COMMERCIAL

Evening Star, Issue 21013, 29 January 1932, Page 10

COMMERCIAL

DIVIDENDS PAYABLE,

AUSTRALIAN STOCK EXCHANGES, f Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright. SYDNEY, January 28. The Stock Exchange is dull, with a restricted turnover, which is due to a wait-and-see policy. The Loan Council met in Melbourne to-day, the whole question of Commonwealth and State finance being under consideration, and it is,believed that this will have a definite influence on the share market. The bond market was steadier today. Yesterday’s losses were by no means retrieved, but some issues are firmer by a few points. Bank shares were firm, and Bank of New South Wales found buyers at £3O ss; Commercial Bank of Sydney (ex div.), £l6 16s; Commercial Bank of Australia, 17s 2d. Other sales were Colonial Sugar, £46 10s; Australian Gas, £5 15s; Toohey’s, 17s 9d; Tooth’s, 26s lOJd; Broken Hill Proprietary, 16s 6d; North Broken Hill, 68s 6d; _ South Broken Hill, 47s 3d; Electrolytic Zinc (pref.), 24s 4£d; Goldsbrough, Mort, 26s 6d; British Tobacco, 30s. MELBOURNE. January 28. Early sales included: —Electrolytic Zinc (pref;). 24s 7d; Goldsbrough, Mort, 26s 9d; Commercial Bank, 17s; ditto (pref.), 1455; British Tobacco, 30s; Durjop Perdriau, 13s 6d; South Broken Hid, 475; Mount Lyell, 23s 6d. SYDNEY WOOL SALES. MARKET VERY FIRM. Press Association-By Telegraph—Copyright. SYDNEY", January 28. At th© wool sales 10,738 bales were offered, of which 9,540 were sold, while 818' were disposed of privately. Competition was very strong, and the matket very firm. Greasy merino sold to 29d, which is a fresh Australian record for the season. METAL MARKET. Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright. LONDON* January 27. Following are the official quotations in the metal market:— Copper: Standard, £3B 15s 7-)d per ton;, forward, £3B 18s lid per ton. Electrolytic: Spot, £45; forward, £47. , Wire "bars, £47. Lead: Spot, £l4 16s 3d; forward, £l4 17s Gd. Spelter: Spot, £l4 6s 3d; forward, , £l4 15s. Tin: Spot, £139 16s 3d; forward, £142 13s 9d. : Silver.—Fine 20|d per oz; standard, 19id per oz. SHEEPSKINS. ' Messrs Murray, Roberts, and Co, Ltd. have received the' following cable from London dated January 28: — “Sheepskins, good competition, particularly from the Continent. v Sheepskins Merino, par to 5 per cent advance.- Sheepskins, cross-bred fine, advanced 5 per cent. Sheepskins, crossbred medium, Sheepskins, cross-bred coarse, market shows no change. Lambs advanced 5 per cent. AUSTRALIAN MARKETS. Press Assiciation—By Telegraph—Copyright, SYDNEY, January 28. Wheat, 3s lid; country stations, 2s 6id. Flour, £lO. Bran and pollard, £5. Potatoes: Tasmanian, to £9; Victorian, £B. Pollard, £5. Onions: Victorian Globes, £ll. Oats: Whjte and Algerian, 2s 6d. MELBOURNE, January 29. (Received January 29, at 11 a.m.) Wheat, 3s to 3s l|d. Flour, £7 ss. Bran, £5. Pollard, £5 ss. Oats, 2s 2d. Barley: English’, 3s Id to 3s 2d. Maize, 3s to 3s Id. WHEAT, FLOUR,. ETC, . ) press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright. LONDON, January 28. (Received January 29, at 12.5 p.m.) Wheat.—Cargoes are dull. Sellers are willing to trade at lower terms for Manitobas and occasionally for Australians. Owing to the Shanghai situation trading with the Orient has cased temporarily. Parcels are quiet. Manitobas and La Plates are occasionally 3d advance. Others are unchanged. Ex City of Mandalay, 265; bulk of the City or Mandalay, 26s 6d. Futures: London—February, 23s 3Jd; June, 23s 9jd. Liverpool —March, 4s lid; May, 5s l|d; July, 5s 4d. The spot trade is slow. Prices are mostly easier. Australian, ex ship, 28s 3d to 29s 6cl. Flour is steady. Australian, ex store, 20s to 20s 6d. Oats are irregular. Peas a,nd beans are steadily held. BANK OF ENGLAND RETURNS. Press Association—Bv Telegraph—Copyright. LONDON, January 28. (Received January 29, at 10 a.m.) ISSUE DEPARTMENT.

The proportion nf reserves to liabilities is M. 40 per cent. Short loans are quoted ut per cent., three-month bills at 5J per cent.

FOREIGN EXCHANGES. (British Official Wirelm.) Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright,

GOLDEN TERRACE COMPANY. [Per , United Press Association.] INVERCARGILL, January 28. The dredgemaster of the Golden-Ter-race Gold Dredging Company reports a wash-up of 370 z 4dwt of gold for 171 hours’ dredging. COMMUNICATIONS LTD. [Per United Press Association.! WELLINGTON, January 28. It is estimated that the traffic receipts of Imperial and International Communications Ltd. for December, 1931, amount to £451,831, compared with £436,407 in December, 1930. The aggregate for the twelve months, January to December, totals £4,839,437, and for the similar period in 1930 the total was £5,365,561. NAPIER GAS COMPANY LTD. The directors of the Napier Gas Company Ltd., in their report and balancesheet for the year ended December 31, record that the profit and loss credit as at December 31, 1930, was £12,284, from which has to be deducted loss on trading for 1931, £8,926, leaving a balance to credit of profit and loss account of £3,358. The net earthquake losses to December ! 31, 1931, amounting to £19,831, have, however, been met by an appropriation from the reserve account, “Our underwriters,” state the directors, “paid us £10,649, being earthquake insurance on our Napier and Hastings buildings, and they paid £2,126 direct to the contractor for repair to our Napier gasholder. Your directors regret that, in addition to the losses above mentioned, a further loss is recorded in respect to revenue. This loss is the result of the dislocation of business following the earthquake and fire of February 3 last. The directors do not recommend the declaration of any dividend either on ordinary or on preference shares, the dividend on these having been paid up, to June 30, 1930. Following the reconstruction of homes in Napier and Hastings after the earthquake, gas appliances were in very general demand.. It is pleasing to record that at Hastings there are more gas consumers than prior to the earthquake. In Napier, due to the greater destruction of the residential area and the wholesale loss by fire of the business portion of the city, the company lost temporarily approximately 700 consumers.’.’ NATIONAL BANK OF AUSTRALASIA, The general manager of the National Bank "of Australasia, for whom the National Bank of New Zealand acts as New Zealand agents, cables from Melbourne as followsAt to-day’s meeting of hoard of directors Mr Alexander Foulis Bell, C.M.G., managing director of Robert Harper and Co. Ltd., was appointed a director to fill the casual vacancy on the board caused by the recent retirement through ill-health of Mr J. Newman Barker.” HIKURANGI COAL COMPANY. A net loss of £5,164 0s 2d for the year ended December 31 last is reported i.y the chairman of Hikurangi Coal Company (Sir Edward Mitchelson). Coal winning cost £41,930 4s 8d; and taxes, insurance, freights, salaries, royalty, and rent and other charges, with £3,060 for depreciation, brought the disbursements up to £53,594 17s,' whereas sales realised £48,430 13s 7d. No water trouble in the mine has been experienced during the year. Sales of coal for the first half of the year were restricted, and operations resulted in a loss, but in the latter half of the year an increase of orders produced a fair profit, “ due to a certain extent to the bringing into effect of the wages cut imposed by legislation.” Reference is made to provision made to successfully cope with water in the future.

‘OTAGO DAILY TIMES’ MUTUAL PROVIDENT SOCIETY.

The annual meeting of the ‘ Otago' Daily Times ’ Mutual Provident Society was held in the library of the office on Wednesday evening. Mr A. H. Harman (president) was in the chair. Ordinary subscriptions for sick benefit amounted to £ll3 5s 9d for the year, general expenses absorbed £5 Bs, salaries £3O, and sick payments £35 ss, leaving a profit on subscriptions of £42 12s 9d. To this had to be added £53 15s lOd, surplus interest, or a total profit of £96 8s 7d. The ordinary bonus for the year totalled £96 14s 6d, or 22s 6d to the credit of each member. The endowment subscriptions came to £IOB 5s 9d, and the company’s annual donation of £SO enabled a dividend to be credited of 12s per member. The result of the year’s work was that members had £3 Os 6d (plus interest) placed to their credit, the annual subscription being £2 12s. Interest on investments amounted to £222 9s 9d, of which £lB2 11s 6d was credited to members at the rate of £4 7s 6d per cent. , The total amount to members’ credit is now £4,543, with a balance in the working account of £3O 2s ?'. The membership now stands at ninety-two, three members having seceded from the society during the year. The following office-bearers were appointed for. the ensuing year:—President, Mr J. Eitchio; vice-president, Mr J. L, Abernothy; treasurer, Mr William Dow; secretary Mr Alexander Wilson; committee—Messrs C. 1!. Bowman, A. H. Harman, F. Mitchell, J. J. Morris, and E. Sutherland; trustees, Messrs W. H. Adams and H. Harris (re-elected); auditors, Messrs H. P. Harvey and J. Gray (re-elected). A hearty vote of thanks was passed to the trustees and the auditors for their work during the year.

Stock. Amount. Period. Date. Auckland Gas ... 9 3-5d' final Feb. 2 Commercial Bank (pref.) 4/ interim Feb. 5 Wellington Gas ... 7 l-5d final Feb. 10 N.Z. Insurance ... Is interim Feb. 1 -i Queensland National Bank 4s interim Feb. lei N.Z, Refrigerating (20s) 1/ final Feb. — N.Z. Refrigerating (10s) 6d final Feb. — Christchurch Gas 9 3-5d final —

Note issue in circulation ... £34J,888,570 Banking department ... 49,894,708 £395,783,338 Government debt ... £11,015,100 Other Government securities ... 245,151,831 Other securities ... 14,982,502 Silver coin i ... 3,850,577 Gold and silver bullion ... ... 120,703,338 £395,703,338 BANKING DEPARTMENT. Proprietors' capital ... £14,553,000 Rest 3,547,818 Public deposits 1 ... ... 15,321,152 Other deposits (bankers) ... 74,304,019 Other accounts ... ... . 38,208,098 Seven-clay and other bills ... 1,017 £145,935,104 Government securities ... .,. ... £45,310,908 Discounts and advances ... 12,948,728 Other securities 37,198,207 Notes in reserv” ... 49.894,788 Gold and silver coin ... ... * 588,493 £145,935,104

RUGBY, January 27. Jan. 2G. Jan. 27. Paris, franc to £1 ... 87 15-16 88 13-1C Brussels, belgas to £1 ... 24.85 24 Oslo, kroner to £1 ... 18* 18} Stockholm, kroner to £1 ... ... 17.90 17} Copenhagen, kroner to £1 ... J8i 1SJ Geneva, franc to .£1 ... 17.75 17} Berlin, reichmarken to £1 ... 14} 14 11-IG Montreal, dollar to £1 ... 4.00 3.991 New York, dollar to £1 ... ... 3.4(1} 3.4111 Amsterdam, florin to £1 ... ... 8.B0-J 8.591 Milan, lire to £1 ... GO 1-lfi 09} Prague, kroner to ,£1 ... lies11(1} Vienna, schilling to .£1 Helsingfors, marks to £1 ... ... 311 30 ... 230 230 Madrid, peseta to £1 ... 41* 4U Athens, drachmae to £1 ... 270 270 Lisbon, escudo to £l ... 109} 109} Bucharest, lei .to /,! ... 580 580 Riode Janeiro, pence to milreis Buenos Aires, pence to pesos % Montevideo, pence to dollar ... 31 31 Shanghai, pence to tael ... 22 13-16 22 IMG Yokohama, pence to yen ... ... 25} 321 Hongkong, pence to dollar ... I7i n 17 1-16 Bombay, pence to rupee ... 18 3-32 18J