COMMERCIAL & FINANCIAL.

Evening Post, Volume LXXI, Issue 145, 20 June 1906, Page 3

COMMERCIAL & FINANCIAL.

, Evening Post Office, Wednesday. THE BANK OF NEW ZEALAND. ' Tha balance-sheet of tho Bank of New Zealand for tho year ended 31st March "last, * summary of which appeared in our issue of Saturday last, will have been received with pleasure by the shareholders, and it is a satisfactory document for tlio • 'general public. It was on tho morning ot 11 the 30th Juno, 1894, that the Bank of New Zealand Guarantee Act was passed ' through aft its stage* as a measure ot ' urgency, ' and the Bank and tho country -were; saved from a serious financial oatas"vtrophe. There have been several amend- " jnenteof the original Act, but oxcept for the first year, when there was a small loss, the Bank has been Bteadily improving its position and gaining in strength. It at this juncture to show the net profits earned each year since lew, and the disposal of same. The figures are asunder:-. .

' A substantial sum was earned in the eleven years, but the beginning of the real prosperity of the Bank was in 1901, or concurrent with the wave of prosperity that happened upon this col°°y» ant } which is still being enjoyed. The disposal of the profits is shown in tho following table:— ' ' '„ > ±> 'Paid to Assets Board ... •' — 1,235,207 -Written 'off Estates Company . • j^ggets' 139,988 Debenture Conversion Account 68,445 Colonial Bank GooHwill ... 75,000 "Written off Bank property and furniture 96.-807 Written off Colonial Bank property 25,000 Divi(Tend»,to Shareholders ... 111,445 Dividends'on Crown Shares ... 50,000 £1,801,892 At the " wirm™- 1 meeting of shareholders held 1 last year, the Acting Chairman 6tated in reference to the Bank's liability ' -to' the Assets Realisation Board — "According to the most reoent information mip- ' plied to us the probable further contribution required - from the Bank to clear up this matter, after crediting the amount of '" the Bunk's surplus for the past year, is estimated at £158,882, so that you can ' therefore judge for yourselves how near we have approached to finality in this respect." The amount fixed to be paid the . Assets Realisation Board this year, in ad- - dition }» the statutory sum of £50^000, is ' £174,329," or a "total of £224,329. This is £65,447 more than the amount estimated as final, from which it would appear that " more requires to be done to fill the gap.' The amount so required cannot, however, * be very much. PERISHABLE PRODUCE. The exports of perishable produce for -April and May show a vast improvement on the figurea for the corresponding monthß of lost year, giving promise that the current statistical year will establish a record. Taking the values of the exports > for the two months, they compare as f ■under with those given, for the corresponding period of the two previous

.1 ' " £1,226,000 £789,872 £889,478 The total for the past two months shows 1 an increase of £436,128, equal to about li 60 per cent., whioh is a very handsome ■^ gain. The foci-ease i* due partly to higher •;. prices and, partly to the larger volume of '. exports. , . '. THE "WTOOL MARKET. .. : We. ore getting near to the fourth' of \ the series of London wool sales, which, has ! „ been fixed, to begin .on the- 10th prox., and the probable trend of the market be- / comes of interest. The latest reports' of '• the ' Bradford Top market have declared no change, prices being' firm. Tops declined a farthing per lb towards the end of May, and there has been no recovery .since. The point to be remembered is that the - markets are now in touch with the Euro- ' peati dip, and in a few weeks' time the Australian clip will be in sight ; ac a , natter of fact, new wool from Queens- '' land has been, coming on to the Sydney * market' for the past two 'or three weeks. In view of the excellent consumptive demand it is hardly likely that there will be any lowering of values; on tEe other hand, !.-an advance. seema improbable. There may fee a disturbance when the market gets in touch with the Australasian clip, which . this year is expected to be very much larger than. lost. The statistical wool year closes with the end of the month, and the oversea shipments of the staple from the Commonwealth and New Zealand for the eleven months . compared with the corresponding period ot lact year chow as tinder :—

1,813,246 1^55,180 • The net increase, as ihown by the- above > figures, which are furnished by Dalgety ' and Co., is 238,066 bales, of which 223,050 • tales is to be credited to the Common- - Wealth. The total for the year will prob- • ably be just about 300,000 bales, and in _• the next season a greater expansion is ex- ', Jpected. At all events New South Wales • and Victoria will shear over six millions ■ more sheen than in tho past season. NOTES. The- teat trade of China, is in * fair way v of extinction. There was a time whan the only rood tea was supposed to be that '__ which came from China, but Japan, India, and Ceylon have brought about changes, i X4«t year Great Britain used only 5,600,0001b of China tea, as against 0,900,000 in 1904, and 12,700,0001b in 1903. American imports of Chinese tea, accord- ' ing to a Consular report, decreased from ■ 55,000,0001b in 1903, and 53,000,0001b in • 1904, to 43,000,0qib in 1905, wolfe at tho name time American imports of Japanese - tea increased from 37,000,0001b in ,: .1903 to 42,000,0001b . each in 1904 and 1905. American imports of East Indian tea, chiefly from Ceylon, increaseJ from 6,700,000 ib in 1903 to • 7,800,0001b in 1905. The lessened conHumption of Chinese tea is said to be due to tha deterioration in quality and also • to the difficulty of obtaining any considerable quantity of good Chinese black tea.. Furthermore, it is stated that Indian and - Ceylon teas have driven the China product out of the British market by being •old at a price with which the Chinamen cannot compete. Some remarkable figures regarding the trade of tho British Lropire aro given in - n Board of Trade return issued recently under the title "Statistical Abstracts for the British Empire." It is shown that the total trade of the Empire in 1904, tho latest year for which the figures are available, was worth £1,305,283,000. Dividing this immense volume of trado into sections, it is shown that 73.3 per cent, of ft mi with foreign countries; 26.7 per cent. of it was between different parts of the "Empire. Tho United Kingdom imported from British pouereions goods worth £150,995,459. Of this amount £56,444,766 was for food, drink, and tobacco; ' £30,977,053 was for bullion end irpecio. An analysis of the various items comprised in tho total trade shows that the British Empire imported £31,200.000 worth of meat from foreign countries; it exported £900.000 worth. It imported £8,500,000 worth of animals for food, and exported Animate worth £600,000. It imported £38,900,000 worth of grain, and tho export* were £5?J0O,OO0. It paid £6,700,000 for wines and cpirits, and sold wines and npiriU for £1,500,000. It paid £6,400,000 for tobacco, aod wld tobacco for £800,000.

Colony. Victoria New South Wales... : Queensland South Australia ... West- Australia Tasmania ... ... > New Zealand x&uo-o. Bales. 415,464 729,260 > ■88,365 124,283 42,164 13,248 400,442 J.SUt-0 Bales. 363,741 588,876 86,110 108,780 34,698 7,549 365,426

yeare: — .. Butter Cheese ... Beef . Mutton ... ' Legs and pieces • Lamb '"WBeifc"" ... f O»te ..4- ; ». y Potatoes 1906. £ 177,387 74,731 71,295 30^592 11488 556,107 579 31,409 712 1905. 1904. £ £ 81,477 174,673 40,822 38,815 58,815 47,844 326,744 282,076 5,704 9,499 361,950 304,246 42 16,296 £3,790, „13,668 528 • 2,361

31st March. = 1896 * 1897 ' ... 1898 , 1899 1900 ■ ... . 1901 , ... 1902 ". .1903 190+ 1905 1905 a 35,71)9 39,391 85,033 93,920 145,020 210,665 209,501 210,590 212,803 268,930 290,330 • £1,801,892