COMMERCIAL & FINANCIAL.

Evening Post, Volume LXII, Issue 129, 27 November 1901, Page 4

COMMERCIAL & FINANCIAL.

Evening Post Offioe, Wednesday. NEW ZEALAND'S XOAN ISSUE. Very scanty details have been cabled to the colony with respeot to the loan of £1,500,000, tenders for which closed on Friday last. The latest advices state that the issue is quoted at 'i premium— that is to say, at £94- ss. Taking the market conditions into consideration^ the price compares very favourably with those of the other borrowing colonies. The 3 per cent, colonial loans floated in London, this year show as under: — Date. Colony. Amount Msn. Wanted. Price. £. . March Victoria 3,000,000 93J Sept. N.S. Wales 4,000,000 9* Sept. West Australia 1,000,000 91 Oct. Queensland - 1,374,000 91£ Oct. Tasmania 450,000 92 Nov. New Zealand 1,500,000 94 This is the third 3 per cent, subscription loon floated by New Zealand in London, and assuming that the average price realised is £94 5s per cent, the issues compare aa under. Date. Amount. Tendered. Average £. £. Price. May, 1895 1,500,000 5,960,000 94 8 9 Feb. 1899 1,000,000 3,026,000 96 11 0 Nov. ISOI 1,500,000 — 94 5 0 In addition to the above £300,000 of 4 per cent. Treasury Bills Were sold in January of last year, and in the June quarter of this year £500,000 of 4 per oent, debentures were placed privately. The net result to the colony after deducting commissions, discounts, and charges will amount to about £92 per cent., or in other words, the oolony will receive £1,380.000, or £120,000 less Wan must ultimately be repaid. The interest charge though nominally 3 per cent, will actually amount to 3£ per cent, over the whole period. This, however, is better than could have been obtained in the colony. The half million of debentures floated locally in April last carried interest at the rate of 4 per cent, without counting the concessions that had to bo made in other ways. On th*e whole the Government has done about as well as could be expected under the circumstances. During the current year the Government has borrowed £3,683,220, but certain repayments of temporary loans have been made. The borrowings have been as follows: — For £. Public Works 2,000,000 Advances to Settlers ... 590,000 Land for Settlement ... 524,250 Local Bodies 86,200 New Zealand Consols ... 6,770 Treasury Bills for redemption of guaranteed debentures ... 476,000 '3,683,220 Out of the two millions raised for Public Works £500,000 was obtained in the colony in April last, £500,000 was scoured in London on the issue of 4 per cent, debentures, and the balance .comes out of the loan just issued. Against this £200,000 has been applied to the redemption of short-dated debentures, and it is very likely that the Treasury Bills for £476,000 will now be redeemed ; if so, the amount available for the services of the Pubtio Works acoount from Ist October to 31st March will be approximately £986,000, including the sum of £190,000 to be transferred from the Consolidated Fund, and the sum will not leave a- margin to carry on until Parliament meets, so that further borrowing must take place before the end of the financial year. The Government has power to borrow £250,000 additional under the Act of last - session. The Advances to Settlers office obtained , temporary advances of £90,000 from the Bank of New Zealand, and this will probably be repaid now. If so, this account will have available £370,000, which should be sufficient to carry on for some time. FROZEN MEAT. . The market for frozen mutton is very much depressed, and from all reports it seems that a further fall in values is to be expected. Compared with a year ago prices stand as under:— 1900. 1901. Fall. Canterbury , v ... 4i 3f f Dunedin and Southland 4£ 31 I North 1 Island ... 315-16 34 13-16' Biver Plate ... 311-16 2g 13-16 The present depression is due to the large supply of Biver Plate mutton, and the extreme sympathy between North Island and Argentine mutton is to bo seen in the above comparison. Biver Plate importers may be obliged to force sales to clear their' stocks, and if this be done prioes must be reduced. The outlook is therefore unsatisfactory. Fat sheep have reoently dropped 2s per head, and the consequential decline in other classes of sheep will mean a loss of from £500,000 to £750,000. The loss on wool and sheep as compared with a year ago must be fully £2,500,000, and the colony must feel the effect of this sooner or later. BUTTER. * * The butter market stands on a level of last year so far as choicest colonial is oonoerned, but the outlook for inferior butter or for grades below the standard of choicest is not very promising. A considerable quantity of butter is held in cold store, and is an ever present menace to the trade. The uses to which cold storage, are being put is described by the trade journal Ice and Cold Storage as follows: — "The butter trade has during the past few months been fraught with much anxioty to those engaged in its pursuit. The feature of the present seaBon has been without doubt the further development of cold storage operations. Ten years ago prices rose and fell according' to the season and the extent of the imports; now they are controlled to a large extent by speculation. In oold storage has been found the panacea for most of the ills which attend the inexorable laws of supply, and demand. In the spring when the imports get neavy, prices drop and speculators buy. The butter is, placed into cold storage, where it' stays until the consumption is equal to supply, and then the speculator'smiles." Apparently, there is a quantity of secondgrade butter in store, and the marketing of this will pull down prices although the speculators may not lose money. However, the policy of New Zealand is to ship the best, and therefore we are not likely to be affected to any serious extent by the stored butter. [PEESS ASSOCIATION.] (Received November 27, 9.3 a.m). LONDON, 26th November. Copper on spot is quoted at £66 7s 6d per - ton ; three months', £G4 l2s 6d. Tin.— Spot, .£ll6 10a per toni three months', 10a. Pig iron, 56s 3d per ton. AUSTRALIAN PRODUCE MAEkETS. (Received November 27, 9.39 a.m.) SYDNEY. This Day. Wheat, chick, 2s 8d; milling, 2s 8d to 2s 93. Flour, £6 15s to £7 ; Manitoban, .£ll 10s to .£l2 los. Oats, New Zealand " B," 2a lid; other qualities, 2s 9d. Barley, English feeding, 2s 8d to 2b lOd. Maize, 2s 9d to 2s lid. Bran, Bid. Pollard, 9d to 9id. Onions, £A. Potatoes, £2 to £2 10s. Butter, finest, 9d to 9Jd. Cheese, New Zealand, 7d. Bacon, 6Jd to BJd. Hams, New Zealand, 9d to lOd. MELBOURNE, This Day. Wheat, old, 2a 10d; new, quoted 2a 9d. Oats, Algerian old, 2a to 2a 3d; new, la lid offered December delivery. Barley, malting, 2s 9d to 3s 6d. Maize, 2s 7d. Bran, 9id. Pollard, 9fcd* to lOd. Potatoes. £3 to £4,. ADELAIDE, This Day. Wheat, old, 2s 10id; new, quoted 2s 9d. Flour, £6 10s to £6 15s. Oats, Algerian, 2s 3d to 2s 6d ; stout, 2s 9d to 3s. Bran, 9 Jd. Pollard, 9Jd to lOd. Messrs. Freeman R. Jackson and Co., in conjunction with Messrs. Abraham and Williams, report as to their Johnsonville stock sale yesterday as follows : — The usual supply of cattle came forward to-daj-. These comprised a line of somewhat unfinished raw bullocks, the tow prime cattlo entered being very small. Prices showed so improvement on last week's quotations,.

and a dragging sale resulted. Entries of ehecp comprised a fair line of e^ros and wethers, and a few lambs of poor quality. In sympathy -with the gonoral tone of the | mutton market prices were lowed by 6d i 'to Is per head. Quotations — Best bul- ] looks, £7 17s 6d to £8 10s ; Email do, £7 to £7 12s 6d; fait butchers' ewes lla sd, wethers 13a 4d to 13s Sd, half-fatted ewes 8s 3d, stores 5s 3d ; fair lambs, 9b 3d to 10s 9d, poor do., 5s to 7s.