before the House c< Commons, in which pure unmitigatel robbery is advocated by the present Socialistic Government . the question of reduction of capital is a matter rhich the directors feel it would b< useless to bring forward at The presmt time. If the Bill passes in anvthng like its present shape", they not. gloomily, "your entire capital— T>ref»renoo and ordinary—may be considerd as abs.olutely wiped ont, and in .11 probability a considerable proportion of the debenture stock, ilnfortmately, there are many other brewery companies beside Meux s to whom tto Bill means pretty much the 6a A** coiroany registered on January 25?h waf Humphries Patent Bracket and Scafold Syndicate it has a capital of £1050 in 1000 preference shares ot £1 each- and 1000 ordinary shares ot Is each. The objects aro stated to be to adopt an agreement between, Humphries fetenit Bracket and Scaffold bompan:, of Wellington, N.Z., of the firat pa*> G - E - Humphries of the J. B. Copland o the thml part, aid the company of the fourth part, to acquire any inventions rclatI ing to jcaffolding or brackets, and to carry ox the business of manufacturers of braclets, grapplers eyes and other artioks appertaining, to such mvenof the 'Vmancial News" vrites:—"On the southern border of ho Congo Free State, between Lake Moero and Portuguese West Africa, lies some of the yet undeveloped mineral wealth of a comparatively little-kiown part of Africa. While prospeciing some eighteen months ago, in tlio part to which I refer, I came across erne exceedingly rich gold reefs, equaling anything I have seen either in Ausralia or South Africa—even in the said and mud of the river-beds may to found small particles of gold. Water is plentiful, and timber in abundince— eimply awaiting the advent <f the- capitalist to reap a rich harvei; and this event, I imagine, will n»t be long delayed. Only a few weeks ago I Tead an account which appeared in the daily Press, of an American who apparently visited this part of Africa, and reported to the Consul—l think in St. Helena—the rich mineral deposits ho had found. 1 simply meition this fact corroborating my own observations." Agitation j&anist the Government's Licensing Bill is acute. The Licensed Victuallers' Central Protection Society of London will hold a mass meeting at an early date- to protest against tie proposals. It has also been decided to utilise 2000 hoardings in the Metropolis for the purpose of "educating the ipublio as to the confiscatory and unjust proposals of the Government." Petitions against tho Bill are to be issued to license-holders for signature by the public, and license-holders are to be urged to invite their cestnmers to ask their local members of Parliament to support the trade by voting against the meastiTe. A meeting of the browing trade, convened by the Brewers' Society, hae been held; it was attended by between 400 and 500 brewere. The following resolution respecting the Licensing BiJl was carried unanimously aiid with enthusiasm:—"That this meeting, representing tho brewers of England and Wales, offers a most strenuous opposition, to <i Bill which is designed to deprive a legalised trade of its property without in any way promoting the cause of temperance, and aleo considers that the measure, if carried, must eventually affect the whole basis of property-holding in this country." Though coal prices aro now receding, coal owners have been reaping a rich harvest. At the meeting of North's Navigation Collieries this week, the chairman emphasised the fact that a nrofit of £135.853 wae made in 1907 out of a sale of 1>062.845 tons, as aaainsfc a profit in 1896 of £72.955 out of 1,283,672 tons. Tho cool trade, ho observed, is at tho moment lees brisk than could have been wished; but forward sales aro being made at good prioes, and there is every prospect of a fairly prosperous year in 1308. Mr Mprriman, tho Premi&r of Cape Colony, in the course of a speech, said that the accumulated deficit of the past four years amounted to £1,900,000, and was likely to increase by £.'500,000 in 1908. The unrwid railway debt brought, tho true deficit up to about £3.000.000, a state of things which could not continue. The Government must put the colony's finances in order, and the next session of Parliament would be devoted to that task.

Statistics compiled indicating tho state of trade, show that the number of commercial failures in tho United States during tho month of February was 1621, which compares -with. 924 in the corresponding month of last year. The liabilities in connection with these failures amounted to 27,065,000 dollars laet month, as compared with 10,284,000 dollars in February last year, and tho most imnortant items making up the totals ore:—Manufacturers, 12,011,000 dollars, against 4,370,000 dollars in the correspondin/r period a year ago; traders, 8,G72,000 dollars, againet 5,452.000 dollars, and brokers and transporters 6j381.000 dollars, against 4C0.000 dollars. This large increase of 75 per cent, in the number of failures in ono month, and the increase of 16,781,000 dollnrs in liabilities in connection with the failures, afford a partial explanation of the depression in the stock market. They indicate that the country is still suffering from the aftermath of tho panic. It is significant that the increases are most pronounced in the "brokers and transporters" section. The figures are not so alarming an those published a month or two ago. but they show that the country is making only slight improvement 6o far, since the panic.