THE SHARE MARKET.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 230, 22 June 1908, Page 10

THE SHARE MARKET.

■'■■Investment shares were . dull on Saturday,, although, the. buying orders were r ; plentiful. There .was a sale of Feilding Gas •'?v*6hares-;at' i l?s.-''(id.,-and this was'the only busireported.- Thcro was ; inquiry..,- for. Bank , ■ ; shares; Zealand's -being : wanted..at and., .•£V Nationals at £S is. .Sellers of'the latter wanted; ; i£s ss. Gd. Financial shares' Were .in better re-' iv'' quest':' Wellington .Trust and, Loon,: buyers $1 '!-■■■ : Bs. Gd., seller'^XT./llsT 6d.; Wellington-Deposit, ■ • buyers sellers : 9s.' 6<L ;'' Wellington -. Invest-' ment, sellers; 125.'3d.; Equitable Building,iSelt lr.rs .£lO 2s. 6d. j N.Z. and Biver Plate, buyor's XI lis.'6<Lj Loan/and Mercantile, sellers-is./ 6d In gas.-shares . Christchurch , Gas were ' 'Granted at-ii£9,l7s. 6d.; with 'Boilers • at' i£lo •2s'/' 1 '6d.; Hokitika Gas,'buyers wES 10s., sellers £5 15s / Feilding Gas, sellers 20s. Other quotations %■ '■'wore National':• Insurance, • sellers 275/;- South k'- British: Insurance, sellers 565.; Christchurch Meat, buyers XlO, sellers ,£lO 55.; Union Steam Slap,-sellers-iSI 15s: Gd; "Wellington Woollen, '■■'buyers £3 7s.,'sellers S3 lis.; WestportvCpal,.. M ' 1 sellers, ,£6 18s.; N.Z. Paper Mills, 'buyers' 21sr 9d.',,.sellers 225. 3d.; Sharland's, ordinary and J sellers. 20s. ,-' '■ y, ii THE MINING MAHKET.. V '■■■KCi• Tliere' 'was- dullness in this section, also. Wai-l''-Jiis .changed hands at .£9. Tfelismaus were slow '.■X'l with buyers-at £3. .55.-6 d, 'arid Tahgiaros have i'-:w^e^, i 7d.;7md'"sellers wanting Is.' 9d. The quotations on Saturday ;/ r f were .as undert-r t '/••'<'■<, ' [■ ■:' A: :.V : Buyers.' ' Sellers. Sales: ■ : , ' £s. d. JS s. d. .£ s. d. . Waihi ... ... 819 0 0 2 0 SO B •. . Talisman ... 256; 2 t 6 6 — Big --River. ... 13 0 .1.4 6 ■ i. MaytQlieen' 0 1' '9 ~ j -Ngatiawa . _• — ~... .0 1 J Tangiaro . ' ...11 4 8

I THE LONDON MONET MAKKET. v "The 1 Bank of England return published on ! • 'Saturday shows exceptional-Istrength.V,There; If. , v/as a substantial increase of the metal rely: -serve; the reserve of notes and coin was larger; j . 'and the'proportion of reserve to liabilities ' ;/• -touched 51.06 per : ccnt.- ..Theso .are figures that "■ ..make' for easier ' monetary conditions.; hen. . ' York is returning tho gold obtained in Octof\: ber-December last year, and the new supplies ' from the world's goldiields are helping to fur- >■; nish.'the currency needed. •In spite, howover, of the. more promising outlook, gilt-edged , se- '>.■ i curities are not' exhibiting the. activity that v' ; : : clieap money should cause. Imporial Consols • have recently had a set back, and are still, quoted at a little over. £87, at which price they i' '/must return about 8 per cent. Colonial' Govern■ .'.moht' securities .show very littlo movement, Sv; South Australia denominations are lower •by • 20s.' each,-"but. this .is due to the quotations being ox-dividend: The dullness of gilt-edged securities must bo attributed to the fact that tho , ' of many of. the recent issues are . . heavily loaded'up with .securities ..which they. ; will ondeavour to unload as opportunity offers.. /' - The underwriters', of' tho New South . Wales '. loan; issued in March last, were left with oyer .* - / SO'per 'cent of the issue, and'over 03 per cent. . of the West Australian million, loan, issued a few days ago, had to be taken up-by the un-: ~ v V- derwriters. M The \samo. thing has happened . V. with several other omissions,'and the underI ':'Writers, are staggering under their burdens. The • moment the market shows the slightest tend-' !' ency to improve, there is a mass of securities V -flung on, the market, and the upward vmove-' :.ment' is,, immediately checked.,...lt is -. the, overgreedy underwriter..who. is responsible for,-the' dullness; in gilt-edged.securities; , , 1 " f

f'-yTHE BANK RATE. Looking at; tho conditions, as revealed by the Bank returns, a''reduction of the''Bank rate - from 2J' : per cent to tho traditional minimum ■* ,of 2 per cent should soon tako placo. But note i ; - must be taken of-Jthe 'cross- curronts that, affect-, :-' the position. V.Germany .is, obviously in-,an un-sj-V-''con)fortaßle'''''lSimi»6ial 'position; borrowing ,'is the ordisr'of the day there, andthere is plenty " of financial troubles in store for the Germans. " '. Then we havo the necessities of Russia, to consider. The Muscovite Government must •' borrow-further larger sums, and that very ' ;s6on, and. Paris, with a ; littlo help.Tftom'- Lon-' ' - don, must supply the required'fmids.'i-JApan's - v necessities are becoming painfully apparent. '. ... Japan is suffering from/.a;.'rery;;,serious, .trade ; depression,', and, the correspondent of the v /"Economist" (lo'ndon) says: "The business of: - negotiating loans seems to be the most active ot all at the present' time. 1 Yet it is difficult to understand why there should bo this fever^ ', : .ish anxiety for additional capital, either . for- • . eign or'domestic, for productivo purposes at a moment when it is evident that supply has ... overtaken the demand. With Japanese cotton - yarn' glutting the markets -in China,;; with, ' heavy stocks of raw silk; at' Yokohama being 1 moved with difficulty, with copper an unsale--.V able/ commodity and mines running at a loss ; at'current prices, and with all classes of com- ;: ...modifies showing a reduced export, the present • 'would scarcely seem tho - time to increase the, '' ' productive capacity." of 1 mills and manufactor- . ies. The popular impression, >as -reflected oh; X ; the bourses, appears to. be. that there 1 is some' mysterious virtue in foreign capital, which in itself creates profit; quite apart from the law of supply and demand." Thus it is seen that German}', Russia, and Japan.are certain,bor- ■ rowers, , and will need large sums. It is also necessary to take into consideration the posfc : tion in America. The trade depression, in the. "United' States is still'.very great," and it will : be niauy months beforo' there' is 'any genuine" improvement In about six weeks harvesting '>'"- yjci'ations will 'be pretty goneral throughout' Europe, and North America, and from about : ■ tlic- middle of September onwards . money, ivill. ..fce'reiiuired to movettho crops from tha contres' - of pioduction to tho centres, of consumption. :• The: Americans will again force sales to provide "themselves with credits, which they badly , need. There ,is thus apparent a strong doumnd for capital, coincident with dullness in trade,. and' it. is'a strange combination.

" "HOW THE BANK RATE IS FIXED. .. In a -gaper, .read before the Commerce Society ofi-tho; University of Birmingham, Mr. W. E. Lawson dealt.with the method in which the Bank rate is fixed. He first described th^.threir,different'",functions which the Bank of England had. to perform—£rat as currency 'agent rbf the second banking proper; arid -third m'aintaining-a free gold market for the . world at. large.. He then . compared the of tho' Bank rato which had como: successively' into'-vogue. They began in .1814.. with ..tho..."currency ,theors" .that the value of money was to be regulated through control ,the-., circulation of the Bank of England. Tho next was the "automatio Bank rate should rise or fall mechanically, with the banking reserve.This was succeeded by tho "emergency bank I j:hepjry".„pj(. J Xbrd.. l Aldenham and- his contemporaries, according to which the Bank of England could not govern the outside rato until tho' outside market became dependant on it. The next generation of Bank directors swung ■round ..'to! .the. opposite extreme,' and tried to get tho open market to follow its lead. Finally, we iave the , practice of the present ' rate be jerked up «ar.d: downv in""'an 'international scramble for gold. Mr. • Lawson read : a number of extracts'from-City articles of recast date to illustrato the variety of influences to which the Bank rate is nowadays subject. Ho showed that causes known only to the Bank directors must frequently overrule the ordinary;'effects of tho ! Bank return. A number of . dates ■were given at, which deposits and reserves of similar amounts .coincided with Bank rates ranging from 3J up to 5 per cent. At a series of' other . dates tho same rate had coincided with widely different amounts of deposits and reserves. The conclusion arrived at' was "that'."though' 'the' Bank directors are immediately -responsible for fixing the rato, .thoy havo : very -little, hand: in creating the condition's. : .which'determine each successive change: That 'is done' for' them by 'outsidebanks .'of all sorts—London, provincial and foroii?n. The fixing of tho rato is a largo problem, which oxtends far beyond Thread---needlo Street.- It--is.the fundamental problem" not' of 'English banking only, but of worldwide banking. ', • • ■ THE CAMPHOR TRADE. . An important change in the method of l! marketing camphor began on April 1. Since the industry became a monopoly of the Japanese Government in 1599 a-British firm lias acted as sole selling agent, but the agreement between Jjipan ana .this'firm terminated on March 31, and now 'the Government conduct the sales.,through Japanese commissioners in London,. Paris, Berlin, and New York! , In ■ deciding upon this change in policy the Japanese Government has been influenced by a dcsiro to ecouomiso exponses 'and to got into closer touch with, camphor buyers. But in viow oftlie'Tftc'r6Ssed""productian of camphor in China and competition 'from makers of synthetic camphor tho commissioners will probably find it difficult _to maintain tho present price, although it fs" only half tho price ruling a few 5 years''ago. A Synthetic camphor is making considerable headway, and a large busi-ness-has.--recently. been transacted at prices substantially bolow the price of the refined ' natural - camphor.v .'.-.

Last week the Customs revenue collected at Wellington amounted to £13,521 14s. lid; tho beer duty collected ' for tho same period amounted to ,£lB6 ss. The corresponding collections''"for the Siime: period of 1907-wero:— Revenue,",£l7B,ooo '13s.'7a.'; beer duty £201 15s. Bd. . Oil Saturday the amount-of "revenue collected was £2058 12s. Id., as against £2998 lis, lid. for-the-corresponding day of last year. DREDGING. - (ar TELEG2APH—rEESS ASSOCIATION.) • • i ■•<■■■ Dunedin, June 21. Dredging returns:; Rise .and Shine. I, 520z. 12dwt.; Golden Bed, 41oz. 3dwt.; Rise and Shine Ily 290z. 14dwt.; Punt, 15oz. 16dwt. ; Waikaka" Queen, .;iooz;!',3dwt.; Enterprise, 14oz. v lOdwt.; Muddy' Creek; - 14oz. 6dwt.'; Olrig, lOoz. lOdwt.";: Welshman, Ooz. Bdwt.

STOCK-AND,. PRODUCE SALE. ' . Messrs. A. H., Afjcingon and Company, Ltd.,Feilding, report: At' c ;bur salo on Friday wo had a;--fair entry Cof pigs, a large ;entry ofpoultry ahd-ran 'aVerager- entry of produce; The pigs offered wero largely weaners and slips, sfor",rwhi6Ji' :: tli'eto>.was. not -great demand. The poultry offered; was of-good quality; tho .demand'-Twas good,'.ahd> prices made were satis■iSc.toryii »v.->.Wb; vi gubto': ■. Horses—-Four-year-old gelding, JC9. Pigs—Weaners, 45., 4s. 6d., 4s. 9d., ss. 3d., 6s. Gd., Bs. Gd.; slips, 13s. Bd.;' small porker, 265. 6d.; sow, 365. PoultryHens, Is., Is. 5d., Is. 7d., Is. Bd., 2s. Id.; :robstei r s;' 6mal(; Is.', Id.; good; Is. 5d., .Is. 6d.,-'ls. 8d;;.25.-3d.j-2s. 7d.', 2s. 9d.; p.b. white leghorns, 35., 4s. 3d.; p.b. Minorca, 4s. Gd.; ducks,'. 2s. 3d., 25.-'7(1.; turkeys, 7s. 6d., all at each'. Produce—Chaff,' <£G 10s. and £G 15s. per, ton; oats,.feed,,.3f. Gd. por bushel; potatoes, Ss.- 6d.< 95., 10s., 12s. per sack; carrots, .Is;' Gd; for"3slb:'. bag;.,pumpkins, Id. por ib.; swedes, sack. (y . ' v