COMMERCIAL ITEMS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1193, 31 July 1911, Page 10

COMMERCIAL ITEMS.

INVESTMENT SHARES. The transactions recorded on Saturday were Equitable Uuilaing at £9 155., and Napier lias at £ii ami £Ud 2s. 6d. 'i'tie buying and selling quotations were au uiKier:— Buyers. Sellers. £ i ci. £ s. a Bank New Zealand 12 5 6 12 10 U iVational Bank 5 18 0 — National Mortgage 3 9 0 — K.£. lioaii and itlcrcantile — 0 18 0 Well. Trust and Loan ... — V 11 0 Christeliurch lias :.... 9 18 6 — Fetlding Gas — 12 6 Napier Gas 25 0 0 — Wellington Gas (£11)1 It II II — New Zealand Insurance 4 9 0 4 10 6 5.13. Insurance 315 6 Standard Insurance 110 0 Heat Export (£5) 6 5 0 6 8 6 Meat Export (£■!) — s 6 u Meat Export (625. 6(1.) ... — 5 5 0 V/ell. Woollen lord.) — 4 0 0 Well. Woollen (pref.) — 3 16 Taupiri Coal — 1 li 6 Wcsxport Coal — 19 6 Leyland-O'Urkn ■ 18 3 — N.Z. Drue - 2 9 3 - N.Z. Paper Mills — 119 Taraiialu Petroleum -- 0 17 3 Tariugamutu 'l'ulara 2 6 0 2 u o Ward and Co 5 2 6 — FROZEN MEAT. The New Zealand Loan aud Mercantile Agency Company, Limited, have received the following cablegram from tlier London house, under , date July 28:—Frozen meat: There is :i good demand for lamb, but the market is dull for mutton, and very weal; for beer. ETjBBER YIELD. According to London advices one result of the slackness in rubber shares has been a modification of firmer extravagant view* as to the probable annual yield of an acre of Para rubber trees. From the original planter.'' estimate of 2501b. or 3001b. per acre this was carried up to SOCib. as the average, and as his as 8001b. for the more favoured estates. Despite tlie fact that none of the comparatively few old planted areas could show any such results these optimistic estimates were widely adopted, and were frequently made the basis of calculations as. to future profits. Nm v the opinions of conservative planters are one again claiming attention, nnd it 's not a. little significant that they reiterate the original estimates of an average of 3001b. per acre for well situated and capably managed estates. In all probability costs of production will be the next, factor in the situation to lie seriously revised Jlen accustomed to dealing with cost= ami figures generally have recently been investigating this aspect of the industrv. and they have come to the conclusion that Is. per lb. will he the lowest /inure for tbe most favourably situated estates, aud that Is. 6(1. per lb. will be a. good averaee for the best managed estates. Many estates v.ill never net costs down much below 2*l per lb., and such probably are the very properties which were, grcatlv capitalized during the rubber .'boom,':"

CUSTOMS. The Customs rcrenuo collected at the port of Wellington on Saturday totalled ■iaaas 2s. lltl., the amount lor the week being £21,343. The return:; lor the pa«L eight weeks, compared tho figures for the corresponding periods of last- year, show as under:— ' 1911. 1910. £ .C .Tunc 10 9,16? 8.3C6 June 17 15,570 15.-182 J "»o 24 9,565 9,5T8 July 1 9,095 17,434 •July 8 21,«4 10«0 , July 15 .1 27.689 22.232 •filly 22 13,425 9.CSO July 29 21,343 • 20,362 126,696 112,724 The beer duty for the week amounted to £156 18!!., as asainst £219 3?. for tile corresponding week of last year. NOTES. Immigration into the United States shows a. diminishing: tendency. According to official statistics the arrivals of aliens into the United Stated in March totalled only 96,917, ay against 152,020 . ; n the corresponding month of 1910, and 135.040 in 19u9. For the three months to the end of March the influx of all classes of aliens was 192,017, contrasting with 275.564 for the corresponding quarter in 1910, and 272,007 in 1909. At the same time the outward movement of aliens lias shown a tendency to increase, and it is significant that in the nine months to March 31 the net increase in the foreign-bom population of the United States was only 351,396, as compared with 514.834 in 1909-10.

'The Times" gives the following details regarding the Indian note circulation:— Until 1903 Indian currency notes were encashable only in the ••circles" (Calcutta, Madras. Bombay, and Rangoon) to which J hey belonged. T» that year the" ]{•:. j (6s. Bd.) note was made universal outside Burma, and in 1909 this privilege was also extended to that province. Under an Act passed in 1909 Rs. 13 and Us. 50 currency notes were made similarly universal, and power was given the Government to apply !m C s S mc me thod to notes of higher value. Hie Ks. 20 note was not utiiversaliscd, in view of its small circulation and its competition with . the sovereign, the circulation of which the Government desired to see increased. The Es. 100 (£6 13s. 4d.) note was made universal legal tender on April 1 this year, and can be cashed at any ofDce of issue.

Though business on the Nov,- York Stock exchange. picked up somewhat during May, !',) vas s ,'dl the smallest Slay record since 19i4, and on the five months of this year the total sales of 43,295,164 shares v-ere the smallest over a far longer period. !n the corresponding five months of last year the lotal was 81,120,764 shares: in 1909 it was 78,746,343 shares; in 1908 it was 74,962.783 shares; in 1907 it was 106.724.202 shares; and in 1906 it reached 127.807,113 shares. Hut the record was 155,979,302 shares in the first five months of 1901.

Bradstreet's" states that recent heavy transfers of cold from New 'York to Canada have attracted, attention. This movement, while not an unusual incident of the spring season, has in the present vcar assumed heavy proportions. In the last, week of May the amount thus sliipocd from New York to the Dominion was 110 less than £BCO,CCO. The weakness of NewYork exchange at Montreal, where it has ruled at a discount, would show that the drawing of money to Canada is in acord with monetary conditions. Authorities on the subject itive, however, a somewhat wider explanation of the comparativ-dy licavy nature of the drain, st-.finsr that it is the cfTcct of a large accumulation of credits by Canadian institutions in New York, derived from recent sales of securities in tile European markets. Many new enterprises have been instituted in Canada for which capital has been obtained in Lon.don and elsewhere, and the exchange operations in connection with the remittance of the funds involved have been conducted through New York.

GRAIN AND PKODUCE. (By Telegraph.—Press Association.)

Oamaru, July 29. A little business has been done in wheat, though for the most part in small parcels, the prices paid heing generally on a basis ot 3s. 4d. net at country stations. At- that figure one lino of about 3000 bushels changed hands. In other grain and produce business has been at a standstill. LONDON MARKETS. Or I'dceraDii—l'iess Association—OoDyrisrbt (Bee. July 30, 5.5 p.m.) London, July 23. Copra.—Tho market is irregular with small business doinE. South Sea, in bags, £23 15s. to £24 per ton. Cotton.-Jiily-August shipment, 6.49Jd. per lb. Kubber, fine hard Para, 4s. Bid. per lb. Jute.—Native, first marks, August shipment, £20 2s. 6d. Hemp is quiet and unchanged. Babbits are quiet and unchanged. SILVER. . By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright London, July 28. Bar silver is quoted at 24d. per ounce. ' LONDON SHEEPSKIN SALES. 5 y Telegi'iioh—Press Association-Copyright London, July 28 "At the. sheepskins sales BCCU bundles were catalogued. There was a small atteudanco of buyers and fairly heavy withdrawals. As compared with the. J tine sales, merino combings ' wero practically unchanged. Merino and fine crossbred clothings and iine crossbred combings were a farthing per lb. lower, and coarse crossbreds a halfpenny lower.'