COMMERCIAL ITEMS

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2697, 17 February 1916, Page 8

COMMERCIAL ITEMS

INVESTMENT SHARES. There were no transactions recorded in the investment market ye6lcrday. The auoations wei* as under:— ' Buyers. Sellers. £ s. a. £ e. d. National Bank 6 0 0 — Dank N.Z. US 6s. Bd.) .... 10 10 0 - Bank N.Z. (£6 Us. W.) ... 16 8 0 - Loan und Merc. (or<L) .. to 0 0 — Loau and Merc, (pref.) ... — 83 0 0 N.Z. and lUver Plate .... 119 6 , — Well. Invest. T. and A. .. - OH I Well. 'i'rjst, Loan, Ltd. . - 7 10 Union Steam (ord.) 16 6 1 7. 0 "■Veil. Woollen lord.) 418 0 - Well. Woollen (pref.) 3 6 0 — Westport Coal ,83 — N.Z. Drug 2 4 6 — N.Z. Portland Cement ... - 010 0 Golden Bay Cement 0 19 9 — Sharland lord.) 14 6 — Shorland (pref.) 14 6 — Ward and Co 5 13 0 —" Customs duty collected at the port of Wellington yesterday amounted to £3023 Is. lid. NAPIER WOOL SALES. By Telegraph—Press Association. Hapier, February 16. For the Napier wool sale 6on Friday, 14,635 bales have been catalogued.

FROZEN HEAT MARKET. Messrs. Gilbert Anderson 'and' Co. (Messrs. Melleop, Eliott and Co., Palinerston North, local agents) report on the frozen meat market, under date London, January 4, as follows:—

The position of tho meat market at. the .present time is exceedingly interesting. As you are aware.we made the most strenuous efforts to stop the rot which had set in in October and Novenibcr, when prices for New Zealand meat in particular were being needlessly lowered, and agents were soiling the meat without any appreciation of tho fact that the supplies of frozen moat would bo in a- very limited quantity in the near future. This lowering of prices was mainly brought about by some of the agents nominated in the colony who are known as notorious weak holders, and also from the fact that so much moat was sent to Bristol, where it could not bo sold at prices which were obtainable in London. After putting the matter very strongly betoro tho Board of Trade, we were pleased to bo able to continue selling at full prices, and although our quotations have been from id. to 3-Bd. per lb. above other agents, we havo had no difficulty in disposing of the moat which has heen carmarked for us. The_ position of the shipments for the year is vory significant. We append a list w.hKh shows that tho total shortage from all quarters during 1915 was as follows:— Mutton, 2,049,442 carcasses; lamb, 836,111 carcasses; beef, 223,459■ Quarters, as compared with t,hc shipments for 1914. As you i will notice from the list, with the excepI tion of New Zealand there is a considerable drop. The shipments from New Zealand for mutton, lamb, and beef arc considerably in advanoo of last ycar'6 totals. Tho arrivals up to December 31 do not show such a largo decrease :-Mutton, 48,224 carcasses increase; lamb, 122,382 oarcaeees decrease; beef, 1,043,662 quarters decrease. The significance of these figures, taken with the shipments, showed that up to the present time, with the exception of the heavy shortage of beef, mutton, and lamb have just about maintained their position, but during the next two months the whole of the shortage as set out above will bo felt. The great shortage of 1.087,080 carcasses of mutton from Australia, 1,097,86 i carcasses from South America along with 611,883 carcasses lambs and 401,728 carcasses lambs, and the total shortage of 223.459 quarters beef make an approximate total shortage in mutton of 3,250,000 carcasses. It will therefore bo seen that as far as the frozen meat supplies are concerned all tho meat that New Zealand can send will be more than required, and tho price of ".roHm meat must bo maintained. A 6 long as the war lasts, and there are so many millions of men in the field have to be led; in fact, the outlook for the supply of meat is anything but encouraging, especially as the Home supplies for the next four months must be on a Toduccd aud limited scale. Supplies, however, are coming in from Holland, especially of pork and veal, no doubt caused by the serious depreciation of the German mark. It pays Holland to send its meat to England even at 75 per cent, less than what they ca.n sell at to Germany. lira METAL MARKETS. j SvTelcgr.Tpti-Wfljs Association—Gnjyrizhv I (Rec. February 16, 10 p.m.) London, February 15. f '!nr,«r. Spot. £IC6 55.; three inonthj, ~",,>-vl-.C32 ss.i Imports, 12,167 tons; ex■,w:s, -'139 ton 6. . rijiron, !Xfi. 6d. per ton-