COMMERCIAL.

Evening Star, Issue 14053, 7 May 1909, Page 8

COMMERCIAL.

Silver is quoted at 24-|d per oz. The New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company are in receipt of the following cable advice from their London office, under date 6th inst. :—Tallow: We quote present spot values for the following descriptions of tallow : —Fine mutton, 31s 3d per cwt; good beef, 29s 9d per cwt: mixed, 28s 9cl per cwt. Market quiet. M 7 heat: Wheat advanced Is.” THE WOOL SALES. VERY ANIMATED. - ’ ; ’ Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright. LONDON, May 6. (Received May 7, at 10.15 a.m.) At the wool sales the following clips were sold : —Panikan, B§d; Ruru, B|d. (Received May 7, at 10.50 a.m.) The wool sales are very animated, and everything is hardening. QUEENSLAND WHEAT YIELD. Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright. BRISBANE, May 6. The wheat yield for the past season was 1,203,000 bushels from 80,898 acres. BUTTER EXPORT. Press . Association—By Telegraph—Copyright. SYDNEY, May 6. ' The quantity of butter shipped from the Commonwealth from July 1 was 15,431 tons, as compared with 21,558 for the same period last year. MEAT TRUST MENACE. Strong comments on the increasing imports of foreign meat into London are made in the superintendent’s report to the Central Markets Committee, issued on March 25. “At present,” he says, “ nearly 40 per cent, of the beef arriving at the market is derived from the United States, and the fact that meat-producing companies of that country have acquired productive works in South America is important. The continued stoppage of live cattle importations from South America may yet become a matter of ominous import. Should the various oversea sources of supply become controlled by a group of powerful firms, then the price of meat on the market can be dominated and easily, because the proportion of British productions arriving here—one ton in five could not be increased under existing conditions. In effect, the opportunities of productive employment, the greater circulation of wages in this country, together with the standing of the British producer, have been diminished. He has now to face greatly increased importations of an article bred, produced, preserved, and conveyed under such favorable conditions that its competition and intense cheapness is making his position untenable.” Of 409,732 tons ot meat and provisions dealt with in the market last year, 88.262 were bred and slaughtered in‘the United Kingdom, 54,691 tons fattened in .Canada or the _United States and slaughtered in the United Kingdom, and 266,779 tons, or 63 per cent., were colonial, American, or foreign productions. THE A.M.P. SOCIETY. Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright. ’ . SYDNEY, May 6. The issue of the sixtieth annual report of the Australian Mutual Provident Society marks the occasion of its diamond jubilee. The amount of new business transacted during the year again constitutes a record, being an excess over the previous year’s by £178,000. Policies to the number of 19,117 were issued in the ordinary department. assuring £5,042,351, and yielding annual premiums amounting to_ £164,870, the net gain in the volume or business in force being as much as £2,699.000. In the industrial department 17,499 policies were issued, assuring £590,903, with annual premiums of £35,452. Claims by death in the ordinary department ‘ amounted to £793,390, including £248,145 for bonus additions, the experience in this respect being again exceedingly favorable. The usual searching investigation was made into the mortgage securities, and a sum of £6,103 has been written off the values of foreclosed properties, the value of the office promises being also reduced by £13,280. Reference is made to the establishment of the branch office in London, and it is stated that a s’atisfactorv commencement has been made,* and there is every indication that a large measure of success will attend the extension. The report of the actuary (Air Richard Teece, F.1.A., F.F.A.) opens with an interesting retrospect of the transactions of the last ten years, and institutes various comparisons with the first fifty years of the society’s history. The valuation been conducted on the same stringent basis as heretofore, and the reserve for contingencies has been augmented by £IOO,OOO. The amount of cash snr-- ■ pins available for division is £732,445, which will provide reversionary bonuses amounting to about £1,300,000. The rate of expense is again exceedingly moderate, being only about 9 per cent, on the total receipts of the year*. The effective rate of interest realised on investments has been well maintained, and now stands at the satisfactory figure of £4 8s _2d per cent. The report on the whole is of a most encouraging nature, and speaks well for the present prosperity and future prospects of the society.

THE POTATO MARKET. ■ . OAMARU, May 7. The price of potatoes during this past few days has advanced to £4 per ton. f.0.b,, Oamarn,