FINANCE and COMMERCE

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 147, 18 March 1931, Page 12

FINANCE and COMMERCE

■SHARE market firm »<' * - Wellington Stock Exchange •' ■•MANY BUYERS ABOUT • Theta was a good demand for G° ve F“' ment, securities and bank shares on the Wellington Stock Exchange yesterday. ' a priMs^co^nt r inu S e likely.'to remain so with commodity prices showing a rising tendency. The Botuls, 1!)£1»3S aWIMI maturities were a?aln w anted cent. Stocks, 1941, were up 6/- at £94 £ Jf «• WrSw Auckland 3 Ha“boui Board sF^nts. t l939, at £94 and Wanga- £ r domSd B a°t a £94A5/-. ' County 6 percents., 1932, were on sale at 4,101 “^^r^-by oB !^^’£9 U S d?vT dend. c ”“ in^c J?J nt P d an at 15/l^with‘a sale*Reported *at 15/9. National’Bank of £lO paid, were .10/- higher at £ 10/10/- Bank of New South Wales “‘A 2/fi 'lower at * £27, but there were n , seßeSs. Bank'of New Zealand rose 74 to 50/io with no sellers. For Union 4? CR/8/6 was bld or 8/- below the JKite last week. Sellers held for £8 %'ew Zealand Guarantee Corporation, ordinary, were in demand at 6/3 with sales ?epi?tld’ at 0/7 and 6/0 .G o “ sb o r Mnrt and To were wanted at 21/6 or 2/0 under the last' reported sale. Sellers of Ttniiitable Building have reduced their ?,?ntrttlnn bv 4/6 to £B/3/6. New Zealand Insurance at 40/9 were 3d better, and there ws a bid of 42/9 for. Standard Insurance. Christchurch Gas were steady at 24/-. Wellington Gas ordinary were In demand at 26/3 with no sellers. Gear Meat were 1 amTO. deferred stock at 30/- were 2/uhd’er the previous bid. Kelburn Trams were 6d higher at 29/6. Walpa Coal (in liUuldation) were in demand at 6/-, but skiers asked 8/-. Leyland-0 Brien Timber were firm at 20/6; New Zealand Breweries were 2d higher at 37/-: Staples and Co. at 34/6 were up 6d, but Tooth s Brewery were unchanged at 21/6. Burns, Philp affd Co. were 3d higher at 30/-•; and British Tobacco were a shade better at -9/J. colonial Sugar: changed hands at £3l. Electrolytic Zinc, ordinary., were wanted at’ll/6 with a sale reported at 12/-. There was a bld of 8/- for National Electric, and the selling price was advanced 6d to 11/-. Mount Lyell were 2d better at 20/11. | Yesterday’s Quotations Buying and selling quotations at yesterday’s final call on the Wellington Stock Exchange were as . follow:— r r ■ s ' Buyers. Sellers.

DAIRY PRODUCE Market Outlook Joseph ’Nathan and Co., Ltd., have received the following market report from Trengrouse and Nathan, Ltd., London, dated March 16:—New Zealand batter and cheese: Both markets unchanged; quiet. W. IVeddel and Co., Ltd., London, have cabled A. H. Turnbull and Co. that the butter stocks in the United Kingdom are generally small, but particularly so with regard to Australian “Kangaroo” brand, which meets with a ready sale immediately it Is landed. New Zealand "Fernleaf” is in larger supply and the demand is dull, and whereas the market shows a slight falling tendency, In the near future they are of the opinion that we may see an improvement later with a firm market. There was quite a brisk demand for butter by forward buyers about the middle of February, and quite a number of-buyers bought fair quantities at prices ranging from 12Jd. up to 1/1. The demand .was soon filled and no sales have been reported for some days. In spite of the somewhat adverse stock position, the cheese market during February and right up to the first week In March has been remarkably firm, and a considerable Increase in the weekly deliveries is shown. There is a distinctly better tone In the cheese market on account of the much more active operations of buyers. With the retail price at Bd., considerable stocks have been cleared, and in view of the probability of increased consumption of cheese shortly, W. Weddel and Co., Ltd., think that the market is more likely to advance than decline in the near future. Some forward business has been done at round about 6d. to 6 l-Bd., but buyers have again retired, having filled their requirements. V . t ’ - AUCTION SALES TO-DAY. 48 Panama St., 2.30 p.m.—Sale of property, 120 Coromandel St. (Harcourt & Co.) Dominion Farmers' Institute, 2.30 p.m.— Sale of property 8 Houghton Bay Rd. (McLaren. & Nisbet.) Dominion Farmers’ Institute, 2.30 p.m.— Sale of properties (Longmore & Co.) Johnsonville Fat Stock Sale, 1 p.m. 75 Freyberg St., 1.30 p.m.—Sale of furniture (Silverstone & Co.) THURSDAY. Onga Onga Salpyards, 12.30 p.m.—Sale of stock (H. .B. Stock, auctioneers). Walkanae Sale. Dundas St., Seatoun, 10.30 a.m.—Sale furniture, etc. (B. Johnstone & Co.) Fit ID AY. 235 "Lambton Quay, 2.30 p.m.—Sale freehold properties Ghuznee St. and Egmont St (G. G. Tolhurst & Son.)

DEAUNGS ON ’CHANGE

Yesterday’s Business DOMINION SALES The following sales were recorded on the Stock Exchanges . of the Dominion yesterday: — WELLINGTON.

BRITISH SHIPBUILDING Financing Rationalisation A stock Issue of a novel character made in London recently was that of £ 1,000,0W 5 per cent, first mortgage debenture stock of National Shipbuilders Security, Limited. The price of issue was 95 per cent. The money is not to be used for building ships or shipbuilding plant. On the contrary, it is to be utilised in financing a long and carefully considered plan that aims at enabling the shipbuilding Industry, which since the war has been in a state of acute depression, to regain its feet by the purchase and the dismantling of redundant and obsolete shipyards, the disposal of their contents, and the resale of the sites under restriction against further use for shipbuilding. By concentrating building in fewer yards, lower working costs will be secured, thus enabling them to compete on more favourable terms with foreign builders. ■ The British shipyards, which could build 3,000,000 gross registered tons of merchant shipping a year, besides a large amount of naval work, have, since 1922, never had more and frequently less than half that quantity under construction. The Industry is satisfied that its capacity Is, largely redundant, and the new company represents a co-operative effort by the Industry to remedy its own troubles. Beardmore’s Daimuir yard and other yards have already been purchased by the company to be dismantled. No compulsion is applied to-any yard to give up building, but if any builder finds it impossible to carry on he may Invite the National Shipbuilders Security, Limited, to purchase his yard. National Shipbuilders Security. Limited, is a title that covers practically the entire shipbuilding industry of Great Britain, Northern Ireland, and the Irish Free State,, the 46 firms included having been responsible for 93 per cent, in tonnage and a larger percentage in value of the vessels of 300 ft. or more in length that were launched in those countries last year. Nature of the Security. Each of these shipbuilders has executed a deed of covenant for the payment to the company of a levy equal to 1 per cent, of the contract or sale price of the vessels started to be built by them after November 1. 1930, and payable after completion of the vessels. This is the security for the new debenture stock, and the obligation of each shipbuilder to pay the levy will continue until the whole of the debenture stock has been redeemed. The prospectus gives figures of the contract or sale prices of vessels of 300 ft. or more that were launched by the members of the company in the seven years 1924 to 1930 inclusive. The average amount was £29,319,007 per annum. One per cent, of this amount (in other words, the proposed levy) equals £293,190. while the amount required for the interest and sinking fund —thelatter is } per cent, per annum, beginning to operate in 1933—f0r this issue will be £66,205.- On such a basis be'£66,205. On such a basis the service of the present issue is covered about 44 times, and that of the maximum Issue about 24 .times. The company state that owing to the world-wide trade depression this average may not be maintained in the immediate future, but that the figure of £293,190 is based upon an average of seven years, which Includes that o-f the general strike, and that there is every reason to believe that over a similar period this average will at least be maintained. The issue is made by the Bankers, Industrial Development Company, an undertaking formed under the auspices of the Bank of England for the purpose of assisting the rationalisation of British industry. It is the first issue to be made under thht and, as might be expected, ' there is evidence that every care has beeh taken to safeguard the position of deben-ture-holders. The trustee for the debentureholders will control all sums accruing, in respect of the levy until he has in hand a total sufficient to provide three years’ interest and sinking fund on the total amount Issued. And even when that position is reached surplus moneys may be employed only in, the purchase of shipyards; the purchase of the company’s debenture stock, or the purchase of British Government securities. LIVE STOCK MARKET Masterton Cattle Fair Dominion Special Service. Masterton, March 17. A full yarding of cattle was offered at the Masterton autumn cattle fair yesterday. Although the bidding was dull, vendors met the market. Dalgety and Co., Ltd., effected a total clearance of their entry of 850 head at the following prices:—Account Weraitl Estate, 54 24-year steers, £3/3/-; 65 14-year do., £2/8/-; 32 forward cows, £3. Account Orui Estate, 49 24-year P.A. steers, £3/1/-; -67 Hereford do., £2/19/-; 66 Hereford 24-year heifers, £2/10/-; 32 24-year P.A. heifers, £2/6/-. Account O. A. Bunny, 48 heifers, r.w. P.A., £2/15/-; 36 14-year Hereford steers. £2/4/-; 29 P.A. do., £2/6/-; 17 : 14-year P.A. heifers, £1 17/-; 21 do. Hereford heifers, £l/11/-; 22 24-year P.A. heifers, £3/3/-. Account J. P. Perry, 21 24-year P.A heifers, £3/1/-; 21 3j-year Hereford heifers, £3; 22 24-year P.A. steers, £3/10/-; 14 do. Hereford do., £3/7/-. The New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency, Ltd., sold the bulk of their offering of about 250 head (principally young cattle) at prices much better than anticipated. Their sales Included:—Account J. Tarbet, 15 3}-year bullocks, £5/4/-; 24year P.. steers, on account B. P. Perry, £4/1/- to £4/8/-; 18-months do., on account same vendor, £3/1/-. On account other vendors: Cows and calves, £l/10/to £2/10/-; empty cows, £l/18/- to £2 12/6; low condition do., 25/- to 30/-; ordinary 15-months steers, to 36/-; do., heifers, 30/- to 37/6. The Wairarapa Farmers’ Co-operative Association topped the sale with fat cows, on account of Kumu Kumu Station, at £5, and with 24-year steers at £5/5/-. Woolworths’ Profits Woolworths, Ltd., of Australia, shows a profit for the year ended January 31 of £71,735, against £55,693 the previous year. A sum of £30,000 is provided for taxation, and from the balance are paid dividends of 10 per cent, on preference shares, absorbing £4952, and of 25 per cent, on ordinary shares, £20,087. The remainder, £16,090, is transferred to general reserve. Oatmeal Cheaper The price of oatmeal has been reduced by £2 per ton. Prices now quoted in the South Island are: —200’s, £22/10/- per ton; 25’s. £23/10/-.

WOOL MARKET FIRM

Good London Clearances COMPETITION STRONG London, March 16. Total offerings at the London wool sales*to-day were 10,595 bales, including 4918 New Zealand. Approximately ninetyfive per cent, of the catalogues were sold. The offerings of greasy merinos were principally superstyle wools. There was an excellent selection of all crossbreds. Competition was strong, and the late rates were fully maintained. Now Zealand disposals of greasy crossbreds were as follow:—“Campbell, Glen Dhu," lid. to 101 <l.; “Waituku,” 9Jd. to B}d.; “Hakoroa,” 9Jd. to 8)d. Bradford Tops Very Firm London, March 16. Bradford top-makers are marking time, but their quotations are very firm. Quotations of Bradford tops during the last four weeks compare as follow: —

Melbourne Prices Advance Melbourne, March 17. At the wool sales to-day prices were 10 per cent, higher than the closing rates on March 4. Merino combings sold up to 6Jd., comebacks to Bid., and crossbreds to 15}d. per lb. Big Rise in Sheepskins Brisbane, March 17. Sheepskins are in strong demand at from 30 to 50 per cent, advance in prices. Pelts are 4d. per pound dearer, thirdwools Id., halfwools Id., and three-quarters lid. to 2d. SYDNEY WOOL SALES Prices Very Firm (Keo. March 17, 9.30 p.m.) Sydney, March 17. At the wool sales to-day 10,286 bales were offered and 10,040 were sold at auction, also 2265 privately. Under exceptionally keen competition the market ruled very firm at the previous day’s rates. Greasy merino sold up to 23d, per lb. WELLINGTON SALE Friday’s Catalogue For the Wellington wool sale on Friday the revised catalogues of brokers and the order of sale are as follow: — Bales. Murray, Roberts and Johnston and Co 2869 Levin and Co 3130 N.Z. Loan and Mercantile 4319 N.Z. Farmers’ Distributing 1295 Wairarapa Farmers’ 1055 Abraham and Williams and Wright Stephenson 2684 Dalgety and Co 4814 Total bales '.20,166

BASE METALS MARKET Latest Quotations (Rec. March 13, 5.5 p.m.) London, March 16. Metal Exchange quotations are as follow, those previously cabled being given for the purposes of comparison:— March 10. March 16.

Price of Gold Xiondon, March 16. The price of gold to-day is quoted at 84/10id per fine ounce. FLAX GROWING Miranui Ltd. to Liquidate The directors of Miranui, Limited, have decided to place the company into voluntary liquidation, and a meeting of shareholders to pass the necessary resolutions is to be held at Shannon next Tuesday. When the company was formed flax was selling on the basis of £32/5/- per ton, f o.b, Wellington. Now the market value is not above £l7, a fall of nearly 50 per cent. It is said that there is no revenue whatever from the company’s area of land of any description. Abo.ut eighteen months ago blight affected a considerable area of the flax and practically wiped out the crop thereon, compelling the company to put approximately 1000 acres into grass. This the company was selling at satisfactory prices up to £45 per acre. The fall in butter-fat prices last spring has prevented sales of any land, and land that was then worth £45 per aere can find no market at the present time. This is the main cause of the crisis in the affairs of the company. In view of the limited area of flax now available and the prospects of the hemp market continuing depressed, the directors decided in the interests of the shareholders generally that it would be better immediately to parcel out the lands of the company amongst the shareholders as nearly as possible in proportion to their respective shareholdings. This return of land assets is said only to have been made possible by the debenture holders waiving part of their security, so as to give shareholders an opportunity of making some recovery on their shares. According to the report of the directors, the operations of the company for the year ended May 31, 1930, resulted in a loss of £B5B/14/3, on milling and farming, after making allowance for depreciation on buildings and plant of £lO6l/2/3. In addition, it was decided to write off £2489 17/-, as against grassing and cultivation, and expenses of selling, making the total written off £3348/11/3. For the year 192829 the credit balance was £11,189/10/2, and after paying a dividend of 3 per cent., absorbing £2850, and writing off preliminary expenses £1202/6/8, there was a balance of £7137/3/6, which was further reduced by the writings off shown above to £3738 11/9, which was the amount brought forward into the current year. Insurance Merger The Phoenix Assurance Co., Ltd., London, h’s purchased the Southern Union General Insurance Company, of Australasia Ltd. The price paid was 1/- per share, or £94,643. It is Intended to carry on the business of the Southern Union Co. at the same offices and with the same stalls as before the amalgamation,

ROYAL MAIL AFFAIRS

Verging on Insolvency A CRITICAL ANALYSIS The meeting on February 12 at which the debenture stockholders of the Royal Mall Steam Packet Company and the preference shareholders of the White Star Line agreed to a scheme for a six months’ moratorium, was a momentous one. In view of the fact that one of the principal compauies engaged in the New Zealand trade—the Shaw, Savill and Albion Company—is a subsidiary company in the combine, special interest attaches to a survey in the “Economist’’ of the complicated affairs of the Royal Mail group. A great organisation with a paid-up share and loan capital of over £80,000,(MX), controlling the largest merchant fleet in the world, has been reduced to a condition verging on Insolvency, says the “Economist." The management has already been changed. A committee was sot up in June last, consisting of Mr. F. Hyde, managing director of the Midland Bank, General A Maxwell, managing partner of Glyn, Mills and Company, and Sir William McLintock, the well-known accountant. Following the committee’s report, voting control of the various companies was transferred to three trustees, namely, Mr. Walter Runciman, General Maxwell, and Sir William McLintock, the first-named joining the boards of all the companies concerned. Everything that skilled and prudent management can do to repair this disaster will be done; but time, an improvement in world trade —and eventually, new financial resources—will be required before a general reconstruction scheme can be attempted. The problem of reconstruction is Immense and, it is complicated by the hopelessly Involved interlocking of the finances of the associated companies. Post-War Expansion. To understand the present misfortunes of the Royal Mall group, It is necessary to go back to the years following the war, when the company and its subsidiaries were committed to a programme of expansion involving the purchase and construction of ships on a grandiose scale. In 1919 the Royal Mall group purchased 77 vessels from the Government at a cost of over £15,000,000. It was no doubt patriotic on the part of the directors to help the Government dispose of war-commandeered fleets, but this transaction must have involved the Royal Mail group in enormous losses, taking present-day value of tonnage. Vessels which had been lost during the war had, of course, to be replaced, but the Royal Mail group, not satisfied with its Government purchase, entered upon an ambitious building programme, a number of vessels being built on the extravagant “time and line" basis, and costing three.or four times more than they would have done in 1913. The Royal Mall group borrowed, 'either directly or through its subsidiaries, under the Trade Facilities Acts of Great Britain and of Ireland, no less than £15,140,886 for the construction of now vessels. Could such a programme ever have been justified as a commercial proposition unless Lord Kylsant and his colleagues had received diyine assurance of ten years of unlimited prosperity? In 1927, control of the White Star Line and Shaw, Savill and Albion was acquired by the purchase from the International Mercantile Marine Company of New Jersey of the whole of the share capital of the Oceanic Steam Navigation Company for £7,000,000, of which £4,650,000 has_been paid in cash, and the balance of £2,350,000 la payable on December 31, 1936. There followed the acquisition of the Commonwealth Government Line from the Australian Government for a sum of £1,900,000. Interest payments on outstanding amounts under these headings are not among the least of the current financial problems of the group. Profits and Depreciation. This expansion programme sealed the fate of the Royal Mail group. It is probably true to say that no vessel purchased or built immediately after the war at the peak of cost has earned sufficient to provide for the abnormal depreciation which has occurred In shipping values in, the last ten years. Incidentally, It is questionable whether close connection between shipbuilding and shipping groups has worked to the latter’s best advantage, since the war. Lord Kylsant has stated that a lifelong experience as shipowner had convinced him that 4 per cent, per annum is a correct basis for depreciation. The whole of the group’s vessels, he said (amounting to approximately 2,600,000 gross tons), had cost £106,000,000, and on January 1, 1930, had been written down by £54,000,000, which was over £6,000,000 more than the 4 per cent, rate allowed by the income tax authorities. This gave a book cost of £2O per ton, the average age of the vessels being 114 years. For ships purchased or constructed at three or four times the prewar cost of building, this would seem to be a wholly inadequate depreciation. Indeed, Lord Inchcape, at a meeting of the P. and O. Company in December, 1929,- remarked that, as a rule, British shipowners endeavoured to set aside sufficient depreciation to wipe out the original cost of their vessels in eighteen or twenty years. Lord Kylsant has, in fact, admitted that his group has never earned enough profits in the last five years to meet such a rate of depreciation. On his own statement at the meeting in June last, the profits of the Royal Mail group, before charging Interest or depreciation, in the four years, 192629, had been £4,827.000, £5,697.000, £5,100,000, and £4,900,000 respectively. If depreciation at 5 per cent had been allowed, the allocation out of profits would have amounted to £5,300,000 per annum. So that, since 1926, the Royal Mail group has never earned sufficient to allow for proper depreciation of its fleet. The group, in fact, has been burdened not merely with normal depreciation, but with a catastrophic decline in the value of ships built near the top of the short-lived post-war boom. It Is this last fact that makes a proper charge for depreciation such a millstone round the neck of all the companies in the group. It is difficult, In the light of these figures, to regard the dividend policy of the Royal Mail group as anything but feckless, says the “ Economist. ” The Royal Mail, the White Star, and Elder Dempster did not stop payment of dividends on their ordinary capital until 1929. Elder Dempster paid 4 per cent, for each of the. three years 1926-28, and earned only 0.9 per cent., 1.4 per cent., and 2.5 per eent. respectively. The Royal Mall in the same period paid 4 per cent., 5 per cent., and 5 per cent., and earned nil, 5.19 per cent, and 4 per cent, respectively. The African Steamship Company paid 24 per cent, in 1929, although its earnings were only 1.8 per cent. So it went on. An examination of the 1929 accounts of fifteen of the principal compapies disclosed profits and income from investments amounting to £3,088,052 (after allowing an undisclosed amount for depreciation, but before charging interest) which was equivalent to 3.74 per cent, on the paid-up share capital of £51,470,750, and loan capital of £31,080,233. Present Earnings Position. What is the present earnings position? The Royal Mall has certainly had its full share of misfortunes common to the shipping Industry. The South American trade from Europe and North America, in which the group is largely interested, has always had to meet difficult and intense competition, seeing that practically every maritime nation has Its own services, which are, in some cases, receiving Government subsidies. The' Atlantic trade also suffered from acute competition after the White Star Line had been acquired, and the Australian trade has been upset by strikes and high tariffs before and since the Commonwealth Line was acquired. The West African trade has also been difficult on aeeount of the quarrel with the vested interest in the oil and cocoa trades. Finally came the world trade slump in 1930, affecting America, South Atlantic and African routes alike. Even In normal times the Royal Mail group would not have been able, as we have shown, to earn sufficient to cover adequate depreciation on the vessels which it had acquired or built nt Inflated prices after the war. The world slump gave the coup de grace. To-day, only three subsidiary companies—Union Castle, Shaw, Savill and Albion, and Coast Lines—are understood to be working at a profit. Tills is deplorable enough, but the position is made much worse on account of the liabilities left over from the Improvident financial policy which characterised the expansion programme, and the complicated system of interlocking of the different companies by share holdings and loans. It was apparently the policy of Lord Kylsant to distribute the liabilities of the group among the associated companies as far as possible. This was no doubt the line of least resistance, when money had to be found, but the logical outcome of this policy is that when one company sinks, all sink together. The liabilities which were Incurred in the more Important acquisitions wore never squarely faced. In some cases the outside public’s holding of ordinary shares is comparatively small. It is believed, for example, not to exceed £1,482,000 of the £5,000,000 ordinary stock of the Royal Mall Company. This means, of course, that calls on unpaid capital In such concerns as Lamport and Holt and White Star Line will fall to be met by other members of the group. It Is understood, for example, that calls have been made, and are being made, in the case of White Star ordinary. The Stock Exchange, if not the public, has fully appreciated the catastrophe which has befallen the world’s largest shipping combine. With the exception of the stocks of the Union Castle and the preference shares of the White Star Line, it ■ is well-nigh impossible to sell any of the stocks of the Royal Mail group.

International Wheat Pool

New York, . March 16. Mr George Williams, formerly president of the United Farmers in Saskatchewan, has predicted in New York the organisation of an international wheat pool operated by Canada. Russia, Australia, Argentina, and the United States.

N.Z.GGVT. LOANS— £ s.d. £ 8. d. 41 p.c. Insc. Stk., 1939 95 5 0 5} p:c. ditto, 1938 ... 98 10 0 99 5 0 54 r p.c. ditto, 1941 ... 94 5 0 51 d.c. ditto; 1933 ... — 98 0 0 5J p.c. ditto and Bonds, 1933 98 10 0 — 4} p.c. Bonds, 1941, 1939, . 1938 ..... ?5 5 .0 — 5>rp.c'. ditto, 1936 ... 5| ; p.e; ditto, 1937 ... 98 10 0 ■MM 94 17 6 DEBENTURES— Auckland: Harb. Board, 5£|’p.c„ 1939 ... . 94 0 0 — Wanganui Borough, 65 p.c., 1944 97 0 0 — ChiJhi'Draln Bd., 5J p.c. 1940 ........ 94 15 0 — Motueka County, 6 p.c. 101 10 ■ 1032 '.-...I... T— BANKS-"-Australasia ♦9 0 0 Aust." of Commerce .. — 0 18 0 Commercial of Aust. (ord.) Commercial Bank. Co. (Sydney) • National A/asla. (£10) 10 10 27 0 0 16 10 New..South Wales ... 0 — Nev/ Zealand ., 2 10 10 Union of Australia .. 8 3 6 8 11 0 FINANCIAL— 0 Ddlgety and Co. z .... — 8 4 Equitable Bldg. Co. . 8 8 0 Goldsbrough Mort .. 1 6 N.Z. Guar. Corp, (ord.) 0 6 8 0 6 10 N.Z.,Loan and Merc. (ord-.) 68 0 0 Well. Trust and Loan — 6 10 6 GAS— Christchurch 1 4 0 — Gisborne — 0 10 0 Wellington (ord.) .. 1 6 3 —. INSURANCE— National • 3 New Zealand 2 0 9 — Standard 2 2 9 —— MEAT PRESERVING— Gear N.Z. Kefrlgerat. (10/-) —— 0 3 4 TRANSPORT— P. and O. stock ..... 0 — Kelburn Tram (ord.) 1 9 6 — COAL— „ , Waipa (In liq.) ........ 0 6 0 0 8 0 TIMBER — National 9 Levland-O’Brien •••• 1 0 6 — breweries— New Zealand 1 17 0 — Staples and Co. ...... Tooth’s ••• 1 14 6 — 1 1 6 —— MISCELLANEOUS— Burns, Philp & Co. . 1 10 0 — British Tobacco (ord.) 9 9 31 Colonial Sugar Dental and Medical .. — 5 0 —— 0 Electro. Zinc (ord.) . 0 11 6 Nat tonal Electric 0 8 0 0 11 0 Wilson's Cement —— 2 0 9 OID— Blenheim — 2 6 0 Taranaki 0 3 0 MINING— Mount Lyell 1 0 11 1 1 4 ♦Cum. dividend.

£ s. d. . 0 15 9 N.Z. Guarantee Corporation, ord. o o i Electrolytic Zinc, ordinary . 0 12 0 Colonial Sugar . SI 0 0 AUCKLAND. £ s. d. Auckland City, 5i p.c., I960 ... . 96 10 0 , 2 10 9 Ditto (2) .... . 2 11 0 .220 .12 0 .12 1 CHRISTCHURCH. £ s. d. Commercial Bank of Austr 0 15 7 0 15 8 nittn ' ...... 0 15 9 8 7 6 Nat.' Bank of Australasia, £5 pa. 5 4 0 Goldsbrough Mort 1 2 1 Ditto (2) 1 2 0 Ditto ' ' ........ 1 1 11 Ditto (2) 12 2 N.Z. Refrigerating, 10/- pd 0 3 1 New Zealand Breweries 1 17 6 1 1 11 0 12 3 111 Ditto * 112 Sales reported:— Bank of New South Wales Ditto 27 12 6 27 13 6 0 12 0 0 13 li DUNEDIN. £ B. d. New Zealand Breweries 1 18 0

Sixty-fours ...... Sixties Feb. 19. lb. d. .. 22 .. 19} Feb. Mar. Mar. 26. lb. d. 22} 20 5. lb. d. 24 21 12. lb. d. 27 25} .. Hi 15 15} 16 Fifties .. iii 12 12} 13 Forty-sixes .... 95 10 10} 11} Forties .. 9i 10 10} 11}

Copper— s d £ 8 d Standard, spot .. 45 9 44 44 16 10} Standard, forward 46 0 45 5 71 Electrolytic .... 48 10 0 47.10. 0 to 49 10 0 48 15 0 49 10 0 48 10 0 Lead— 13 17 6 13 1 3 Forward Spelter— 14 2 6 13 6 3 12 12 6 12 2 6 Forward Tin— 13 3 9 12 12 a 123 3 9 121 8 9 Forward Sliver — Standard, Fine, per 124 13 0 122 18 9 per oz. . oz - 13 3-8d 14 7-16d 14* d 15 5-8d