TRADE AND FINANCE

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 109, 4 November 1926, Page 13

TRADE AND FINANCE

BANK STOCKS AND SHARES.

(United Press Association.—Copyright.) LONDON, 2nd November. £ s. (1. Bank or Australasia 13 10 3 Bank of New South Wales 44 2 0 Union Bank of Australiu 14 17 (i National Bank of Australasia 8 15 0 National l?ank of New Zealand 7 3 li Bank of New Zealand,' 4 p.c 80 0 0 Bank of New Zealand, shares 3 2 0 N.Z. Loan and Mercantile, Ist mortgage, 4 per cent, debentures 3 15 0 N.Z. Loan and Mercantile ordinary stock !XS 10 0 LONDON TALLOW SALES. Messrs. Dalgety and Co., Ltd., report having received the following cablegram from their London house, undor date of 3rd November :—"Tallow: 1400 casks offered, 221 casks sold. Wo quoto: Pino mutton tallow, 433 to 43s {Id; mixed and (or) beef, good colour, 41s to 41s 6d; low and inferior descriptions, 38s Gd; good descriptions, Cd lower; low descriptions unchanged." The New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company, Ltd., have received the following cablegram from their London house, under date 3rd November:—"Tallow: Wo quote present c.i.f. etc., values for the following descriptions of tallow:—Vine mutton, 42s per cwt; good beef, 4<ls; mixed, 41s. Market quiet." The Bank of New Zealand (produce department) has received the following advice from its London office, under date 3rd November:— "Tallow;— There is a poor demand.. Current quotations: Good mutton and beef, 42s to 4''s 36. "to sEM m' Xed' "' t0 413 M; 6Ut' DAIIIY PRODUCE PRICES. The New Zealand Loan and . Mercantile Agency Company, Ltd., havo received the following cablegram from their London house under date 3rd November:—"Dairy produce (last week's quotations In parentheses) : Butter—New Zealand choicest, £7 5s to £7 (is per cwt (144s to 1465); exceptionally, £7 8s; market firm. Cheeso: Quotations unchanged." LINSEED. The Department of Agriculture has received the following cablegram, dated 2nd November, from Calcutta, with reference to tho linseed market:—"Linseed: We quote £1G 5s for 1 nsecd nor ton, c. and f. Sydney, immediate shipment. Market steady." WESTPORT COAL COMPANY. (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) DUNEDIN, 3rd November. The directors of the Westport Coal Co., Ltd' recommend n dividend of Is per share, making 10 per cent, for the year. They also propose to distribute 6d per sharo from insurance accounts. The directors of tho New Zealand Papi-r Mills at a meeting to-day authorised :he payment of an interim dividend of 3 per cent. EUROPE HAS BUTTER TO SELL. Statistics of the import of butter Into tho United Kingdom up to the end of August, as compared with the same eight-monthly period In other years, are supplied by Messrs. Dalffety and Co., Ltd., and' show increases over last year from the following countries of supPly : Sweden has more than doubled her butter contribution, so has Netherlands, and so have "other countries"; Finland, Denmark, France, Argentina, and Irish Tree State show increases. On the other hand, the table (printed ibelow) shows some decreases, including a slight fall in the Russian export, while' Australia »t the end of August was considerably below last year's figures. British imports of butter for the eight months ended 31st August, are as under:— 1324. ' 1925. 1926. Cwts. Cwts. ■ Cwts. 186,492 199,203 177,546 90,995 116.450 - 138.925 43,301 4i>,931 105^892 1,169,083 1,114,328 1,317,286 69,512 53,690 117,754 6.952 15.542- 25,099 4,456 10,966 3,772 418,544 331,984 354,315 316,203 236,624 292.437 414,927 914,403 ■ 538,755 i 832,882 1,095,854 913,427 13,792 102,852' 21,091 46,040 - 42,965 125,135 3,013,209 I 4,281,100 4,131,434 The. total decrease for the eight months, as compared with the same period last year is 149,606cwt, As Messrs. Dalgety and Co. found out, a big factor in curtailing consumption of New Zealand stocks Is the above-mentioned increase this year in British imports from the Continent and Ireland, which for the eight months exceed, by no less than 900,898cwt, their figures for 1925. To that factor has to be added the fall tn British export of importeof butter— the export for the. eight months was 149,874 cwt, against 500,657 cwt for the same eight months last year—and, of course, the depleted purchasing power resulting from the strike. Margarine sales in Britain have gone Up considerably, the Increased consumption manifesting itself even during the summer months, when, as a rule, the sale of this substitute noticeably decreases. SLAUGHTERING AND SHEARING SEASONS. In announcing the intended starting of the Hawkea.Bay freezing season last Monday, the Wanganul "Chronicle" writes that "the openIng of the.season on the other coast is always ahead of the commencement on this side of the island, and in Wanganul the Imlay works will not' 'get Into its stride for some weeks yet. The coming season is of interest for several reasons. It will be the first for many years in which two plants have not operated locally, and rumours of prospective trouble among tho slaughtermen^ who are seeking increased pay, add another phase which will receive much attention." Tho same trouble has been in evidence in Hawkes Bay this week. A Hastings Press Association telegram anticipates a settlement. j ■ The same paper announces'the opening of the Wanganul shearing season. "Shearing, time —a period of ceaseless toil and activity for farmers—begins in earnest around Wanganul this week, and to-day many of the large farms will start the annual bafrbering of their flocks Shearing is already late this season, many lots having been shorn at this time last year. Results so far this season show that the wool is in much better condition than it was last year. The first Wanganui wool sale will be conducted on 23rd November, when the usual 10,000 odd bales will be oCered. 'Prices are In the lap of the gods,' said a broker's representative yesterday, adding that" much depended on the industrial situation in Britain." , TABANAKI OIL FIELDS, LIMITED. Taranakl Oil Fields, Ltd., report for the week ended 30th October:—Waiapu No. 1 Well: Plugged and rig dismantled. Waiapu No. 2 Well: Arrangements completed for transport of drilling equipment to site; JOHNSONVILLE STOCK SALE. Messrs. Abraham and Williams, Ltd., and Wright, Stephenson, and Co., Ltd., report as follows on the Johnsonvllle stock sale held yesterday:—A full yarding of good quality sheep and cattle came forward, also a heavy yarding of spring lambs of only medium quality. Bidding throughout was' slow, and both sheep and cattle prices showed a sharp decline on previous week's quotations. We quote: Bullocks, £13 ss, £13 15s, £14, £14 10s, £14 15s, £15, £15 ss, £IG, £16 ss, £16 10s, to £16 15s; heifers, £11 ss; no vealevs yarded- heavy woolly wethers, 83s (id, 345. 34s 3d, 34s 4d, to 34s Od ;■ woolly, hoggets, 35s Od; woolly ewes, 29s 9d; shorn wethers, 2Cs Cd, 27s 3d to 28s; shorn b.f. wethers, 31s to 355; shorn ewes, 21s, 22s 7d, to 235; lambs, 17s 6d, ISs 9d, 19s, 21s, 21s 3d, 225, 22a 6d, 23s 3d, 24s 9d, to 28s 3d. BUTTEK "HOLDERS" AND THE RETAIL TAP. Referring to the failure of the "butter holding" policy, a gentleman in touch with the situation recently summed up the position as follows: — "The fact is that tho companies that made money by ■holding' in 1924 and 1925 were hound to fail with that policy in 1926, and were warned about it, but they held.on. The New Zealand Dairy Producers' Board says that, if it had had control, it would not have been a 'holder,' but I have my doubts. I knew that some London importing firms lost New Zealand dairy companies' business through Insisting on meeting the market. Many ciiuses —strike, general fall in price-levels, over-stor-age increasing European competitive supplies, etc—contributed to tho 1926 situation, but a dislike of control, a dislike operating before the actual enforcement of control, has certainly been a factor.. The circumstances were favourable for a. squeeze of 'holders' by cer■tain interests. It is easy to 'hold butter, but it is not easy to quit butter unless the retail price is right, because the retail price governs tho volume of consumption. If those who influence retail prices In Britain can secure butter from other sources to supply tho market's needs, they are under no compulsion to reduce the retail price of New Zealand butter to the point at which consumption will be Increased and stocks cleared. New Zealand 'holders' did not allow sufficiently in their plans for the fact that consumption can he checked not only at the wholesale end but at the retail end; and that, without consumption no selling or 'holding' plan succeeds." Do you think that the losses of "holders" in 1926 will offset their gains in 1924 and l^l^S? '"I am sure that some dairy companies will lose in 1926 twice tho amount of their gains in the two preceding years. But the reclaiming firms will allow those companies reasonable time to mako good. Advances to suppliers must, of course be cut down all round, ami the board has'tardily recognised that. But reclaiming firms will hesitate to force over-advanced companies to cut down their suppliers advances too much, because, in that case, suppliers—after the manner of 'co-operative' farmers would take their cream to other companies, and thus the over-advanced company would be placed in a still worse position. And, as I said before, reclamations are not going to be secured by liquidation. The policy Is to nurse companies back to normal finance. They are part of the dairy machinery that must >c kept going." . ......