COMMERCIAL ITEMS

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 85, 3 January 1918, Page 8

COMMERCIAL ITEMS

Customs duty collcctcd at tho port of Wellington yesterday amounted to £1461 15s. 2d. PROFITS OP JOINT STOCK BANKS. Profits and appropriations declared by tho joint stock banks of Australia and l ev Zealand during 1917 made' ;u the case ol both-items higher totals than thcte which were reported in 1916. Net profits amounted to approximately £3,210,058, as against £3,011,911 in 1916, £3,051,012 in 1915 and £3,276,622 in 1914. Of this year'B net earnings, as rccordcd in balance-sheets published within the twelvo months," dividends distributed accounted for £2,186,939, which compares with £2,163,405 last year, £2,144,667 in 1915, and £1,989,417 in 1914. Hence it appears that despite a downward trend in aggregate net profits disclosed during the period of the war to the ond of Decembor, 1916, the movement in dividends ■ was almost invariably, if only slightly, in an upward direction, the ratio rising from 9.18 per cent, to 9.39 per cent. The absorption of the Royal Bank of Queensland was accountable for a reduction in the sum of the paid-up capital, which stands at £23,501,332, as against - £23,358,767, and inclusive of reserves the funds of shareholders represent over £40,000,000. Appropriations aggregating £672,859 wero transferred to reserves, that amount exceeding by £45,360 the allocations made in 1916. Net profits shown by the Commonwealth Bank (which have not been included in the foregoing comparisons) were—in 1917, £375,223; in 1916, £144,847; and in 1915, £39,217. •

SILVER. COINAGE. According 1 to official figures the year 1916. 17 'was a record period for the coinage of silver by the Indian Mints. The value in-rupees of tho coins struck at the Calcutta and Bombay establishments f« tho Government of India was 307,707,326, compared .with 16,202,199 rupees in 1915-16. Only a small fraction of tho total represents recoinage of'withdrawn coins, tho valuo of which was 138,545,587 rupees only. The bulk of the coinage waß fftni bar and syce 6ilver, and from silver coins of various foreign countries. In addition, the Bombay Mint eolned 20,215,358 pieccs of the valuo of 151,336,887 rupees for the Straits and Egyptian Governments. No fewer than 39,087,087 anna pieces of nickel and 11,702,143 milliomes pieces were struck by the' Bombay Mint for tho British India and Egyptian Governments. Amongst the bronze coinage, which is carried out entirely at- the Calcutta Mint, were 8,364,000 pieces of bronze pennies and half-pennies for the Commonwealth Government. War expenditure in Mesopotamia and Egypt accounted in part for this enormous expansion in the silver and subsidiary coinage, but the- enhanced prosperity of the cultivators of tbe soil, due .to the good crops, called for a greatly increased metallic currency.

CONFECTIONERY PEOPITS. While severely restricting: the consumption of augur 5y the ordinary householder in Great .Britain, sweet manufacturer and confectioners have not been rationed with anything like the same rigour, Tho result is that large profits have been earned by the wholesale traders in lollies. Just ■as the male munition worker's idosyncrasies have had to be considered in the manufacture of beer, the incursion of numbers of women into industrial life has compelled the Sugar Control Committee to study tho natural feminine inclination towards sweet-atußs of all sorts. The good wages which women workers are earning at war avocations have enabled them to gratify their taates, and the consumption of sugar in the Industrial centres has increased. The moßt striking example of this development is the war prosperity of Maynards, Ltd., a big multiple shop confectioners, situated in the north of 'England, where wages aro high. In tho year before the war, the oompany was moderately prosperous, paying regular dividends of 10 per cent, on its ordinary shares. In 1914-15 the not profits were £1500 higher at £13,700, without any increase in dividend, but the following year shareholders were given a return of 20 per cent. The report for 1916-17 to June 58 shows that, after providing for income tax and cicess profit duty the profit works out' at £43,300. A dividend and bonus amounting to 40 per cent, is declared, while £10,000 is written *oH goodwill, and £39,200 is carried forward. During the war ncriod the oompany'B debenture debt has been reduced from £16.000 to £3000, and the paper asset, of goodwill from £25,000 to £5600. The reserve has been increased from £19,000 to £35,000, and a special rpsorve of £7000 for contingencies created.

WHEAT. IN.AMERICA'. _ Calculations made by ti'.o Agricultural Pjpartment, of Washington as to the probable surplus ot wheat in tne United States show that domestic cousutnfition arid "seed will require 588,1U1.U00 busnels, while the 1917 production in given- as 659,797,000 bushels. Theso figures aro baaed upon a per ca,pita consumption of 43 baihels, or 18 per cent, below the normal 5.5 bushels of peace times. JJo account Is taken either of posslbia . EUEplles of old wheat carried over from preceding years. On the basis of . these estimates the following summary is made by "Bradatneets": Population, 143,635,000 people; normal consumption for bread 549,811,000 bushels, or, deducting 10 per cent, -for economy, 494,830.000 bußhds. Seed requiros 67,271,000 bushels, making total home consumption 582,101,000 bushels, and leaving a surplus of 77,969,000 bushels. Tho comment may be passed on theße figures that if the moderately high prioes of tho 1916 orop caused a drop in tho per capita consumption from 5.3 bushels to 4.9 bushels, the muoh higher prices now ruling for wheat, and the abundance of other foods, such as corn, oats, rice, and potatoes, which were high last year, may bring about still greater contraction tho coming year. A further reduotion this year would mean an addition to surplus of about 50,1)00,000 bushels, and would leave the per capita production not far from 4J bushels, the old-time figure employed in wheat consumption reckoning. These figures aro largely hypothetical, but unless all experience is at fault, there will be plenty of wheat for domestic needs and «, good quantity also for export to our Allies.