COMMERCIAL.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 318, 3 October 1908, Page 7

COMMERCIAL.

THE STIARE MARKET. At tho meeting nf the Exchange yesterday a sale of Taranaki Petroleum shares was made, at ;!s. 6d., and sales were reported of National Bank share's at Is., Union Steam. £1 155., Westport Coal .£6 '2s. 6(1. The market is quiet, but not more so than usual. National Banks, buyers ,£5 Is., sellers .£. r > 25.; Equitable Building, sellers JEIO 2s, 6d.; Wellington Investment, sellers lis. Gd.; Wellington Trust and Loan, sellers £'! 75.; Standard Insurance, sellers JEI 2s. Gd.; Gear Meat, buyers i! 2 95.; Meat Export, sellers ,£6 lis., .£5, and <63 Is. for tho respective issues; Manawatu Kails, sellers £2 135.; Wellington Woollen, ordinary, sellers .£3 ss. Gd.; Westport Coal, buyers M 2s. Gd., sellers .£G 45.; Westport-Stockton, buyers Bs. lOd.; sellers 9s. 2d.; D.I.C. preference, sellers .£1 2s. Gd.; New Zealand Drugs, sellers £2 lis. ■ Taranaki Petroleum shares show a firmer tone, with buyers now otfering 3s. Gd.; Sharland's ordinary and preference, sellers <£1. THE MINING MARKET. This market was dull, anil for the first time in several weeks no business was done in Talismans. A sale of Blackwater shares, at .£1 ss. 3d., was reported. Tho quotations were as under Buyers. Sellers. Sales. £s. d. <£ s. d. ■ £s. d. Talisman ... ... 2 1 6 2 2 0 — Waihi ... ... 9 0 6 9 2 3 — Wailii Grand J'n'c'n 1 13 6 —. — Waiotahi — 0 2 11 — l'angiaro ... ... 00 8 0 1 0 — N.Z.. Crown ... ... — 0 42 — Big River 113 0 114 G — Blackwater 15G1GG153 NATIONAL INSURANCE COMPANY. The National Insurance Company lias' come into line with the other underwriting concerns,and was registered on October 1, as the National Insurance Company of New Zealand, Limited. The capital of the company is JE2,000,000, subscribed capital .£1,000,000 in 200,000 shares of £i each, of which 10s. per share is paid up, thus making the paid-up capital ,£IOO,OOO. The financial year of tho company closed on September 30, and the bal-ance-shoet should be available about the end of the month. THE WOOL MARKET. . As the London sales progress, tho market appears to be getting weaker, indicating that general trade is much worse than is represented. The average priccs obtained for "Gear" and "Longburn" wool, which would be sliped wool, enable us to make a comparison with the prices obtained at the corresponding sales a year ago:— Sept., Sept., Per 1907.' 1008. Fall. cent, d. d. d. Gear 1U 6J 4| '41.6 Longburn ... ll| 7i 4| ■ 39.4 ■ At the current sales there must be quite 100,000 bales of Now Zealand wool to be offered,' and a considerable quantity is heavily weighted with carry-over charges, so that with the fall in prices and the increase in expenses many woolgrowers are sure to be faced, with heavy reclamations, which in a great many cases will have to be recovered from the proceeds of the new clip. This' is a feature of the situation which the business community should take into account.

BRITISH WOOL IMPORTS. The great fall that has occurred in the value of wool may be seen from the Board of Trade returns for the first seven months of' tile year. These give the value of the imports of wool into the United Kingdom from all sources during the first seven months of the current year as ,£19,587,679, of which Australia's snare was .£8,831,098, and Now Zealand's £5,183,090. This apparent disproportion- between the Commonwealth, and the. Dominion is due to the fact that whereas most of the wool of the latter country came, into the period quoted, a comparatively 6mall proportion of Australia's product was included. But it is in' other countries that most interest lies. Hero are the figures for the last two years:— First seven months, 1907. 1908. From— £ w£ Russia 67,256 36,885 Belgium .i 203,879- "• 121.256 -. France 795,729 * G3G.905 Turkey ; 140,977 - -*74&1 Uruguay " 161;720 '203,020 Argentine Republic 1,381,332 1,192,411 ' South American E. ■ Coast — US South America (W. • Coast) G8G.874 714,321 British South Africa 2,304,695 t,GG3,716 , British East Indies 891,625 570,779 '■ Australia 9,820,551 8,831,09? New Zealand' 7,058,726 . 5,183,090 Other countries ... 529,671 3G4.408 Total .£24,043,035 19,587,679 BUTTER AND CHEESE PROSPECTS. Messrs. Weddol and Co. in their annual survey of the colonial dairy produce trade consider it probable that tlio average London values of both butter and cheese in the coming season will be on a somewhat lower level than obtained in the past season. . They sum- J mariso the prospect thus The' uncertainty attaching to the supplies, for the coming winter are much greater than usual. The high prices which have this summer ruled everywhere in tlie Northern hemisphere have resulted in very much less, than the usual amount of butter going into, cold 6tore, and during the coming winter we shall be more dependent than ever on supplies from Australasia. ' Regarding Australian butter, less will bo : shipped from Victoria, but considerably more from New South Wales,'and from Quensland some increase .is expected. New Zealand will send increased supplies of both butter and cheese, provided the season is not unfavourable. Tho bad condition of trade in America, Canada, Europe, and the United Kingdom will greatly diminish the purchasing power of the mass of consumers, and thus tend to reduce tho demand. The amount of fodder is so abundant in Europe and America that the herds for milking will most probably be larger than they were last winter: ■ _ _ *•• • "Cheese.—The uncertainty mentioned • about I supplies Of butter attaches equally .to those I of, cheese. In Canada.the -make'-of this sum-, mer is dependent or. the weather,. which at the present time in some districts, has become dry, and thus changed for the worse. The amount of cheese made will to some extent depend upon the permanency or" temporary character of this change."

LIVE STOCK SALE. At the monthly stock salo at Martinborough on Thursday (writes our Wairarapa correspondent) there was small yarding of ewes and hoggets, and a very henry yarding of cattle. The sheep were all cleared in response to brisk demand. Hoggets made, from 9s. to 10s. 2d., and fat ewes up to lis. 6d. Tho cattle market was dull owing to farmers' fears of drought, and fat cows ranged from .£5 6s. to .£6 25.; dairy cows in poor condition, XI 10s. to .£2 35.; yearling heifers, 19s. to 225.; store heifers, 20s. to 245. 6d.; springing heifevs, £i 2s. 6d. to dES ss. A line of 2i-year-old steers made £3 3s.' The auctioneers expressed the opinion that a few good showers of rain now would send fat sheep up 2s. per head and also harden'the cattle maiket. LONDON MARKET /REPORTS. Messrs. Dalgety and Co., Ltd., Wellington, have received the following cablo messages from their London house, under date of October 1:— Wool Sales—Sales continuo fairly maintained. American buyers a'ro operating moderately for greasy crossbred wools of medium quality, and greasy crossbred wools, light condition and bright. Frozen Meat.—The market is quiet. Sfnce our last advices prices for New Zealand, prime ox hinds are id. per lb. lower. ' Messrs. Murray, Roberts, and Co. have received the following wool market cablegram from their London house, Messrs. Sanderson, Murray and Co.Compared with the closing rates of last. London safes, tho market shows no material change for good greasy combing morino. Slipe wools are from 5 to 10 per cent, lower, and all other descriptions of wool 5 per cent, lower." • GRAIN. (Br Tii.iouirii—ruEss association.) Christchurch, October 2. The local wheat market is a shado firmer in consequence of the scarcity ol offerings. Very littlo is changing hands, among the few sales being 800 bushels of hunters at 4s. at a Id. station, and another line at a rather higher rate. Buyers aro offering Is. Sd. for oats, but sellers are asking up to 25., .and no business is therefore resulting. Chaff continues rather dull of sale, and buyers are now more particular regarding samples. 1 STOCK EXCHANGE. (Bi TELEGRAM —rFESS ASIGCIiTtOX / Dunedin,. October 2. Stoclf. Exchange sales: Talisman Consolidated, JG2 Is. 3d. and £3 ls.j New Zealand Portland Cement, (is. 6d. stem.

DREDGING. (Bf TEIiQEiPK— PttESS ASSOCIATION.) Dunedin, October 2. Dredging returns: Mystery Flat, 560z. 2dwts.; New Roxburgh Jubilee, 40oz. 15dwts.; Mastorton, 330z. 12dwts.; Riley's Revival, 31oz. lOdwts.; Waikaia, 290z. 15dwts.; Chicago, 250z. ldwt.; lvoputai, 220z. 12dwts.; Central Charlton, 19oz. 17dwts.; Charlton Creek, 17oz. Bdwts.; Muddy Creek, 170z.; Ivura, ,13oz. 13dwts.j Welshman's, 9oz. 2dwts.