FINANCE AND COMMERCE.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 19715, 4 September 1929, Page 12

FINANCE AND COMMERCE.

GUARANTEE DISPUTED. ■■QUEL TO COMPANY'S FAILURE £r*4*a ISMOI 2ATIOW TXUtCBAJI ) HAMILTON, September 8Tb« failure of the Dairy Farmers' Union, which operated for teven years, ltd to * lawsuit among the guarantors of th« ilOuO overdraft. In the Supreme <"<jurt to-day three guarantors —C. Fark.r, F \V Thomas, and H. A. Foreman *ued tour others ior their •har« of the guarantee. The case turned on th«> contention ot the defendants that their siKuuiurei to the guarantee wer« obtained on the understanding that they wre not effective unless a total of *2u was obtained \f- Ju«.ti-« O-tler held that this had »ot been ;-roied, but thnt it was agreed that aom. ndditional -.innaturea be •btained, whereas onlv one wan added He, therefore refuse! *.o make an order a«..in«t t*u of th*> deinnda'Ha, H. R. .f South.-e and \\. V. Harlow, whrt dispute! the claim, but made an order A. K. Fear and J. Livingstone, win. had adrmt'>*d liability at the <>! thf hearing.

CONDEMNED STOCK. QUESTION OF COMPENSATION. (ta&IS tMO<UTIUI rSIBOEAM-) BTRATFOUD, September 3. The matter of compensation for con demned stock was discussed by the Turanaki Master Butchers' Association •t the annual meeting. The president (Mr W. G. Simpson) ■Will that a member could lose as much an £») in ton days throiijJi having •Lick condom nod The pnbrft 1 must be protected from having to eat diseased meat, but the basis of compensation was too low, having been fixed many tears ago. when values were much >wer. All authorities agreed that it was impossible to tell if a beast was diseased while it was still alive. An animal passed through many hands during its lifetime, but none of these, ex eept the butcher, who handled it last, bad to stand the loss. A united front was necessary with n view to security ■n amendment of the Act. If there •ere adequate compensation diseased Bient which was now sometimes sold would be condemned, as the batcher wmild call an inspector in if in any *robt. It was pointed out that a Slaughtering and Inspection Act would come tieforo the House at an earlv date, and •it opportunity would be afforded to givo evidence before the Agricultural and Stock Committee

POTATOES A LUXURY. FAMINE PRICE IN SYDNEY. (m MWM Special •crvtee] AUCKLAND, September 8. Potatoes are besoming almost a luxury la Sydney, according to Mr L. W Ifalaoa, the well-known W hangar el stockbreeder and judge, who returned to Auckland by the UUmaroa after tigiag at the National Show at Brians last month. "Potatoes are practically rationed at fa* ihotels," Mr Nelson said. "Even •t the best establishments they can •aly be bad in limited quantities. Various Women's Associations have declared • boycott on Australian potatoes owing to the refusal of the Government to •Uow Importations from New Zealand, tat they are still selling at £22 a ton.'*

FEDERAL AMUSEMENT TAX. J M 06.000 EXTRA. The Commonwealth Budget presented ths other day proposes to raise additional revenue of 4000,000 by means of • tax of 0 per eent. on the total receipts from charges for admission to entertainments. This tax will be a levy npon a national luxury, which, it is considered, should make a special contribution to the national revenue in the present circumstances. Records relating to the present entertainments tax, which will continue, show that the attendances at amusements have infilled enormously since 1021-22, namely, from 78,000,000 to 126,000,000 in 1928 28. Within a day or two of the presentation of the Budget the Sydney Stock Xxehange showed the effect in those stocks meet intimately concerned, and picture theatre shares suffered severely. They recorded an average fall of 12.1 per eent. Amalgamated Picture* fell from 17a to 25a 3d; J. D. Williams from 25s Sd to 28s 3d; Spencer's from S6s 0d to 23s 6d; and West's from 31s to 275. Share values of brewery and tobaeco companies, there being a proposed increase on beer and tobacco, Showed only a slight retrogression. In actual figures, however, the total slump represented a capital depreciation for the day on picture companies, breweries, and British Tobacco of £319,037. AUSTRALIA'S DEBT. I —— TOTAL OF 11,099,000,000. The Commonwealth Treasurer, In his reeeat Budget statement, stated that the debts of the six States at June 30th, 1928. were:—-New South Wales, g258,474,8i»8; Victoria, £157,283,470; Queensland, £112.138,970; South Australia, £92,223,165; West Australia. « 77,071,719; Tasmania, £24,826,560. Total, £722,018,812. With the Com tuunwealth debt, which at June 30th. 1929, was £377,621,573, the aggregate ■ational debt stands at £1,099,640,385 •r an average of £173 10s 8d per head. These igures are not comparable with those of Great Britain, Canada, the United States, and other countries, because in Australia many public utilities, such as railways, tramways, telephones, electricity, water supply, etc., have been provided by the Governments, whereas la the countries mentioned pablis ntilities have been left to private enterprise. AUSTRALIA'S CUSTOMS RETURNS (Qirrrsn pass* amocutioii —si s&acTair TBuaau'H —copiniesrr.) CANBERRA, September 8. For the first two months of the financial year, July and August, Custom r*venue is already £1,731,193 above that for the first two months of last year, and £1,200,511 more than the Treasurer'* estimate.—Australian Press Association.

ADVERTISING CLUB. A NIGHT WITH PRINTERS. MODERN METHODS IN REVIEW. Th* meeting of the Canterbury Advert sing Hub held in the Cham! er of Commerce Hall last evening took the form of "A Night with the Printers." There was an attendance of about 30, and a very interesting and valuable evening was spent in addresses given 03 subjects which gave members an opportunity of becoming more conversant with the technical knowledge of the trade. Mr J. \V. Baty, president of the club, occupied the chair. "Commercial Display" was the subject of the opening address of the evening, given l>y Mr J as. Stout. He stated that there was a tremendous gap between the standards of commercial display to-day, and those of 30 years What had made printing so efficient today was the perfect plant available, and advanced methods. Rule of thumb methods governed earlier printing, but to-day elaboration of ear.ier simpler rules had resulted in the vast improvements seen in modern display. The factors which together went to bring about these improvements were clo e study and attention given to balance, shape harmony, tone harmony, grouping and spacing, legibility, simplicity of make-up, the use of borders, and the use of colours. Balance rules covered the layout of the printing and made for harmony, while shapt harmony governed the position, size, and shape of blocks, type, etc., in relation to the advertisement's layout. Tone harmony applied to eo'our and tinting work and was used in giving a pleasing, softening, and appealing effect. Grouping and spacing were factors which governed the grouping together of ideas in certain types spaced out, so that they may be easily picked out, and the facts grasped on first sight fcy the reader. Simplicity and legibility governed the layout of an advertisement, and when these rules were observed there was not an occurrence of a jumble of many facts herded together giving the appearance of a patchwork quilt. Too much ornamentation was a big drawback, too, and simplicity and legibility avoided this and made a more readable production. Colour work, it was not generally realised, was well worth the extra expense, customers seeming to consider the point of economy more than they considered the extra advantage gained by colour appeal. It had been proved by tests that where colour Was tried out against plain black and white, the results supported the theory that eolou.ed advertising has an extra appeal. In three specific trials, coloured advertisements had brought seven, nine, and fifteen times respectively, the results obtained from black and white similar work. The speaker concluded his address with good and bad examples of the points he had set forth, and added that the points of importance in an advertisement were that it should attract interest and convince.

Mr Allen Buckley gave a very interesting lecture on photo-engraving and processes, and in a detailed description covered the technicalities of that sedition of printing work. He described wet plate and fast process work, the working of a process camera, and the use of the screen. His address was illustrated by examples of the work. That cover paper printing had not reached again the hierh standard it had before the Great War was the view i expressed by Mr J. Fitzgerald in an address on "Commercial Art Allied to Printing." He said that a snood colour job on cover work tended to make catalogues, programmes, etc., immensely more appealing*and such printing done in body colour inks provided a very rich effect. Two or three colours could be used to good purpose, while line blocks used in the work could be improved by graining. A letterpress printer obtained better results when he mixed his inks, and an artist could greatly assist a printer in this direction. The speaker covered the technicalities of photogravure, explaining how by such methods twice the tone could be obtained to that of an ordin ary half-tone. New Zealand printers evidently considered that the amount of photogravure work did not warrant the expense entailed in obtaining a plant, but it was something which must oome ere long Mr C E. Evans, the fourth speaker, gave an address on "Titho and Offset Processes," and in a complete review of that subject covered all the technicalities of an involved process, which is an amazing one to the average layman.

Mr J. Crombie concluded the evenine's programme with a talk on stereotyping, and in it appealed to advertisers to trv to gain a ereiter ' ledee of methods nsed and the scope which stereotyping allowed in advertising and block work. On the motion of Mr J. W. Crampton, a hearty vote of thanks was accorded the speakers. A BIG MERGER. LEVER BROS. AND MARGARINE UNION. (UXITKD FRBSS ASSOCIATION—BI EUSCTXIO TB LIORAfH -COPYRIGHT.) (Boceived September 3rd, 8.10 p.m.) LONDON, September 2. For some time past there have been heavy dealings in share* of the Margarine Union, which have risen this year from 70s to 126s on rumours of amalgamation. It is no-.v announced that a provisional agreement has been signed for the amalgamation of the share capital of the Margarine Union, with which is associated N. V. Margarine Unie, and the ordinary share capital of Lever Brothers, on the' basis of equal status. This involves a capital of £154,000,000 at present market prices. The Margarine Union includes van Denberg's, the Home and Colonial, and other dairy companies. The margarine combine has long desired a direct interest in West Africa. It is presumed that in future Levers will deal in soap exclusively, and the combine will confine its attention to margarine, though its chain of retail shops may be of assistance to Levers.—Australian Press Association. N.Z. APPLES. COMPLAINT INVESTIGATED*. (tnHTKD PKBSS ASSOCIATION—BY EIJSCTaiC TEI.EOBAFH —COPYRIGHT.) LONDON, September 2. Mr. Stephens, of the New Zealand Fruit Board, visited Rotterdam in connexion with a parcel of the Norfolk's apples, transhipped from London, which were considerably over-ripe. He explained that this was due to refrigeration difficulties before shipment, and was unlikely to occur again. Afterwards he motored to Frankfurt nnd fovnd good apples from the other cargoes on every hotel table.—Australian Press Association,