FINANCE AND COMMERCE.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 19612, 7 May 1929, Page 12

FINANCE AND COMMERCE.

REAL ESTATE INSTITUTE.

OTAGO BRANCH'S ANNUAL MEETING. i.r-SUHH ASSOCIATION TK*O*Oto IMJNEDIN, May 0. In moving the adoption of the annual report at the meeting of the *eni Ettate Institute of Otago to-iay, the prudent (Mr L. D. Kitcu.-3) «£;*£ during tho twelve years fJ" «*£;°** the Institute had been or great benefit i" «he g«n*.«l public and its alike That so largo a volume ot business wai transited white m lew cam , ;a ««o before the Court, was "*f onou that generally speaking tho Heal folate business wai conducted on wunu lino*. 1» electing sales he urged members to make every step plain }o tho purchaser, for it was better in tho long run that there should bo ao sale than a dissatisfied buyer. Dealing with tho property market, Mr Ritchie said that reports from hia brother agents, together with hw own experience, led him to the opinion that tho market wan showing signs of a revival. There was certainly more enquiry than there was some tinio ago, and the volume ol business transacted I was larger. The examination conducted by the Ileal Estate Institute of NW Zealand had attracted a lot of Attention and was now, he trusted, an Hnriuitl event. It was pleasing to find that many younger men wore taking up the course and realising that in Ruining the knowledge necessary to pass the examination they were obtaining not only an asset for themselvea, but some thing that would bo of benefit to their employers and to those with whom they would do business. Mr Ritchie was re-elected president for the eleventh year and Messrs A. W. Quelch and I>. Bpedding were elected vice-presidents.

MERCANTILE BANK OF Alio J. ICAIj.IA» STATEMENT BY N.Z. DIRECTOR. I THE rBIH >p«Ul »«rrlc«l AUCKLAND, May 6. ' Our trip to Australia has been purely ow bank business, and Mr N. Spencer and myself have been appointed to the main board of directors," said Mr 11, 11. Jenkins, M.P. for Paritcll, and a New Zealand director of the Mercantile Bank of Australia. Mr Jenkins and Mr Spencer returned from Sydney by the Aorangi this morning. Ily their appointment, New Zealand will have two representatives on the Board and Australia three. "The next meeting of the Board will btt held irt Auckland," said Mr Jenkins, "and sonic thing like £IOO,OOO lias* been subscribed already. When wtf get to £250,000 it is intended to (»l»it oflk-es in Auckland and Hydney. Auckland will be the head office in New Zctdnnd. and tho Dominion will be under the direct control of the New Zealand Board of Directors. The total flotation and brokerage costs will not amount to more than 5 per cent., and tliere are no n'dt shares and no cash bonuses. At the present time the New Zealand banks are holding about fcD,OOtMX» of money and the various insurance companim about £3,000,000. Thero in no mistaking the fact that Mie public of New Zealand is looking for xnfe investments, rud hanking is .no of them. The Mercantile Bank nas Seen promised £1,000,000 immediately it opeiw its doors in Australia. At the prrsent there are two vacancies on M»e main Board, but those will not bo filled ut present, although there would not bo the slightest difficulty in doing so Wo have decided to wait till the bank has been firmly established before the appointments aro made. We realise thut by adopting these methods we will bo in a position to get the be*t bruins available."

GRAIN TRAFFIC.

SOME IMPRESSIVE FIGURES. ComplainU have been made in country (listru-ts this year in regard to the oiftiiulty in obtaining promptly sup-phi-s of railway trucks for the consign-ni.-iii t-i produce, but it is evident from ■■uuntH-i made available by the Department vtwuirday that it lias had a [•*r:.:<*uhuS busy season in the trcns<>f 0 -.)>«: fineness ha* been won back from .: .- '«.: tor firm* ! ■.. f■.;!•>« figure*, "which cover f.«i- w.-.-ki'. iierl id», Kivtt the numbers M -a -t-. ■>! iiraiti t-arried on all lines nr..:-r th.- control of the ChrUtchurch '.:-V< «;'h .> (i>ni,>iirisuii with the cor- • p .i*»ii'it.(!i< periods last year: iv <• ,1 •■.An*. IiKU. IMB. fV-niarr Ith ... 50.70t 39,117 \l.,r. i '.'nd 312.721 240,102 U.r. i. JUL 3*2,11)1. 378,167 lotah . 745,(181 647,386 CONDITIONS ABROAD. MR CABftICK WEDDERSPOON'S IMPRESSIONS. Itm FBBM ■pwdal Santos.] WELLINGTON, May 6. 4hie of the arrivals from San Franewto by tho It.M.S. Tahiti Uxlay was Mr W Carrick Wedderapuon <managing director of Carrick WodderspoAi, Ltd , mgincvrs and merchants, 1 hristcl.im'h). *l have been away from Now Zearlaml m-ven rnonthn oh a. trip combining btiNiiip-vt and pleasure through Kngiuiui, KiiroiM-, America, and Canudj> " ••t.-ited Mr Wedderspoon to a rapt .rutr. "I was v*-ry plea&ed to find that in Kn gland them had been a nmrked improvement in business conditions since I was there three years :!•■:■>. The majority of the factories .tie now working full time and there is i«r livts unemployment and poverty. I particularly noticed that you see far t«wiT b<-Kt;ars in tho street. In the Strand, t'«»r instanoe. there ust-d to be .struct. hawkers selling all sorts of things, {irut-tically every four or five iV*t, but now they are comparatively H<w and fur bet-.itvn. "In America bu*itws.s conditions were very good. Tho manufacturers < 1»«re all t<>ld tin: tlit> same thing, that i Ins last yi-<tr has been the most pros-l*-roui t!c-v \iA\t-. *ver hud, and that t'piiiiitiotH jjftiernUy are very good inilreil. On the Continent of Europe the "■murifn \thu-h ;iro busy jii« now are <«-rmany and Italy. l u tli« other '■i,untries buum-tta is very tjack and ih it< ii ti jt.nxl tlt&al of industrial unrtv.t A* i.> Canada, I »ai only there Miout » wi**k. but trade seemed very liMisy UnTf, on R pa t »ith the position « Amenva."

STOCK EXCHANGE DULL.

EFFECT OF POLITICAL SITUATION. BETTER PROSPECTS FOR N.Z. FRUIT. (vnnzD pazsa associatios—bt ei,s.ct*ic TX L»GIIiJ>H —CO Pl* [GAT.) LONDON, May 4. The condition of the Stock Exchange does not show any change, and dullness characterises most of the markets. Political situations both at Home and abroad are having the effect of restraining business prices. Gilt-edgeds generally are well maintained, especially Colonials. The steady increase in the Bank of England's stock of gold, which is nowmore than £8,000,000 in excess of what it was when the bank rate was raised in February, had the effect of improving investment securities, and as stock will bo further increased next week by the arrival of 1,000,000 sovereigns from Australia the position is regarded as so satisfactory that some people are talking of the possibility of a reduction of the bank rate in the not distant future. Such a reduction is very desirable in the interests of prospective borrowers, notably Queensland, which has £12,000,000 5$ per cents maturing on July Ist. Arrangements for a conversion loan for this amount must be made shortly. The success of the Melbourne Board of Works loan received most favourable newspaper comment. Apples and Fears. The apple trade is showing signs of an improvement here and at Hamburg, .is American supplies are beginning to decrease and there is a prospect of Australian and New Zealand fruit meeting

with a better demand. There still are large quantities arriving at British porta, the total for the week ending M,ay 7th from Canada, the United States, New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa aggregating 295,000 cases. After that, supplies will be smaller, only 146,000 cases being due for the week ending May 14th. The quality of apples now coining from Australia and New Zealand is considerably better than first arrivals, particularly as regards colour. This ought to have a good effect on trade. The most satisfactory feature of the fruit twle is the strong demand for pears. Australia and New Zealand have the market practically to themselves, for South African supplies are rapidly diminishing, and consequently there is keen competition for all good pears, and high prices are being made. The Barrabool landed her 13,558 packages of Western Australian fruit in excellent condition. One leading importer describes this cargo as one of the best he has seen from Australia-. Some fetched as much as 20s to 22s 6d for half-cases. Other sorts sold corresponding!} well. This shipment ought to give a profitable return to exporters. The Wool Sales. Discussing the wool position, the wool correspondent of the "Economist" 6ays that the trend of events at the London wool sales is helping to stabilise the position in a fairly encouraging fashion. Some difficulty is admittedly being found in disposing of second-hand offerings, and it is in these where there is any decline. Crossbreds are being bought freely by Home and Continental buyers, in spite of the fact that this description forms the major portion of the offerings. Greasies are not showing any appreciable decline compared with the last series. During the whole time business has been comparatively quiet. Merino tops and crossbreds have been selling steadily. The outlook for this description is fairly good.

Butter Outlook. The butter trade experienced a welcome improvement in the demand this week. Business during the last few daya has been quite .active. There are hopes that this state of affairs will be maintained for some time, for neither the stocks here, nor the quantities afloat are heavy, and a continuance of cold, dry weather in England, Ireland, and on the Continent is retarding grass production. Consequently the output of butter is considerably smaller than usual at this time of the ye,Tr. —Australian Press Association.

POSTAL BUSINESS.

QUARTERLY RETURNS. The revenue collected at the Christchurch Post Office for the last quarter totalled £72,511 16s 7Ad, made up as follows: — Postal Revenue. £ s. d. Rural delivery fees .. 1,657 0 0 Private-box and b.ug rents 2,042 17 2 Money Order Commission 571 0 8 Postages .. 36,516 9 5| Postal Note Commission 463 7 9 Miscellaneous receipts .. 156 15 0 u Total, Postal .. 41,407 0 8* Telegraph Revenue. £ s. d. Telegrams .. 12,492 14 5 Tolls .. 13,041 1 0 Telephone Exchanges .. 4,551 9 4 Miscellaneous .. 1,019 3 2 Total, Telegraph .. 31,104 611 The total Postol and Telegraph revenue for the other centres for the same quarter were:— £ s. d. General Post Offiee .. 126,648 10 3J Auckland •• 123,533 10 10 Dunedin .. 90,241 3 4} Wellington .. 136,277 5 6 The total revenue for the Dominion for the quarter was £942,031 10s 9d, the total for the same quarter in 1928 being £975,960 16s osd.

SYDNEY WOOL SALES. {vnvno «•»» asaocußoir—»i blbctwc n«»»UB-eomioin.) (Received May 6th, 9.15 p.m.) SYDNEY, May 6. At the wool sales. 11,996 bales were ■old. There was well-sustained general competition and the market was firm at recent levels. The demand for skirtings and lambs' wool was a feature of the aale. Greasy merino realised 23d. —Australian Press Association. DONAGBY'B TWINE COMPANY. (raass association til*o»a.ic.> DUNEDIN, May 6. The directors of Donaghy's Rope and Twine Company have recommended a final dividend of Is 3d per share, nuking 10 per cent, for the year.