COMMERCIAL & FINANCIAL.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIII, Issue 31, 6 February 1907, Page 2

COMMERCIAL & FINANCIAL.

Evening Post Office, Wednesday. FROZEN MEAT. New season's New Zealand lamb ia now reaching the London market, and the nominal quotation, according to the High Commissioner's message, is 6d per lb ; a year ago the nominal quotation was 5d per lb, so that apparently the price of to-day is about a penny a r our '<i higher than at this time last year. The position of the market for lamb dopende largely upon supplies, particularly from Australia. It is 'unquestionable that New Zojdtnd will furnish larger supplies than last year ; at the same time there is ample evidence of heavy shipments from Australia. The j quotation for Australian lamb is 4 Yd, as compared with 6d for New Zealand lamb, while a year ago the prices wero 4d for Australian, ana 5d for New Zealand. The margin of difference between the two products is wther gn-iter now than it was kst year, and it is i> question wketlvjr the differance pan be mnintnined. Tho climatic- conditions at the moment, together with a possibility of a temporary Ehorttgej may force up tho value, or »t least maintain tho present price for a little while, but the averago for the »eaFon will probably be less than last year. The reciprocity agreement with ooulh Africa is not likely to lead to any expansion in the frozen me*t trade. The cold etorage companies there are in a very depressed condition. According to recent advices, of fourteen companies engaged in the business of cokl Etorage, with a capital of over £8,000,000, the remaining assets are now vsluod al £2,500,000. The pioneer in this industry wjis tho South African Supply and Cold Storage Company, founded in 1899, and subsequently acquired by the South African and Australasian Supply and Cold Storage and the Cold Storage Trust. For the first,, three years the original company paid, onormous dividends, amounting in 1899 to 45 per cent., in ISOO to 105 per cent., and in 1901 to 450 per cent. Tho last-named distribution w*s made on the strength of profits from floating suhsidiary companies, and a withdrawal of £1,00/),000 from reserves, by which means the profits were raised to £2,866,983. That indicated the hi|h water murk of cold storage in South Africa,, most »f the subsidiary companies paying no dividend at all. There is one exception, however — the Federal Supply and Q»ld Storage — that has shown on the prcrago a good record. It has paid regular dividends to its shareholders, and carried forward £10,000 ct the close «f the lust financial year. The experience of thetio ventures i» not encouraging , *nd yet from the margin of profit they ought to be paying concerns. Beef smd mutton are purchased in tbe Argentine at 2^d and 2Jd per lb, and the duty at the Cipe raises the cost to Sid and 4d respectively, nnd the Rolling basis is 7d and 10d per lb, w^ich ought to admit of fair profits, after allowing for expenses on a liberal scale. NEW ZEALAND HEMP. • ' The price of hemp continues high. Ths spot quotations are affected by the predicaments of forward sellers, who hnvo been unable to obtain supplies to complete contracts, and are in consequence forced to pay high prices for whatever is available on the spot. But the quotation for January March shipment is £39, and a very attractive price it is. Taken all round, the fibre market is particularly strong, and it is not to be wonderrd at, therefore, that special atention is boirig paid in various parts of the world to the cultivation of fibre-yielding plants. Sisxl growing is ( being encouraged in Queensland, experiments «re being made in Victoria with New Zealand hemp, and similar experiments are being »*de in the Dutch East Indies. St. Helena is likely to bo the scene of further experiments, while from tho Hunan provineo of China the export of hemp is expected shortly to become a. prominent ' industry. Fibre is being grown in Rhodesia., and a new plant known as tho Brazilian linen plant is being cultivated with vory promising result*. The high prico of hemp is sufficient inducement for the cffqrts ihtt ar.9 bein,(y taken to extend tho area' of cultivation, and"ro to increarethe World's supply. ' Sooner or later 'thcra will bo an expansion that; will be great enough to cause a disturbance in values — that is to Bay, the prospect of the rear futurs is a. fall in prioes. Seeing whnt'Ss being done in other countries, it is lamentable that more dnergetic measures are not taken to extend the flax area in Now Zealand. It will be too late when prices drop, for phormium tenax cannot be grown in x. week or a month or a' year. Millers are doing very well just now, and prosperity and contentment go together; they are content to keep going as ot present, and the lime for worry will be later on. THE METAL MARKETS. Of the metals, copper maintains a very firm position, d\io to the demand being much in excess of supplies. At the beginning of last month the quantify in store was 1^,924 tons, nnd the supplies received amounted to 26,129 tone, making the quantity available 43,053 tons, of which 29,062 tons -were taken for' consumption, leaving 13,991 tons. The deliveries during tho month were thus in excess of the supplies, with the result that stocks are materially reduced. Tin has fluctuated a good deal, from £188 to £191, and the statistics of the past month indicate that for the present at least values are not likely to go higher. Lead keeps fairly active at £19 to £20, but pig-iron has .declined. Towards tho closo of December the quotation was 62s 4d, while tho price now is 56s 6d, a fall of 5s lOd a- ton in about fivo weeks. The weakening of pigiron is not a good feature, for it is rogarnod as the barometer of industrial activity. If there is a further decline in this metal, then we may oxpect to ace both tin and copper eaee off. NOTES. I Platinum is now worth considerably more than standard gold. Russia is the mairt producer of platinum, and, accord- ! ing to latest reports, tho price has atl- ! vanccd to 34,000 roubles per pood, equal to about £6 10s per troy ounc3, while standard gold ib worth only £4 17b lOJd. Fivo years ago platinum wan less than half it 3 present pries, and fifteen years ago the price was under 30s per ounce. With regard to the futuro of rubber, the ooinion is current that Ihe demand will exceed tho supply for somo time to come. Rubber is continually being apnlied to new uses, such as entering largely into tho construction of pavements, gangways for passenger etoamships and yachts. The domand from tho motor industry may bo roalisod whon it is stated that ench motor 'bus consumes about two tono of manufactured rubber annually. Tho increasing decreci in which electricity is being adapted to industrial pursuits rcquiros an enormous amount of rubber for insulation. Substitutes, or synthetic rubber, ns it is called, all lack many of the denirable qualities possessed by oven the roost inferior natural article Tho world's production of genuine ruhber for the current year is estimated nt 70,000 tons, of which 60 per cent, is credited to South America, all but 10 per cent, of thi3 quantity being grown in Brazil. Tho value of this output to that country is £17,000,000, the whole of which is practically provided by nature, without any aid from cultivation, mainly on the Amazon nnd its tributaries. At present tho output of plantation rubber is about 1000 tons per Annum, and as tho demand is increasing at a ratio in excess of the supply the prospect in front of any country that can grow the raw material is most encouraging. Broomha.ll makes tho world's crops in ieo6, 261,577,000 bushels greater than in 1905, though the crop of oats was considerably reduced, having fallen from 3,623,000,000 busholu to 3/34,000 bu«hel«, or 189,000,000 bushels Ims. Tbflrc is an incroafle of (4,360,000 bu«l>»lß in whent. 345,937,000 bushels in mair.e, 3'i,880,000 bush eli in barioy, nud 8,400. 0ft0 bushels in rye. Tho wheat crop of 1906 is placed at 3,292,320,000 buahels. A reason' for tho scarcity of choieoflt Auetrnlian butter on the London market and for the excess of inferior grades is explained by W. Woddel and Co., in their circular of the 21st December. They soy: — "It must not be foreolten that -the term Australian include* vielojsian, New South j'Wales, Queensland, and South Australian ; tho quality of tho last two varictiei is never strictly 'choicest,' as tho butter is nearly all made from cream collected twice or thrice n week from farmers. In tho oGer two States, especially in Now South Wales, the collected cream (system also exins, but not to the same proportion. The consequence is that the amount of strictly 'choicest'

quality of Australian butter which reaches our markets is comparatively small. The increased import of Australian butter this year is largely of this inferior typo, and a far greater diversity in qu»lity exists than in New Zcn'and, whero 98 per cent, of the buttcv exported reaches the standard of Government first grade. In New Zealand tho collected cream system i» almost, if not quite, unknown " . Abraham and Williams, Limited, report on their Johnßonville sale yesterday as follows:—A *mali entry of bullocks. • Tha bulk wac good quality, the others small medium cort E . Tho mnrkot was only fair. Beef mado up to 21k, rough sorts 20s, beet bullocks £8 7s 6d to £8 12b 6ti, others £8 to £8 ss, light £7 ss. A good yarding- of nheep, mostly prime, and inc'ludinqr some extra heavy wethers. Beet wethers 17s 6d, olhera 16s 9d to 17» 3d. ewes Ms to Us 3d, others 13>s 4d ; woolly lambs, primo 14s 2d, shorn 12e 2d. Tho New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company, Ltd., report as follows: — On behalf of the trustees in the estate of the late Mr. F. Lancaster, of Karon, who have cold their farm landf, wo hela a clearing sale of come 40 head dairy cows, 25 head yearling and two-year-old heifers, bull,* several horses, farming implements, dairy utensils, and a large quantity of lundr'.eß. There was a largo attendance ef faiinera, dairymen, and others, and we have to report a clearance of every lot at highly satisfactory prices. Cows in full profit realised from £4 to £8 2s 6d, heifers 'in milk from £2 35s to £4 10c, springing cows aud heifer* from £4 to £6 17s 6d, cows and heifers due to calvo May, June, July, August £2 17s 6d to £6 17s 6d, heifers in calf £2 Cs, heifer calves 14s, one and two year old heifers £1 17s to £2 Is, ono and two ysar old btcers to 41s, bull £2, draught maro £27 10s, yearling colt £6 17s 6d, two-yoar-oid filly £7, three-year-old gelding £9 10s.