COMMERCIAL.

Evening Star, Issue 15064, 21 December 1912, Page 5

COMMERCIAL.

The secretary for the Money Club (Mr Hugh Mitchell) reports that applications for loans to the amount of £l4O and’ for 13 shares were received' at this week’s meeting of trustees. LONDON SHEEPSKIN MARKET. The New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company, have received' the following cablegram from their London office in this connection “ Merino and cross-bred sheepskins, short and shorn, are ijd to Id higher; others are J,d higher.” , THE LABOR MARKET.

Mesrs J. Skene and Sons report for the week : —The shearing season is now in full swing, and the demand for shearers is very heavy, orders coming in hourly. Ploughmen are in good demand, but good men arc scarce. Milkers are hardly to bo got at all. There is a first-class demand for flax-milU workers, turnip thinners, and general farm workers. We quote wages as follows : —Flax-cutters, 6s 6d per ton, camps supplied; mill hands, 35s and found, others Is Id per hour; turnip thinners, 12s to 14s per acre, others Is per hour or 35s vjeekly; milkers, 25s to 30s; grooms and gardeners, 30s; married couples, £IOO per annum; shepherds, £7O to £BO per year; musterers, 10s per day; lads for farm work, 20a.

MONEY AND MARKETS

Press Association—By Telegraph— Copyright,

LONDON, December 20.

—Bank Returns and Discounts.—

The Bank of England returns show the stock of gold coin and bullion to be £31,406,000; reserve, £22,170,000; proportion of reserve to liabilities, 42.98 per cent. The notes in circulation total £28,754,000; public deposits, £11,301,000; other deposits, £40.241,000; Government securities, £13,025,000; other securities, £34,157,000.

The Bank rate of discount is 5 nor cent.

Short-dated loans arc discounted at 4£ per cent., and three months’ bills ns follows London, 5 per cent.; Paris, 3J per cent.; Berlin, 6 per cent. Consols are quoted'at £74 7s 6d. —Colonial Stocks.—

The following are the quotations for conollal -Government stocks, compared with those riding a week previously :

Dec. 15. Dec; 20 New South AYales 4’s 102 101 New South AYales 3t’s *9l *9O New South AA’ales si’s 98 98 New South AYales 3’s 84 84 A’ictorian 4's 100 100 A'ictorian Si’s ... |94 |94 A’ictoriau Victorian 3’s ■ 78 78 Queensland 4’s 100 100 Queensland 3i'.s ' 94 94 Queensland, 3’s 70 79 Scuth Australian 3A’s 95 93 South Australian 3's 76 76 New Zealand 4’s 102 101 New Zealand 31's 91 .91 New Zealand s's 80 80 Tasmanian 3Vs 91 91 Tasmanian 3 f s 83 83 West Australian Si's 91 91 AA’cst Australian 3's S4 84 tßepayablc 1929-1949. —Metals.—

Copper : Spot, £74 8s 9d; three months, £75 11s 3d; electrolytic, £Bl ss. Tin: Spot, £226 10s: three months, £227. Pig iron, 65s 9d. Spelter, £26* 7s 6d. —AA’heat and Flour.—

Wheat: The market is quieter. Australian new prop is freely offered. An Australian cargo has been sold at 38s, and 14,000 bushels of New youth Wales, De-ccmber-January shipment, at 57s 4sd; January-February shipment, at 37s 3d ; February-March shipment at 575, and March-April shipment at 36s 10J,d. Liverpool futures; December 88i; March, 88 £ 'j. There is a small retail trade in Australian spot at 38s to 40s; New Zealand, 38s to 395. Flour : The market is dull. Australian spot, 28s. —Oats, Peas, and Beans.— Oats : The market is flat owing to large arrivals. There is a fair inquiry for finest A Cartons at 26s 6d, but other sorts are neglected. Beans : Firm. New Zealand, 39s 6d to 40s (ex store). Peas : Neglected, and there is no sale for them. -—Butter and Cheese.— Butter : The market is quiet. Danish is unaltered; choicest Australian, 114s to 116s; secondaries, 108s to 112s; New Zealand, 120s to 1225; a few, 1235. Cheese ; The market is firm. New Zealand, white 61s to 625; colored, 62s to 635. : —Sugar.— German, 9s 6d; first marks, 11s 7d. —Wool.— The Bradford wool market is quiet and prices are unchanged. TIMARU WOOL SALES. At the second wool sale at Timaru yesterday nearly 19,000 bales were offered, and the majority were sold. The attendance of buyers was a record, ami competition keen for most kinds. Top halfbreds and low cross-breds wore a shade easier, but generally prices were on a par with recent sales at Dunedin and Christchurch. The wool is heavier in grease than at the previous sale. American buyers were keen for suitable lots. PROPERTY SALE.

Messrs E. L. Macassey and Co. had a successful sale last night, when the 23 sections in the Sommerville Subdivision, Anderson Bay, were all sold at auction. The total sum realised amounted to £1,758. The sections sold as under : Section No. 1, Air Johnston, £SO; No. 2, Mr Johnston, £57 10s; No. 3, Air Rov. £57 10s; No. 4, Ah- Waites, £64; No. 5, Air Robertson. £72; No. 6, Air Weir. £SO; No. 7, Air Scott, £43; No. 8, Air Scott, £45; No.. 9, Aliss Stewart, £4l; No. 10. Air Knox', £4O; No. 11. Mr Bundle, £39; No. 12, Air Allan, £4O; No. 13. Air Jones. £vo; No. 14, Air Brennan, £100; No. 15, Air Waites, £105; No. 16, Air Fletcher, £100; No. 17, Mr Fletcher, £105; No. 18. Air Fletcher, £111: No. 19, Air Alattheson, £100; No. 20. Air James £100; No. 21. Mr Gill, £l2O ; No. 22. Air Don, £7B; No. 23, Air Brennan, £l7O.