COMMERCIAL

Evening Star, Issue 17669, 24 May 1921, Page 10

COMMERCIAL

POTATO EXPORT BARRED. Mr D. Jones, M.P., Jias received the following letter from the Minister of Agriculture; “ With reference to your request of March 21 that I should renew negotiations with the Commonwealth authorities in the direction of having tho present embargo on tho importation of New Zealand potatoes into that country removed, I regret to inform you that a reply lias been received from tho Prime Minister of the Commonwealth, in which ho states that it is much regretted that owing to tho nature of tho disease, ‘ powdery scab,’ it is impracticable to indicate the requirements which would secure the Commonwealth against tho introduction of the disease if the importation of potatoes wore allowed. The Prime Minister of tho Commonwealth adds that his Government will not accept tho risk of introducing,tho disease.” SYDNEY WOOL SALES, Press Association —By Telegraph—Copyright. Australian and X.Z. Press Association. SYDNEY, May 23. _ Tho wool sales have been postponed till to-morrow to permit certain points in connection with tho Customs regulations to be settled finally. ' THE BUTTER MARKET. Messrs Dalgoty and Co., Ltd., report having received the following cable from their head office, dated London, May 20, 1921;—” Butter : Steadier at the moment. Danish,- 208 s to 2125. Advance partly duo to Germany resuming buying ; but Government butler poor demand aj, unchanged prices. Cheese lower on increased supplies. New' Zealand: Color,, £7 6s to £7 12s; white, £6 12s to £6 18s.” . SILVER PRODUCTION. With the price of silver fixed at a dollar an ounce, under the Pittman Act, the silver producer in the United States is favored compared with the less fortunate outside competitor, who has to accept current market prices. Towards the end of 1919, when the exchange position with the East was very bad, the Pittman Act permitted the melting down and exporting of 350,0C0,CCfloz of scran silver and dollars, of which 207,009,0000 z was sold at a dollar an ounce, mainly, to India through Great Britain. This, it was ■stipulated, was to be replaced by purchases of silver produced in the United States at a dollar an ounce. Such purchasing began, in May, and up to March of this year 39,2C0,3910z had been bought.% Tho silver produced in the United States, as in Australia, is mostly by-product, and the fixed price of the silver has been of great importance in aiding the lead and copper producers to make “both ends meet.’’ The lead ores of the Rocky Mountain district are rich in silver content, and in taking advantage of the price of silver under the Pittman Act, which is practically double that ruling in the foreign market, lead is

bring produced largely as a by-product of silver, instead of‘silver a by-product of lead, as in ordinary times. Tins explains to a large degree why domestic lead can be sold at present low prices by many producers in America, while other mines cannot afford to produce the racial. GERMAN .STOCKS. Although in nearly all countries values of stocks" reacted hi' 1920, shaves of many of the leading companies in Germany advanced substantially during that period. Idle quotation for Deutsche Bank stock on December 51, 1919. was 265 marks, wh.ile on tho corresponding date in 1920 1 values had risen to 327 marks. Phoenix Iron stocks rose from 253 to 655.25 marks, Bismarckutle iron from 256 to 735 marks, Den.seha Endue! (oil) from 515 to 2,690 marks. Bad'sche aniline from 380 to 570 marks, and several other large increases were, reported on the Berlin Bourse. Tho improvement is ascribed to the enormous inflation and great depreciation of the German paper currency during the term under review." PRICES OE COMMODITIES. Tho decline in the prices of commodities in Great Briiain during February, according to the index numbers of the • statist,’ was 7.2 per cent., as against 4,9 ner cent, for January. Tho general index number for February is 115.3 per cent, above the average for 1913, and 27.1 per cent, below the average for hist year. Expressed as a percentage of 1913, which is taken as ICO, prices in the United Kingdom at the ord of 1920 wore up to 295.3 per cent. In the United States, on the same basis, the comparison at the end of last year was 197.2 per cent., against 100 per cent. Canadian prices had risen to 246.2 per cent., and in Japan 257.9 per cent, was reached. Italy is shown to have suffered the most, the 1920 percentage being 624.3, while Franco came second at 509.3 per cent. MALAY RUBBER. For tho year ended September 30 tho Victorian Malay Rubber Plantation Company, Limited, produced 163,3511 bof rubber, and the average price realised for rubber sold was 2s 2d per lb. Sinco tbo closing of tho accounts, however, tho price of rubber lias fallen below the cost cf production, and in the accounts under review stocks in band and in transit have ben taken at a valuation of Is per lb. Cost of production for Die year, including marketing and office expenses, was Is 8.21 d per lb, as compared with 2s 2d for tho previous year. The net loss for tho year was £867, On September 30 rubber stocks wore valued at £6.786, against which advances of £5,380 bad been received. Among tho liabilities tho outstanding items was an advance of £5,143. Since then a loan of £11,600 was obtained from tho Malay Government to pay off tho bank overdraft, and tho balance was used in tho company’s business. Tho capital of tho company has now been increased to £40,000 by tho creation of 10,000 20 per cent, cumulative participating preference shares of 20s each, of which 5,000 have been subscribed. The company holds 703 acres under crop, of which 550 acres are mature, and the trees are cither being tapped or are ready to be tapps j.