TRADE ITEMS

Evening Star, Issue 17792, 14 October 1921, Page 8

TRADE ITEMS

BUSINESS IMPROVES SLIGHTLY. A local insurance man received the following reply from a country client to whom he had forwarded an account for tho yearly premium on a. mortgagee indemnity policy Received your account re mortgagee indemnity. Could you kindly explain what it is for? I thought tho Germans paid the indemnity. I pay interest on the mortgagee's money, and I thought that was where them and me finished. .Hoping to hoar from you, I am, yours, etc., It is understood that tho Minister of Agriculture has in preparation a Seed Bill. From what rumor has to say about it, the proposed measure will go all in one direction—that of protection to the grower and none to the seed merchant; while all responsibility is to bo thrown on the latter. Some of'its provisions would prove cumbersome, and a few of them quite ui.workable It looks like a further needless interference with trade, involving more officials and inspectors. Both these things are precisely what the Government .should try to avoid with meticulous care. Is it not time that the price of oatmeal was reduced from its present £23 per ton? A grade Gallons are now quoted at As 2d to bs 5d per bushel delivered in Dunedin, and B grade at about Id loss. It is true Unit the stocks carried over from last harvest are limited, being probably tho smallest on record over a very long period, vet. in spite of that, and in spite also of the coniparalivelv small area being sown in oais, the market is dead. We understand that Auckland is importing a shipment of 5,000 sacks from Tasmania, this importation possibly representing forward sellers’ covering, Importers report that local business this month shows ■ a very decided and much needed improvement on the deadness of last month. In the meantime no fresh shipments are coming in. so far as tho hardv.ar? trade is concerned, as merchants are shy of indenting. The consequence is that there are pronounced shortages in some lines, with the prospect of more. The price of linseed oil has been reduced in England, and this has had a corresponding effect on the market here, the price locally having been reduced by 6d per gallon. EXPORT MARKETS. The price of wool has undergone another rise this week in London, coarse wool realising about 74 |»er cent, better prices, while line wools have advanced perhaps even more. Brokers arc cautious about undue elution over, the tone of tho market, realising that there may be a possibility of these successive rises coming too suddenly. However, if they continue, so much the better. The matter is a very vital one to New Zealand when one considers the area of land devoted to the 24.000.0C0 sheep which our flocks total, to the area occupied by our 100,000 or so cattle. Prices for heavy ox hides have gone up by no less I ban 2d or 5d per lb, this class of hide being extremely scarce. Sheepskins have also risen in price by about 15 to 20 per cent. On the other hand, the, tallow market has again flattened out after the recent spurt, and no bids are coming from London at all at present. FIRST BUTTER SHIPMENT. The latest London cable, dated October 10, stated that the butler market was quiet ; cheese was slow of sale and declining in price. The first Dunedin shipment of this season’s dairy produce went by the Gorinthic recently from this port. It comprised 1.218 boxes of butter and 70 crates of cheese. This proportion indicates the present, trend of factories towards butter making rather than cheese making, a complete reversal of what has prevailed in recent years. Another reason besides London prices has contributed to a larger butter production, for factories in the South Island, instead of securing butter supplies from the X'orth Island (or local consumption, have been using butter of their own manufacture for the local market. From now on all the factories will be shipping their surplus over and above what, they require for supplying tho local market. The Remuera is due here in a week to pick up a further consignment of some size. Both she and the Corinthic also load dairy produce at the Bluff. A good deal has already been lifted from Lyttelton.

The North Island has more cows under the butter fat test than the South Island, but the educative work of the Govern-

Former Price. Price Now. Horrockses' A1 longcloth 2/11 1/9 3/6 White twill sheetin';;?, 72;n 6/11 White twill sheetings, 80in 7/11 3/11 4/6 2/9 Horrockses' flannelettes 3/6, 2/6, Cotton sateens 3/3 2/3 Brown Turkish towels, per pair 6/11 4.'6 4/11 White Turkish towels 8/6 Madras curtain muslins 6/11 39/6 4/5 White Marcella bed quilts 27/6 15, G Linoleums 14/6, 16/6 10/6, Imperial Axminstcr Carpet Runner Cine Botany navy dress serges 27/6 29/6, 36/6 19/6 19/6, 27/6 Woo! gaberdines 25/6, 35 6 13/6 23/6 ftroy worsteds for costumes 23/6, 37/6 15/6 22/S I,a dir?’ all-wool black cashmere stockings 10/6 5/11 Ladies’ artificial silk stockings, with 18in 8/11 4/11 silk leg Patou's 4-ply rose fingering wool 1/6 lOrl Kid gloves If/ 6 a 0 / 6 Cents’ linen collars 1/9 1/6 10/6 Cents' neglige shirts 10/6, 16/6 6'S, Cents' pyjamas 18.6, 25/ 12/6, 18/6 Cents' cashmere sox 6/6, 8/3 3/11, 5/11 Cents' braces, including Shirley 1’rcs. ... 3/6, 6/11 2/6, 4/11 (dents' cotton handkerchiefs 130/. 1/11 9d, 1/3 Cents' imported sports suits Cents' raincoats 157/6 95/, 105/ 105 1, 160/ 75/. 125/ (tents' tweed trousers, all wool 25/, 35/ 17/6, 27/6 Cost, to Land. Selling Price. Pine Egyptian longcloth 3/3j 2/3 Dress rustle linings 2/8 j 1/lli