COMMERCIAL ITEMS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 823, 23 May 1910, Page 10

COMMERCIAL ITEMS.

INVESTMENT SHAKES.

A sale of Ward apd Co., brewery shares, * at £4 16s. 6d., was the only transaction recorded on Saturday. • National . Bank, buyers £5 165.; Equitable Buildine. buyers £9 55.; Wellington Trust and Loan, buy- I era, £7 3s. 6d.; Metropolitan Permanent, t sellers £12; Wellington Gas, £10 paid, buyers £17 155.; Gear Meat, £4 paid, buyers £10 55.; Wellington Meat Export, third issue, buyers £2 145.; New Zealand Shipping, buyers £8; Hikurangi Coal, buyers l 19s. 6d.; Taupiri Goal, sellers 19s. 9d.; West- I port Coal, buyers £6 55., sellers £6 Bs.; < Westport-Stockton Coal, sellers 7s. 3d.; Leyland O'Brien Timber, buyers £1 4s. 3d.; . Taringamutu Totara Sawmills, buyers £1 : 4s. ALLIANCE' ASSURANCE- COMPANY.. • The fire premium income-of the Alliance Assurance Company, Ltd., for 1909 amounted to £1,317,364. Claims, etc., represented £40 17s. 4d. per cent, of the premium income, while expenses aud commission amounted to £36 10s. lOd. per cent., leaving an underwriting surplus of £297,653. This amount, with interest £87,570, earned ou the Are insurance fund of £2,100,000, was transferred to profit and loss account. In the marine branch the premium income was £172,057. The claims amounted to £66 lis. 3d. per cent, of the premium income, while commission and expenses took £22 9s. 7d. per cent., leaving a surplus of £18,854. The marine insurance fund remains at £418,992. The balance at the credit of the accident account on December 31, 1909, was £2480, and that at the credit of the employers' liability account was £23,879. The employers' liability fund at the end of the year amount- : ed to £87,939, the general account to £143,769, and the sinking fund and capital redemption account to £536,342. Total funds, including the life and annuity accounts of £12,453,567 and profit and loss £671,761, stand at £17,419,618. This is apart from. £358,328 reserved for fire and marine losses, etc. A dividend of/ 10s. per share for the year has been paid, absorbing £350,000, and leaving £321,761 to be carried forward. CUSTOMS BEYENUE. Customs revenue collected, at Wellington on Saturday amounted to £1456 lis. The total for the week was £15;319 6s. Bd., beer duty amounting to £432 7s.\ FRUIT AND ' PBODTJOE. The New Zealand F?uit and Produco Company report, under Saturday's date-.— Business during the past week has been upset by the holidays, but on the whole it has kept fairly good. Potatoes have hardened in price; onions are also firmer. Grain, with the exception of wheat, is on the rise; this also applies to chaff. I Good dessert apples are ill high demand, I also pears. French beans have risen in I price. There is a keen demand for good : lettuce. The following prices give a fair indication of the state of our market: Potatoes, ss. 6d. to 3d. cwt.; onions, 4s. to 4s. 6d. cwt.; swedes, 2s. cwt.; turnips, 2s. 6d. to 3s. Gd. sack; carrots, 3s. to ss. sack; parsnips, 4s. 6d. to 6s. sack; beetroot, 3s. to 4s. 6d. sack; cabbage, 2s. to 4s. 6d. sa?k; cauliflower, Bs. to 12s. 6d. sack; peas, lis. to 13s. sack; marrows, Is. sack; Cape gooseberries, 3id. lb.; French beans, Bs. to 10s.; broad beans, 3s. to 4s. 6d. sack; lettuce, 3s. to ss. fid. case; spinach, 3s. to 3s. 6d. case; apples, cooking 3s. to 55., dessert 6s. to Bs. 6d.; passion fruit, 6s. box; pears, 'cooking 4s. to ss. 6d., dessert 6s. to 95.; grapes, 9d. to lOd. per lb.; bananas, case 15s. to 18s. 6d., bunch 6s. to -7s. 6d.; oranges, Island, ss. to 6s. 6d.; lemons, Messina lis. 6d. (150), Sydney 7s". 6d. to Bs.; pines, 6s. 6d. to Bs.; eggs, fresh 2s. 4d. to 2s. 5d., preserved Is. 6d.; chaff, £5 to £5 155.; ducks, 4s. 6d. to ! ss. pair; bran, Bs. 6d. per sack; wheat, • 4s. to 4s. 4d. bushel; liens, 3s. to 3s. 6d. ' pair; peanuts, 20s. 6d. sack.