FINANCE AND COMMERCE.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20273, 26 June 1931, Page 15

FINANCE AND COMMERCE.

interest KATES. m FORBES HOLDS DISCUSSIONS. OUPOKM REDUCTION WANTED. Tp txpior-.* tii'j of reducing the rai<-s • f interest without havfng to r< «■** compulsion, us has rjg done in Aastral ia, tho Prime jlUister (the Jit. Hon. G. W. Forbes) jgj officials of the Tieasury have been balding a se-ri'-s of informal discussions -iifc yeprcsentaiives of different finan*•l iutereist&, hi cording to a statement gjde yeewniay by Mr E. H. S. HamilI-- on his return irom Wellington. s£u in Wellington Mr Hamilton was ,iL of the eight representatives of S|Min|T societies who met tho Prime Mfmktar at. bis invitation on Wednesto discus the position, "fbe individual investor formed tho Unix of tii*' whole position, said Mr Hamilton, in the course of general -<e*Eß*nt. If a uniform lower scale of tofcgmt was adopted the investor would ggtfom for his money, but with reduced * to the primary producer, to the jaUpßyer, and so on, what he lost on . one side would be gained on the The whole move was one to jwteM the cost of production and to jgJtare charges in the way of rate 3 and Tho main thing was to restore confidence and to get the wheels of itdmtry going again. Hood for Universal Action. Owing to the high rate of exchange t<i»*cn New Zealand and other council g capital could not at present lea ye fbs Dominion to advantage. Within tbt Dominion capital would naturally fft to those avenues where it would * m the most for the investor, and a jwlßCtion in interest rates that was *no£ universal would be unsuccessful, IfGMise these with money would aegjbet those lines giving the lower ''lnterest. If no higher rate was offeranywhere in the country, the in- ; VWrtor could not afford to let his money * file because the return did not api to him, and his capital, once in--'ftHtcd, would help production. There no sense, for example, in, getting 8 per cent, from a local body investSKsnt and then paying higher rates faeatise of the interest bill of JiM community. ■ "Tie rate of interest offered by the .Government for debentures sold over ' .'djtbe counter naturally governs the rate offered by the banks and other instiWtMKUt for fixed deposits," he went on. a reduction of the. Government Iwrowing rate, backed up by eoncwtad action on the part of all institutions controlling moneys, it is quite " pawblo that an all-round reduction <M-1 per cent, can be arranged. All •'.'•[lfcf banks want is a margin above the deposit rates sufficient to pay ' suspenses and risks, and to make a fair P>fit. The building societies are in Vjph# tame position. If the country as %whole works to the same scale nobody '•HI niffer. Difficulties Not Insuperable. New Zealand can do this on a basis it will be good for our OW* people and will also have a good in other parts of thei world, filming that the Dominion is preto taco the position in order to •efc iadastry going. There arc naturally difficulties ever the details, but if everybody trorks in the right spirit t'uae difficulties will not be insuperaUe. "*l am renr pleased indeed that the ®ow of holaing these discussions has l»W» jaade. and that the Prime Minister is taking steps to hear all avail•Wa information and points of view," H* Mr Hamilton in conclusion. "It is bop# that everyone who has it in power to assist will do so. There i# nothing' controversial or political. «Wat the matter;"it is merely a move the present difficulties." Ij? . snort notice had been given |'i'. Wf.weietiai by the Prime Minister, he ' 52S' F*® l the result that their repre- ■ had taken part in the disoot as a single body, but as , *prmma individual opinions. He state what had been the tenor of the conferenoe, which D<> t decided anything. ,

PpiT PRODUCERS' BOARD. gpl? NOMINATIONS RECEIVED. §|,/|P» returning officer announces that |llj[ht« received the following nominal lllllp for the three vacancies for the gßpiacera' representative on the New @#l*nd Meat Producers' Board: — i||pjjjjjL D. Acland, Christchurch (sitting Carr, Jlethven. Coop. Ataahua, Little, River. J}* i Wairoa (sitting memPerry. Masterton (sitting member). election will take place on 3gjflNbat 27th, when the delegates who TmBBL iw elected to represent the vari'SMitrtricts throughout the Dominion mHN who will constitute th.j Electoral i«BMMUtte«i. will assemble in Welhng- • !MBl to consider the ninth annual refflHS'snd statement of accounts of the ffBWBwL and to elect the three pro■ipMßßEiT -representatives on the Board. MBoosinationa for delegates to the 'ippnaral Committee close at the IgMMtd's office at noon on June 30th, BHHb.#-Postal ballot will be conjMSlad amongst the sheep _ farmers m 'iraS|W®trictß where the nominations are lljjjffKeiMM of the number of delegates FERTILISER CO. |Rr* ANNUAL REPORT. 1® AUCKLAND, Jnne 25. profit of £4649 is disclosed in report and balance-sheet of llM.Kew' Zealand Farmers' Fertiliser KBWfcny. Ltd., for the year ended May PKompared with £30,975 earned in SHbiod of 14 months which the preWSm balance-sheet covered. To the ■H* kit to be added the unappro--BBBHSmI balance brought forward from ||H&P>viouß year, £15,360, making ■MpUe £20,009. In view of tr.e BwWfe'ffiftfit earned the directors express HMP'tfaat they are unable to recomHWtfte payment of any dividend, and Igfei that the whole amount should Hfee the outcome of the year s ■fa is certainly disappointing, it KHKwt be expected in times like the HHtt' that the company could sho-v ■ftn return of profit as in past HHH|£ ptated tlie report. The buying HHMpf the farmer had been so much |HHm owing to the poor prices obprimary products that apbad to curtail even his iot-

BANK RATES REDUCED. AUSTRALIAN DECISION. NEW MONEY AND RENEWALS. (rKITED PBESB ASSOCIATION—ST SLECTRIC TSLECBAPH—COPYRIGHT.) (Received June 25th, 11.48 p.m.) MELBOURNE, June 25. A conference of trading banks, presided over by Sir Robert Gibsoi, chairman of the Commonwealth Bank Board, to-day decided to reduce interest rates as from June 26th, as follows: Fixed Deposits—New money and renewals— Three months .. 3} per cent! Six months .. 3 J per cent. Twelve months .. 4 por cent. Twenty-four months 4£ per cent. The advances rates generally will be reduced in due course. Tho Commonwealth Bank announces that the deposits rate will be reduced one per cent, .as from June 26tKV and that the advances rate will be reduced one per cent, as from July Ist. NATIONAL BANK OP NEW ZEALAND. DIVIDEND OF TEN PER CENT. (uiriTzs miss association—bt eliotbic TELBORAPH—COPYRIGHT ) LONDON, June 24. The National Bank of New Zealand has declared a final dividend of 8 per cent., tax free. ASSOCIATION TILZGBAK.) WELLINGTON, Jhine 25. The Genoral Manager of tho National Bank explains that the dividend of 8 per. cent, will be payable in' New Zealand at any branch at the current rate of exchange for demand drafts on London, on the date of negotiation. As an interim dividend at the rate of 12 per cent, per &nnum, free of tax, was paid in January, the total dividend for the year is 10 per cent. The payment of a final dividend at the current rate of exchange will give a shareholder in New Zealand £lO Cs 9d for the year.The dividend last year was 12 per cent.—6 per cent, in January, and 6 per cent, in July. The net profit for the year ending March 31st, 1930, was £282,917, as against £290,582 in 1929. The dividend and bonus for some years prior to 1930 was at the rate of 14 per cent. The capital of the bank is £2,000,000, and the reserve fund at last balance was £2,174,171.

A NEW WOOL STORE. CONTRACT LET. dazss association nsucoßAir.) - - NAPIER, June 25. The sum of £23,468 is involved in the erection of Williams and fettle's new wool store at Port Ahuriri. Contracts amounting to £20,470 for construction, and £2998 for the fabrication and fixing of steel, have been let to two Napier firms, and work is starting immediately The buildings will be finished in 15 weeks. The new Btore will have an acre and a quarter or floor space in each of two stories. This building is the first of several either to be erected with ex- | tensions or repaired in order to proj vide for next season's wool clip. . The contract went to a Napier man in competition with firms all over the North Island. WOOL RESEARCH. A LEVY ADVOCATED. (rax sa assoczatiow txlxoeak.) WELLINGTON, Juno 25. The annual conference of the Royal Agricultural Society to-day decided to ask the Minister for Agriculture (the Hon. A. J. Murdoch) to proceed with the Bill drawn up authorising a levy either on each bale or on each £IOO [ worth of wool for research work and, advertising. . • . | The decision followed an. address »y Mr D. J. Sidev, B.Ag., who was released by Lincoln College, and spent. 12 months in Great Britain investigating tho position. I OIL FROM COAL. INTERNATIONAL COMPANY i FORMED.

During the last few years prophecies have been heard that ultimate salvation awaits the coal-mining industry, in the shape of a development on a commercial basis of the process of deriving liquefaction from coal. Moreover, many scientific experts are convinced that the difficulties in the way of this development are in a fair way to be solved. . The International Hydrogenation Patents Co., Ltd., was recently formed, representing a fusion of the interests of the Standard I.G. Co., Royal Dutch Shell Group, and Imperial Chemical Industries m the hydrogenation process for the liquefaction of coal and the refining of oils in all countries of the world outside Che United States and Germany. . • . In Australia Imperial Chemical Industries (Aust.), Ltd., has formed Synthetic Coal Oil Products Pty., Ltd., with a capital of £50,000, through which it has acquired 230 acres ol freehold, and 640 acres of leasehold coal-mining areas ji Victoria to experiment in producing oil from brown coal deposits. The announcement ot the merger does not mean that a big- output on a commercial basisis a certainty ot the near future. Its importance lies in the fact that the patents _and research work of the three big interests referred to will be pooled, and that the perfecting of the necessarv processes will be* actively purs U e£under a single contract ind with the P mise'of unstinted resources for ett tivo development. , „+i l( >r The auestion is often asked whe '„ the 20th century has in store any volutionary invention comparable its effects on the economic world to the hacnessing of steam m the 19th century It is not impossible (comments the Sydney 'lDaily Telegai< ) that the beginnings of an onsw«r lie in the announcement of thi fusion ot interest*,