FINANCE AND COMMERCE.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 18682, 4 May 1926, Page 10

FINANCE AND COMMERCE.

POOR LAND. 1 }.'ORTH ISLAND PROBLEMS. i (riiESS ASSOCIATION TELEGRAM.) WELLLNG'IO.N', May 3. One of the North Island's knottiest, problems is that of deteriorated lands. During the visit of the Hon. O. Hawken, Minister lor Agriculture, to Olorohanga, he was shown over soma country which comes within tlie deteriorated lands area. Mr Hawken was convinced, he said, that a great deal of this land could be brought back ;o profit. He believed the solution wa.i manuring, hut the problem was to 'i':t the manures cheap enough and borrow the necessary money at a low enougii rate of interest. He expressed thv opinion that persons holding mortgages over this class of land would be wise to help hy the manner in which they dealt with the borrowers. In this way Iho lenders would be helping themselves. NEW ZEALAND APPLES. BRISTOL MARKET. (trom oce own correspondent.) LONDON. March 23. Colonel C. Gray, Government representative and chairman of the Fruit Export Control Board, has visited Bristol and Cardiff. and has made arrangements for a firm at each centre to handle New Zealand apples.' One of the" vessels carrying New Zealand fruit will arrive at Glasgow about the end of April, and will then go direct to Cardiff and Bristol. Later on in the eeason the Southampton will also carry fruit direct to these ports. "Very little New Zealand fruit," said Colonel Gray, "has been seen in the West of England, and ithey seem very keen on obtaining it." Colonel Gray bas also been in negotiation with the Continent, but for Ahe present he will be' dealing with Continental buyers through London representatives. The first consignment of apples by the Arawa, which is expected to arrive next Sunday, should be .available for the Easter market. Arsenic Scare. Colonel Gray maintains that the popular scare with regard to arsenic on apples has had certain definite results on the market. Retailers ara Buying more sparingly, and this' has had the result of causing existing supplies to go into consumption lees speedily than usual He hopee that as a result of the information that has rome forward and of the analysis made of New Zealand appleß, the retailers and the public will have no suspicion of the Dominion fruit. The matter must not be taken too lightly, however foolish it may appear to the groiv- / era in New Zealand;

," HOME MARKET FOR PORK. In the latest report just received by the s[ew Zealand Meat Producers' Board from its London managor, ■ regarding the meat ' market at Home, the following comments are made in connexion' with tho market for ,' "pork:—"There have been very small supplies of New Zealand pork arriving, - although I see from the shipments that a fair quantity has been going to the bacon curers by the \v>»t Coast boats. I understand fvorfl[ seve'ral of the firms specialising in the pork busi- ' rises at this end that they have.been finding difficulty in obtaining quotation's from New v Zealand this year, and I regret to notice that the'shipments up to date have not been : atiy Heavier than last year. I had hoped that •with the present good, prices ruling we should .increase' 'our'pork killings this.' year. The supplies of both Dutch and Polish pigs have been fairly heavy during the last .few weeks, and have been selling at IOJd, lor Ihitoh and lOd for Polish. I understand that the bulk of the Polish pigß used to go to Germany, but. now that that country has placed an import duty on meat, supplies have been diverted from there to Britain; and are likely to be fairly regular. I understand the .quality is quite satisfactory, and as these imports are fresh pork, they are consequently preferred to the ; frozen." . FAT STOCK EXPORT PRICES. The New Zealand Meat Producers' Board ' advises that the following prices were being offered April 80tb, 1926: • I ' Auckland'-Prime woolly lambs: 36-under 'Bid,*"B7-43lb'7id; second qualify lambs 71d. Poverty Bay—Prime' woolly '■ 36uuder 7Jd;. second quality lambs 7id. : ' "' • V flawkeV Bay—Wethers: Sender : sjd, 57641 bod," 65-721b. 4£d; second quality wethers iii:. ewes 56-under 3Jd, 67-641b SJd; prime wdolTy : lambs 36-urider 9d, 37-421b 7Jd, 43over 7d"; second quality. lambs;;7Jd,; ;prime ox beef 27s 6d_per 1001b. V - Wellington—Wethere: 66-under 5Jd, 57-641b sd. 66-721b 4Jd; ewes: 56-under Bid, 57-641b Bjd; prime woolly lambs: 30-under 9d, 374,Ah Bd, 43-over 7kL Canterbury—Wethers: 66-under 64d, 6i--641b >sid; ewes: u-481b Bjd. 48-641b- BJd; prime' woolly lambs: ' 36-wider 9Jd, 37-421b Bid. 43-50lb 7 t d;'. second ; quality lambs: 36»nder BJd, over 361b 7gd. AUCKLAND HOTEL SOLD. (fbzss ASSOCUTIOX TOLBORAX.) ■-(■'■ AUCKLAND, Msy 8. • The well-known public house that has stood ,'or many years at the corner of Symonds itreet and Newton road, the Edinburgh Osstle Hotel, has been sold by the licensee, Mr 8. J. Atkins, to Mr G. H! S.~ Foster, licensee ■'it the Star Hotel, Newton, for approximately . 140,000. The hotel has a frontage of 67 '■' Hit to Symonds street, and 100 feet to Newton road, and holds a prominent position In that busr locality. Mr Atkins bought the hotel in 1922-23 for the sum of £22,000. WAIMATE FRUIT-GROWING. 7 ', :L.v !.;;•:■. - - '■ ■ . . I The railway, returns for the export of fruit from Waimate have been analysed, and reveal the surprising result that Waimate received for its strawberry and raspberry crop ' no'less a sum than £IO,OOO. This sum was realised for the-fruit railed from Waimate station only, end' takes no'account'of fruit consigned irom other stations in the district.

8.A.W.K.A., LIMITED. Th* annual meeting .of shareholder* of B.A.W.R.A. is to be held in Melbourne on May 18th, and at the close of this meeting ; an extraordinary meeting is to be held at. which a motion is to be submitted declaring that the company shall be wound up voluntarily. Sir John Rigging and Messrs W.. S. Fraser and C. B. Murphy, members of the board, are named as liquidators. Once the resolution has been agreed to and confinned at a later meeting, the board of directors will automatically be replaced by the liquidators. The directors in their report state that they want the liquidation c,rried through at-the earliest possible moment, but it ia reaveled that distribution will not be made of any funds held either by 8.A.W.8.A. or by Sir John Higgins as trustee while litigation continues, or injunctions to prohibit such distribution are in force. Apparently the hoard and the trustees do not intend to distribute money until legal authority to do so without risk to them is available from the Courts. The assets of the company are £6,535,786, represented by gilt-edged securities or cash at short call or in hand. So well were the assets invested in 1925 that they earned for B.A.W.E.A. £204,721, and for the trustees £86,262, a total of £290,983. Against the' assets is shareholders' capital of 11,848,011 shares of Is each, a toial of £592.402, and sundry oreditors £115,168. A great deal of money is at present invested in London, but it can now be brought to Australia practically without cost. Apart from the moneys of the company, funds are held'in trust by Sir John Higgins smounting to more than £1,900,000. Of that sum £917,666- represents the wool-selling brokers' LMfcsmiMion, the balance being held in trust . became* vof litigation. So about £8,000,000 n J9 lv * l in th « fn t° re «f 8.A.W.8.A. proSjfW&dit succeeds in the Courts.

i LOWER PRICES. FROZEN MEAT TRADE OUTLOOK FOR THE FUTURE. IFCJJi OCE OVJf COI!E£S?I.'M'XXT.) LONDON, Match 18. Onie a.'a;!], sn;-'3 Messrs W. U'edde.l and Co , in their ar.:i.iiil ic.'iex u toe meat Hade, the prcdtßcr, the retailer, and the i-on-uincr have store a heavily at the expense u:" tliu other sections oi the trade, lu the collapse of ;he vooi market, an example is piovided cl the interaction between one •commodity and another. The high wool pi ices of il<2l induced glowers to hold back sheep as .-uuch as yossibie lor the sake of tile v.'ooi; whiie the removal ol that incentive in 19-i teiUited in heavier killings oi sheep and l.i:;i!s, particularly ILcmegroiVii. The totiil uruvais or lamb for the yezr amounted to tt,7JU,I2U, carcases, ' against 7,'JUl,;Jiss' carcasts in 1021, au increase or o-C,(jil ear:.ases, or 11.2 per eent. over the unusually de-pieced total ot 1924. 'l'iie exceptionally good -eason m Australia was reelected in an increase of '260,551 carcases i.oai the Couunonweulth. the effect of which v.'ns minimised to some extent by a decline oi 143,907 uarcaaes iron: New Zealand. The leature of the lamb trade last year was the increase oi U42,SUC Argentine lambs, bringin',' the total., number received up to 2,22-3,577, or practically equal to half of the New Zealand total. Importations from Uruguay were 9129 carcases short of the quantity received in 1924, but on the other hand the favourable season 'n Patagonia resulted in a record shipment of 535,306 lambs, an increase of 114,277 over the previous year's total. Added together, the arrivals of frozen mutton and lamb from all sources aggregated 14,170,787 carcase 3, as compared with 12,982.083 carcases in 1921. an increase of 1,188,664 carcases, or 9.1 per cent.

Imported Beef. ■ Contrary lo expectation, lha quantity of frozen beef iiuponea into the United ixingliow in h)X> exceeded that of tire preceding year, notwithstanding a big drop oi 398,41>u quarters in tho Argentine irnvale. Tile, total impoili amounted to 2,187,4 dl quarters, or 122,18 a quarters [o.'j per cent.) uiore than in 1924. in view ol the shortage in the Argentine shipments it had generally been expected that the total figures tor the year would bo smaller, but Australia, with an increase of 471,485 quarters, filled the breach left by the Argentine deficiency. 2vew Zealand arrivals were down by 17,673 quarters, and Uruguayan by 30,262 quarters; but from Brazil a total of 85,792 quarters was received, as compared with only 723 quarters in 1924. After an. interval of three years, tho United States resumod the shipment of frozen oeef in quarters, the total received numbering 4227. Canada also increased her contribution of. this commodity by 5092 quarters. The rapid expansion in importations of chilled beef into the United Kingdom, which had been such a conspicuous feature of the trade during tho previous five years, was leas marked in 1925, when the total quantities received amounted to 5,285,000 quarters, or 135,133 quarters (2.6 per cent.) moro than the total of 5,150,767 quarters in 1924. In addition to the comparatively small increases of 95,480 quarters from Argentine <tnd 38,937 quarters from Uruguay, 2869 quarters wqre received from Canada and 2625 quarter* from United States ports, against nil from Canada and 420 quarters from the United States in 1924. Brazil sent no chilled beef at all last year. An interesting list of British-owned steamers fitted with refrigerated machinery for the carriage of frozen and chilled meat accomoanies the -sport. In this it is seen that there are 337 vessels with a refrigerated capacity of 71,766,300 cubic feet, or about 700.000 tons of meat, as compared with 32f> stefmers a vear ogo, with a eanacity of 69.735.500 cubic feet. In addition, there were 14 steamers in course of construction at the end of thV vear; with a combined car>*citv of 3.873.000 against 16 steamers buildin" at the end of 1924. Outports and Provincial Trade. Another table gives details of the arrivals at the various ports in the United Kingdom during 1925. This shows that London, as the chief port of arrival, is still predominant, having handled 71 per cent, of the imports, nevertheless the quantities discharged at the outports, both actually and in proportion to the total, were greater than in 1924. ' Of the total arrivals into the United Kingdom,in 1921 and 1925, the following proportions were landed at destinations other than London:—' Frozen' Chilled Mutton. Lamb. Beef. Beef, p.c. p.c. p.c. p.c 1925 29 17 41 28 1924 .. '26 23 38 27 It will be observed from these figures that while the proportions of mutton, frozen beef, and chilled beef sent to the outports were slightly greater, a Tery much smaller percentage of lamb shipments -were landed in the province*. At a rough estimate, the weight of frozen and chilled meat landed in London - in 1925 mounted to 600,000 tons. Comparing this figure with' 303,127 tons handled by Smithfield Market, the latter representing approximately the consumption of imported meat in London ■ it will be'seen that a large proportion of the London arrivals is distributed

DAIRY PRODUCE BOARD. BRITISH OPINION. ■ (fbou otra ow» co»B»«omi»T.) LONDON, March 27. At the annual meeting of the Home and Colonial Stores, it will be recollected, Mr H. Q. Emery (the chairman) had a good deal to say about control —he was referring to Australian and New Zealand dairy control. Since then Mr Emery has supplemented his remarks by writing: "Where I conaider the Control Board is wrong iB in thinking that the holding up of supplies, and thus ignoring the law of sujply and demand, is going to give it the Hghest possible prices. In the year 1920, the entire Colonial production was bought by our Food Controller, and brought to this country. The price paid averaged about £2OO a ton. Rather than sell at a loss (on its arrival here) it was decided to store, with the result that large quantities were sold in 1921 showing a loss of several millions of pounds." A number of references to the New Zealand Dairy Board have recently appeared in provincial papers. These seem to have been'founded on a series of articles which have appeared in an American magazine. The public are told that "under a system of complete control, which it is hoped will begin to operate next August, it is intended to regulate shipments to prevent market flooding, to divert, if necessary, products under control into the most efficient selling channels, and' to develop new market outlets to prevent overloading on London, the main market. Naturally Americans are following the experiment with close attention as, if successful, it will have considerable effect on the New York market." An Irish View. Dairying in New Zealand is also the subject of a long article in the "Irish Statesman." The writer traces the rise and rapid development of the industry, and considers it is a fine example of the possibilities of co-operative effort intelligently applied for agricultural pursuits. The article, by Mr D. Houston, has a particular interest. He shows how the industry has been built up under the control of the Government, since 1894. and he deftly makes a gift, as it were, of all this development to the Dairy Produce Board, so that it appears that the Government supervision and inspection, and the operations of the Board, are all one and the same thing. CITY LOTS OFFERED. Kone of the twelve City business sites ! fronting on Colombo street, on the left-hand ■ side, just south of Belfast street, which were ; offered for sale at public auction by Jones, ; MeCrostie, Ltd., on account of J. J. Niven j and Co., Ltd., yesterday, were sold. Al- j though there was a Urge attendance, bidding ; was not spirited. GLOVES. j Motor Gauntlet Gloves from lis 6d; ' Motor Helmets 12s.—L. F. DBATTON, 134 Armagh street. —D2936

CHRISTCHURCH STOCK EXCHANGE. YESTERDAY'S TRANSACTIONS. Sales Reported—Union Bank, £ls Is, £ls !s 6d, .£ls Is: Bank of ,New Zealand, 61s; Manning Brewery (ex div.), 40s 3d; Waihi, 20s. Sales on 'Ci.ange—Bank of Xew Zealand. 61s (2 parcels);, Goldsbrough, Mort, 48s 7d (2 parcels); Westport C-al, 365; New Zealand Breweries, 55s 3d; Manning Brewery (ex div.). 4Cs. LATEST QUOTATIONS.

OTHER EXCHANGES. {PRKSS AS3OCIATIO* TBLEJWtAMS.) AUCKLAND, May 3. Sales—Auckland Gas Debentures, 1935, 5 per cent., £9O; New Zealand Breweries Debentures 26s 3d; Commercial Bank of Australia (pref.), £7; Bank of New Zealand, 61s; New Zealand Insurance, 39s 9d (two sales); South British, 55s 3d; Auckland Gas, 23s 9d (four sales); Milne and Choyce Debentures, 265; Farmers' Fertiliser, 100s; Taranaki Oil, 12s 6d; Alburnia, 7s 3d, 7s, 6s lfld, 6s Bd, 6s 9d, 7s, 7s Id, 7s (first call); 7s Id, 7s, 6s 9d (second call); 6s lOd; 6s 9d, 6s lOd (third call); Moanataian, 2s 6d, 2s 7d (two sales), 2s 8d; Kawarau, 7s 3d 7s 4d; Lucky Spot Contributing, Is and lid: New Waiotahi (cont.), Is lid ,2s; "Waihi, 20s 3d, 20s 6d; Waihi Grand Junction, Is (two sales). WELLINGTON, May 3. Sale-Union Bank of Australia, £ls Is. DUNEDIN, May 3. Sales—Kawarau, 7s 2d; Mount Lyell, Sale' reported—E. S. and A. Bank (ex div.), £7 14s 6d.

N.Z. MEAT. WRONGFUL RETAILING AT HOME The New Zealand Meat Producers' Board has just received an interesting report from its London manager referring to a case which he has been investigating, where meat was wrongfully retailed as "New Zealand." Extracts from this letter read bb' .follows: —■ "I have to advise that my attention was drawn two or three weeks ago to an advertisement of a store advertising Canterbury lamb, legs lOd, shoulders 9d, loins Bd. These prices were practically below wholej sale cost, and I at once sent an officer to investigate, and I enclose a.copy of his report to me on the result. You will see from the report that this was a clear case of wrongful retailing, as the salesman definitely sold to our officer Argentine lamb, branded with their indelible stamp, for Canterbury lamb. In addition to the advertisement, our officer had the evidence of the Argentine ticket which he took from the carcase. The whole circumstances were reported to the solicitors for the New Zealand Government to take action, but I regret to say that after they had taken the opinion of eminent counsel, they advised the High Commissioner that it would be useless going on with the case, as we could only proceed against them on a fraudulent Sale, and under this section it is absolutely necessary that an invoice or description in writing be obtained. This point has been tested by the Appeal Court, and they had no hesitation in saying we should lose our case, etc., etc.

"This goes to show how impossible it will be io obtain any conviction under the Merchandise Marks Act for fraudulent sale, and at my suggestion, Sir James Allen has written fully, giving the facts of this case, to the president of the Board of Trade, Sir P. Cunliffe-Lister, showing the necessity for an amendment of tbo present Act. The King's speech at the opening of Parliament recently indicated that a new Merchandise Marks Bill will be brought in by the Government very shortly, and if the proposals of the Imperial Economic Committee are carried out in framing this Bill, it will throw the responsibility on to every retailer to clearly mark his goods with the country of origin. This will make it very much easier for us to obtain a prosecution. "While we were placing the facts of the above case before our lawyers, tho newspapers reported the prosecution of a housewife in the suburbs of London against a butcher for supplying Argentine chilled beef for English Home-killed. This information was laid by the housewife under the 'Pure Food and Drugs Act,' and you will notice from the full reports extracted from the 'Meat Trades Journal," which I send you herewith, that the case was not nearly so strong as the evidence we had in our case. This was the first I had ever heard of a prosecution nnder this Act, and our solicitors were very surprised when I brought this esse before them, as evidently they had no knowledge that we can prosecute under this Act. Under this Act, it is not necessary to ask for a certificate, but merely to make a sale, and take delivery, and prove that v„„'.w WW t not ." ™rb»Hy described. Now that we have this knowledge, it will be an easier thing to obtain a prosecution, as it was practically impossible to obtain undir th« 'Merchandise

BANK OF AUSTRALASIA. PROSPERITY IN NEW ZEALAND. (FROlt OtTS OWN CCSRBSPOSDE.NT.) LONDON, March 27. Mr F. V. C. Livingstone-Learmonth, D.5.0., presided at the ninety-second annual genera! meeting of the Bank of Australasia, held at 4 Threadneedle street on Thursday. The accounts covered the period October, 1924, to October, 1925, a period that had witnessed a return to the gold standard. The chairman reminded shareholders that at the last meeting the chairman had,mentioned that the Bank had accumulated large funds in London, the cost of re-transferring which was an unknown quantity, and would certainly be heavy. The restoration of gold as a medium of exchange had naturally removed the difficulties and reduced the cost of shifting: their balances, and it had also had the effect of drastically altering exchange rates. Decreased profit from that source had been made up by interest on larger advances, which, at balance date, amounted to £25.393.000, as against £24,347,000 in October, 1924. The balance-sheet now totalled £40,99".000, a satisfactory increase of £1,110,000. Circulation, confined to NewZealand, was up £50,000. Deposits showed a satisfactory increase of £700,000, which reflected the prosperity in Australasia during the year under review. The capital remained unchanged, and the reserve fund showed an increase of £60,000. Turning to the assets side, specie, bullion, Government notes and cash balances, together •with British Treasury bills, represented 22.7 per cent, of their liabilities to the public. Their next line of defence, investments, chiefly in British Government securities, amounted to £3,950,000. TMb represented 12 per cent, of their liabilities. He thought the shareholders would agree that that showed a strong and liquid position. West End Branch. The Bank's new West End branch in Northumberland avenue had continued to be of great use to customers from overseas, and the directors would like the fact to be as widely circulated as possiblo that these customers would find the branch a material convenience. Although gross profits had increased by £7OOO, salaries in Australasia had increased by £19,000. The control of that expenditure had, to a great extent, been taken out of the Bank's hands, and was regulated by Boards of Control. Disregarding actual salaries paid, dealing with staff matters through such channels added greatly to administrative labour and costs. Tho dropping of corporation profits tax here was largely responsible for the welcome reduction in rates and taxes in London. Overseas Borrowings. As regarded Australia's debt, much had recently been said. It was, of course, natural that a country with such immense latent resources, or as full of such immense potentialities, should wish to develop them ns quickly as possible, but it was evident that the largo amount of debt, per capita, upon which Australians had to pay interest, and the additional taxation resulting therofrom, were exciting concerned interest there, and there were evidences to show that some, at least, of the authorities desired to keep a check on their overseas loan obligations. New Zealand Trade.

With regard to New Zealand, imports for the year to June lost were £50,000,000, an increase of. about 13 per cent, over 1924, white exports, at £57,000,000, showed an encouraging incrcaso of about 19 per cent. Wool had sold at a satisfactory price to the grower, and they all knew that there was no mutton or lamb better than that grown in the Dominion. A very healthy and pleading sign was the continuation of the policy of reducing taxation, to which encouragement trade had not been slow to respond. -,-,,. , Mr John Sanderson seconded the resolution for the adoption of the report. Mr Samuel asked whether the directors had taken into consideration the fact that, owing to the fall in the income-tax, the dividend had really been reduced during the last four or Ave years, and whether tho position of the bank did not justify the payment of a dividend which would be really equal to what was paid four or five The chairman reminded Mr Samuel that during the period to which he had referred the charges which the bank had to meet had increased very much; they had gono up quite as much, proportionately, as the income-lax had gone down. The resolution was carried unanimously. On the proposition of tho chairman, seconded by Mr Sanderson, tho Jit. Hon. the Earl of Midleton, K.P., and Mr T. H. Johnson were re-elected directors, as was also Mr John Sanderson, on the proposition of the chairman,' seconded by the lU. Hon. Lord Aldenham.

PIG IRON. AMERICAN CONTROL. Some startling statements about America's financial penetration of Kurope were made by Sir Allan Smith, the chairman of the Engineering and Allied Employers' Federation, at a private conference between the employers and unions in London in February, Sir Allan surveyed the international engineering position, and discussed competitive conditions. Some of the mora striking passages in the Bpeech were:— I indicated to you some time ago in one of these conferences that America was endeavouring to finance the banks in Russia in order that with the gold hold which they might have on the Bussian banks they would be able to control to a certain extent the Russian trade. But Ust year Germany received from America by way of State and municipal loans 106 million dollars. That is all right; it may be a good enough thing that where the gold is a draft should be mado on it for the purposa of giving loans to municipalities and to States in order that they may proceed with their recovery from the war. But what is concerning me more than that is this, that America has taken* up industrial issues in Germany to the tune of nearly 200 million dollars; £40,000,000 has been invested in 1925 by America in all sorts and conditions of German industry, but mostly German engineering and allied industry. Before the.war you could not buy pig iron on its intrinsic or its true market value. Tou had to buy pig iron at the prices which the iron market rigged for the purpose of their trading in pig iron warrants. When the war took place, wo were hoping, because the iron market was broken, that it would never be resumed, and that therefore we would be able to purchase pig iron ot its real value, and that, as you can imagine, was a matter of very great importance—pig iron, as everyone knows, being the foundation of engineering manufacture. We did not expect that we should have to face what we have to-day to face, which is a thousand times worse than what we had to face when the iron market was in operation. There is a deliberate attempt to-day by America to control the manufacture of pig iron in Europe. They have invested to such an extent in German and French pig iron concerns that they will be able to rig the market against Great Britain and compel us to pur-chase our pig iron at the price which America may fix for the sale of pig iron in Europe. Now, it is a curious thing that at the instigation of a Frenchman who is known to some of you, who was for a short time recently Minister of Finance, the League of Nations has been induced to set up an Economic Council for the purpose of considering really this particular point, and the position, we have to look forward to is this: We shall either have to join the Continent in fighting this monopoly, or we shall have to join America, and make an arrangement with her against tho Continental production of pig iron, or, on the other hand, we shall have to stand alone and be shot at both by the Continental people and by the American market speculators.

FROZEN MEAT. I The New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Co., Ltd., have received the following cabled advice from London:—New Zealand frozen meat: Lamb, 9Jd per lb (average); mutton, wether and maiden ewe, light 6Jd per. lb; wether and maiden ewe,'heavy 5Jd per lb: ewe, Jisht 4Jd D er lb; ewe, heavy 4Jd per lb. The market is »>ow. SOUTH AFRICAN EGGS.* (FROM OUB CWV CORRESPONDENT.) LONDON, March 27. South Africa is _ evidently going to be a competitor with New Zealand in its export of eggs to the Mother Countrv. No fewer than 30,060,000 eggs were brought to England from South Africa during the last garter of 19-25, compared with the year's total of 720,000 eggs imported 6ve year 3 ago. "Only through years o! patient research in methods of cold storage on board ship," said the South African Trade Commissioner vesterd*y, "have we been able to reach the position where we con send this great number of eggs on a 6000-mile journey, so that they arrive as fresh M on the day they were laid. So good is their condition when they arrive in England that they command top prices. Egg production is a field of enterprise in ■which the woman settler is largely ongaged, and is full of profit-making possibilities for the small capitalists from the Home Country who are acquiring had in suitable parts of South Africa."

Oil J £ 6. Il.S — a. oeiiera. £ s. d. ij per cent. Inscribed, id::s 96 o 0 36 10 0 Ij per cent, IiiswiUd, l.M.t — 36 10 0 5 per tent. Inscribed ai:J Bonds. 13:7 .. 9< 0 0 ~ oi ;.?r cent. Inscribed, i93'l 3J 15 0 100 5 0 si i er cent. Bend?, J933 1(0 U 0 100 10 0 OTHKI! DEBENTCRES- - Chiis'church Trainwa;a, 31 per cent. 97 Ij 0 — N.Z. Breweries, Bonds i a A - Ausiralasia _ 14 0 0 C'onim. of Ausi. 1 10 10 1 U 1 Coaim. of Sydney 2ti 0 0 27 0 0 E., i., and A. (ex div.) 7 13 0 7 15 0 National of Australasia ■ £10 paid cum div.) 17 19 0 18 5 0 National of Australasia (£5 paid cum div.) 5 18 0 9 10 National oi N.Z. 6 14 6 — New South Wales 44 7 6 44 17 6 New Zealand .'. 3 0 10 3 10 1\ and 0. Bank — 10 0 0 I!oya! (£1 paid) — 1 15 0 Ftoya! \£i paid) — 7 0 0 Victoria i.ord.) 8 0 0 8 11 0 Victoria (pref.) 16 10 0 17 5 0 Union o: Anst. 15 1 6 15 2 6 Western Australian (cum div.) . .. — 2 17 0 National (cum div.) 3 19 6 4 10 New Zcalnnd .. 1 19 9 1 19 11 Scutii British •1 15 0 2 16 0 Standard 2 12 6 — LOAN A XI) ACKNCYGoldsbrough, Mort 2 8 5 2 8 7 Dalgety and Co. (cum div.) 16 2 6 — ■-FHrMMM";Howard, Smith 1 11 6 1 12 3 Huddart-Parker 2 4 G 2 5 0 Kuddart-Parkor (pref.) 1 0 3 — P. and 0. Deferred (cum div.) 235 0 0 255 0 0 FROZEN MEAT— Canterbury 10 0 0 10 10 0 Canterbury (pre.f.) 5 1 0 — N.Z. Kefris;. (pa'.d) .. 0 17 0 0 17 9 N.Z. Tiefri?. (contr.) .. 0 8 2 0 8 4 WOOLLENSKaiapoi (ord.) 0 12 10 0 13 6 Kaiapoi (prof.) 0 12 9 — COALWestport 1 15 9 1 16 2; Stockton (pref.) . 0 2 9 0' 5 0 GASChristchurch .. 1 3 8 r 310 BREWERIES- . Crown .1 0 3 . Manning (ex div.) 1 19 G 2 16 New Zealand .. 2 18 0 2 19 0 Staples 1 18 4 1 19 6 Ward 1 19 3 2 0 6 CEMENTS— Wilson's 1 15 1. . — TIMBERBartholomew 1 3 0 — Kauri ; 1 13 6 — Leyland (ex div.) 1 19 0 2 10 MISCELLANEOUS— Beath and Co. 1 11 0 in 6 British Tobacco 2 7 9 — Burns, Philp (cum div. and rights) 1 19 0 1 19 6 Electro. Zinc (pref.) .. 1 15 8 1 15 9 Henry Jones — 2 7 0 N.Z r>ru2 Co. 3 7 3 3 8 6 .N.Z. Farmers'Fertiliser 4 19 0 5 5 0 N.Z. Guarantee Conjn. 0 9 6 0 9 8 N.Z. ' Sugar of Milk — 1 10 0 Simpson and Williams 1 2 G — Whitcombe and Tombs 3 7 6 3 9 3 Central Dairy (£2 paid) 1 12 6 1 19 0 MINING— ' Kawarau 0 6 8 0 7 6 Mt. Lyell 1 5 9 1 B 11 New Woiotahi 0 111 0 2 4 Waibi 0 19 9 10 6 Grand Junction 0 0 10 — St. Bathans' "B" — ' Is disct.