Commerce, Mining, $ Finance

Evening Star, Issue 22067, 28 June 1935, Page 7

Commerce, Mining, $ Finance

THE RESERVE BANK TK£ WEEKLY SUMMARY [Per United Press Association.] WELLINGTON, June 27. The * Gazette ’ issued to-night contains the following statement of the liabilities and assets of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand as at the close of business on June 24. The figures at the close of last week are given for the purpose of comparison, shillings ■nd pence being omitted:— LIABILITIES.

SOUTHLAND FREEZING WORKS UNIFORMLY GOOD SEASON The official closing of the freezing works in Southland took place on Wednesday after a uniformly good season. The killings, taken all over, were considerably above those for last season, and (the ‘ Southland Times ’ states) the quality of the stock killed generally was good. The season closed a little earner than usual this year. Tentative figures supplied by the Southland Frozen Meat Company show that about 34,000 more sheep ana lambs were killed at Mataura than during the previous season, although at: the Makarewa Works nearly 1,000 fewer were killed. The unofficial total for Mataura for the season is 343,000, and for Makarewa 398,580. These figures are as nearly accurate as it is possible to give them at this stage: Comparative ' figures for the last five years are as follows ■

The company's works at Makarewa opened on December 14, and, although Wednesday was the official closing day a further 500 sheep and lambs would have to he killed yesterday to complete the season. The same position obtains at the company’s Mataura works, where it will be necessary to kill a further 3,000 sheep and lambs to finish off. PRICE OF GOLD • Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright LONDON, June 27. (Received June 28, at noon.) The price of gold is quoted at £7 Is 3§d per ounce. SYDNEY STUD SHEEP SALES' Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright SYDNEY, June 27. The stud sheep sales closed to-day. Merinos sold during the four days totalled 2,056, making £49 ; 542, or an average of £24, coihpared with an average of £25 last year. British breeds and Corriedales. disposed of numbered 382, which realised £4,000. QUALITY Of BUTTER MANAWATU FACTORIES* SUPREMACY [Pbr United Press Association.] PALMERSTON N., June 27. * “ We know that certain factories in tite Manawatu produce the very finest grade of butter, which is held up as an example to the remainder of the industry,” said Mr J. E. Leeson, of Morrinsville, at the National Dairy Conference. The demand for this butter always exceeded the supply, but he could not understand why it did not command the market premium. Confirming this, Mr G. M. Valentino, assistant director of the Dairy Division, said that butter from factories between New Plymouth and Wellington was quoted by the English trade as the ideal to be sought in the dominion. This was not due to better manufacturing methods in the district' .... but better pastures producing the best class of cream.

AUSTRALIAN STOCK EXCHANGES Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright SYDNEY, June 27. Stock Exchange trading was spread over a wide range of issues, but price variations were negligible. Commonwealth Bonds, however, showed signs of weakness. AFTERNOON SALES.

FOREIGN EXCHANGE •N NEW ZEALAND CURRENCY BASIS *The Bank of New South Wales, Dunedin, quoted the following rates for purchase and sales of foreign exchange (all rates subject to alteration without notice): —

DOLLAR RATES. The Associated Banks (other than the Bank of New South Wales) quoted the following dollar-sterling rates to-day, which are subject to alteration without notice:— On a New Zealand currency basis these rates are equivalent to:— U.S.A. Canada. SELLING— T.T 3.96 i ?.96| On demand 3.96 J 3.96 J BUYING— On demand 4.014 4.01 J DAIRY PRODUCE The New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company Ltd. has received the following cablegram from its London house under date 26th inst.: —New Zealand choicest salted butter, 90s; market steady. Cheese: White, 455; coloured, 44s 6d; market steady. Messrs Dalgety and Co. have received the following cable from London dated June 27: —The butter market is quiet. The cheese market is firm. Quotations: —Danish butter, f.0.b., 80s; New Zealand finest butter, 89s to 90s; Australian unsalted butter, 86s to 87s; salted, 86s to 87s; g.a.q., 83s to 84s. Cheese: White and coloured not quoted. New Zealand white, 45s fid; coloured, 455; Canadian whi.te, 58s to 645; coloured, 58s to 645; not quoted.

THE SEARCH FOR GOLD LAWSON’S FLAT POWER Regarding the partial wash-up for 270 z Bdwt of the Lawson’s Flat Gold Sluicing Company (West Coast), reported this week, the company states that at the end of last month serious trouble developed in a tunnel supplying water for generating electric power at the main station of Westland Power Ltd., and as a result the Power Company was obliged to cut off the supply of power to Lawson’s Flat. Last week the Power Company was able to supply a limited amount of water for a short period, and a wash-up of a portion of No. 1 race was carried out.' Neither the paddock at the head of the race nor the tables were cleaned up, and nothing was done on the No. 3 race and tables. TRANSVAAL OUTPUT The output of the Transvaal gold mines for April shows that for the second successive month production was higher than for _ the corresponding month of the previous year. Production for April amounted to 869,956 fine ounces, against 865,822 fine ounces in April, 1934, and 882,309 fine ounces in March last. The value of the April output for declaration purposes was £6,220,185, compared with £5,844,298 in April, 1934. GOLDEN ARROW REPORT The annual report of the Golden Arrow Mining Company Ltd. (Shotover, Otago) states that the gold won from the claim realised £2,107. Shareholders had received dividends equal to 50 per cent. A wash-up on June 10 yielded 30oz Bdwt. GOLDEN DAWN REPORT . The mine manager’s report for the fortnight ended June 15 states, inter alia:— Bottom Intermediate Level. —Drive south on branch reef west wall, driven 12ft 22in wide, £l2 13s 5d a ton. Drive south, east wall branch, No. 3 reef, 6ft 6in. 2ft wide, £2 4s 4d. Top intermediate level; Drive north on new reef from cross-cut west driven Bft, 2ft wide, assay £4 11s 9d. Stoping.—No. 3 level: On No. 3 reef north of winze, reef 20in, £2 16s 9d. On No. 1 reef north and south of winze, reef 16in, £2 8s 7d. On west wall branch reef south of old pass, reef 12in, £5 6s 2d. On No. 3 reef, east wall branch, south block, reef 18in, £3 18a 6d. Bottom Intermediate Level. —On No. 1 reef south, 3ft, £3 13s. On No. 3 reef, east wall branch, south, 2ft, £3 13s sd. On west wall branch reef, 4ft, £4 5s 6d. * PROFITABLE YEAR ASSOCIATED MOTORISTS PETROL COMPANY . At the annual meeting of Associated Motorists’ Petrol Company Ltd., held in Wellington, the chairman of directors (Mr Charles Todd) said that the figures at March 31 showed the company to be in a very strong financial position. Paid-up capital as at March 31 was £131,268, or £16,480 shown under this heading at the same date last year. In the matter of sundry creditors, which was shown in the balance-sheet at £59,107, this, apart from income tax, referred almost wholly to a shipment of petrol unloading at the end of the financial year. The total assets were •£224,568. Floating assets were: Cash at bank, £69,101; petrol and oil at landed cost, £79,702; book debts, etc., £12,653 Sales for the year amounted to £628,698. The directors recommended that in view of preference shareholders’ dividend last year being at the rtae of 5 per cent, only, an increased dividend at the rate of 10 per cent, he paid to preference shareholders out of profits for the last year’s trading. The balance-sheet showed that ordinary share capital was £5,000 and paidup preference capital £126,268. Profit and loss appropriation account was £31,497. METAL MARKET Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright LONDON, June 26. The following are the official metal quotations:— Copper; Standard, £29 6s 3d per ton; forward, £29 12s 6d. Electrolytic: Spot, £32 10s; forward, £33 ss. Wire bars, £33 ss. Lead: Spot, £l3 13s 9d; forward, £l3 15s. Spelter: Spot, £l3 17s 6d:. forward, £l3 18s 9d. Tin; Spot, £229 16s 3d; forward, £220 7s 6d. Pig iron: Home trade, £3 7s 6d; export, £3 2s 6d. Antimony: British, £76 10s; foreign, £4B 10s. Molybdenite, £1 14s 6d per unit. Wolfram, £1 10s 3d. Silver: Standard, 31d per oz; fine. 33 7-16 d. AUSTRALIAN GLASS YEAR The Australian Glass Manufacturers Company Ltd. made a net profit of £175,522 during the year ended March 31, an increase of £45,921 on the previous year’s profit. The ordinary dividend is increased from 9 per cent, to 13 per cent., requiring £120,962, and the 9 per cent, preference dividend requires £15,750. There is no transfer to reserves, £70.006 being carried forward, against £31.196 brought forward. Of the ordinary dividend, the company states, 4 per cent, is paid out of income from the company’s investments.

SKIPPERS LTD.

SOME OPERATING PROBLEMS It was decided this week at a meeting held in Christclnirch to increase hy £IO,OOO the capital of Skippers Ltd. Among several of- the purposes for which this money is needed is the harnessing of Skippers Creek, which enters the Shotover River about two miles above where operations on the claim are being carried on. Briefly, more water at higher pressure is required. It is understood that the powerful Diesel engine, now on the claim has proved more expensive to run than was anticipated—not an uncommon experience at such altitudes above sea level, it is said. It is hoped that hydro-electric power will solve the chief problem from the engineering point of view, which arises from the brevity of the periods between floods during which operations can be carried on, especially the vital time on the bottom layers of wash. During this mouth, when a fairly satisfactory wash-up was reported, considering none of the ground was virgin, it was stated that, owing to frost, operations would be suspended for the winter. September is the month when a resumption may be looked for. It is also the month when floods due to melting snow may be expected. It is only in between floods that active work is possible, and though after rains in this big watershed the Shotover may subside as quickly as it rose, the amount of silt deposited on the claim by each ■ fresh must be seen to be believed. It is imperative to “ make hay while the sun shines,,” and the introduction of ample hydro-electric power will make this possible. There would then be a sufficient water supply to enable three shifts a day to be worked instead of one, and the expectation is that with more powerful nozzles three times as much wash could bo treated per shift, so that an equal area of ground could be worked in one-ninth of the time. If this can be achieved the amount of time spent on “ dead work ” will be very appreciably lowered. * Skippers Ltd., as many readers are doubtless aware, is the claim, a couple of miles below the deserted Skippers township, _on which the Shotover has been leu into iron fluming. Iron sheet piling from the Waitaki hydro-electric dam has-been driven diagonally across the river bed where the Snotover issues from a gorge, thrusting the main flow over to the left bank, where the flume receives it and carries it at tremendous velocity to the point of discharge where the Shotover enters another gorge further down stream. In May, at the time_ of a visit paid by a 4 Star ’ representative to the claim, the flume was running about half-full, and designedly a fraction of the Shotover discharge was not impounded but pursued its way in a narrow channel following the concave curve of the right bank, a dam parallel to that bank preventing its entry to the ground being paddocked or to be paddocked. This channel is kept open to carry the surplus of water—up to a certain amount—when the flume is carrying its full capacity, enabling work ,to continue through minor freshes, the area of river bed thus sacrificed is of the less consequence, because experience has taught that the scour prevents a deposit of wash near the outer or concave side of the river’s bend.

" What guarantee,” , the ongineer-In-chnrge (Mr Clymie) was asked by the ‘ Star ’ representative, “is there that when you reach bottom you will find that the ground has not already been worked?” They were then about 4ft or sft off bottom, and at that time it was impossible to tell whether any of the ground being worked was virgin. “None,” was the reply; “ it, is marvellous what those old-time miners did with the appliances at their command.” So it has now been proved with that particular paddock—the wash-up comprised only what the oldtimers failed to recover. But in that particular area of “ flat ” between the two gorges, comprising perhaps a dozen acres, patches of virgin ground have been sineb struck, and no one knows this better _ than the elderly miner who exclusively directs the nozzle at Skippers Ltd. His confidence that further bonanzas will reward the present company’s enterprise is unshakeable. That enterprise has already involved heavy expenditure, and more still is proposed. From the engineering point of view the way in which difficulties have been surmounted is apparent to anyone who visits the claim. Not the least of these difficulties is transport. Many holidaymakers are familiar with the Skippers road, and they will understand the nature of the task of landing heavy plant, etc., on the claim. Once there a small caterpillar tractor performs marvels of transport work. There is an atmosphere of permanence about all the work done. The flume itself is. a most substantial job, and the living quarters of the employees are commodious and look built to last. Should the response to the issue of preference shares suffice to provide, among other things, the desired hydro-electric power and so speed up operations ninefold, there is no doubt that the buildings, etc., will outlast the life of the 12 acres of the claim now “ dewatered”; but another of the purposes to which the fresh capital would be applied would be to gain access through a gorge to another somewhat similar adjoining part of < the ' river, and repeat the process on it when the present area has been exploited. CO-OPERATIVE MARKETING COMPANY FARMER’S SUGGESTION (Tbk U Kir bo Pans Association.] DANNEVIRKE, June 27. Speaking at a meeting of farmers at Ti Tree Point, Mr Livingston (chairman of the. Southern Hawke’s I3ay Farmers’ Union), after stating that boards and politicians had iailed to find new markets, suggested the forming of a New Zealand co-opera-tive marketing company. There were supposed to bo (50,000 farmers in the dominion, and if each paid £5 that would mean £300,000. They should buy the best brains and send the best men they could to obtain markets in China and Japan. If they could get trade on a reciprocal basis, then he thought they would be getting somewhere. Whatever they did, it seemed to him they had to work on co-opera-tive lines to cut down the overhead of stock and station agents. A rise of a farthing a pound in wool, mutton, and butter would more tkan recoup the expenditure to form a company. The farmers themselves had to get behind it. He intended bringing the matter forward at the next Farmers’ Union conference.

Last week. This week. z. 1. Paid-up capital ... .. ... 500,000 600.008 1,000,000 1,000,000 8. Bank notes 0,172,473 9,111,269 4. Demand liabilities— 13,387,926 (a) State .. - ... ... 13,328,397 (b) Banks 3,800,679 3,915,164 (c' OtHrr 27,201 32,511 S. Time deposits — — 8. Liabilities in currencies other than Ne.< Zealand currency ... „. ... —• w— 7. Other liabilities 53,997 53,808 Total .... ,£27.880.807 27,890.679 ASSETS 1. Reserve— (a) Gold ... 2,801,731 2,801,732 (b , Sterling exchange 23,813,000 22,813,024 (cl Gold exchange — — 9. Subsidiary coin 147,514 145.974 ]W. Discounts--(a) Commercial and agricultura* bills — -M. (b> Treasury and local body bills ? .. ... .. — 11. Advances— « (a‘ To State ot State undertakings M ' (k) To other public «uthorities .., ... ... 1 M (c) Other * *' M 19. Investments 3,094,075 2,094,075 13. Dank buildings — — 14. Other assets 24,485 35,873 Total X27.880.807 27,890,679 Proportion of reserve (No. 8 lest No 6 to notes and other demand Uabiliies ... 97.20% 97.25%

MATAURA. Sheep. Lambs. Total. 1935 ... 37,925 305,075 343,000 1934 ... 24,901 284,009 308,910 1933 ... 29,716 284,088 313,804 1932 ... 36,112 -281,239;. 317,351 1931 , ... 27,362 231,002 258,364 MAKAREWA. Sheep. Lambs. Total. 1935 ... 32,480 366,100 398,580 1934 ... 27,986 371,566 399,552 1933 ... 32,691 "J2.668, 395,359 1932 ... 45,774 78,723 424,497 1931 ... 34,781 302,627 337,408

Commercial Bank of Sydney Union Bank £ s. d. 17 18 8 17 0 6 Bank of New South Wales 32 0 0 Colonial Sugar 44 5 0 Adelaide Steam 1 11 6, Berlei 1 16 6 British Tobacco 1 19 3 Tooth’s ... 2 14 9 Toohey’s 1 10 0 Associated News (pref.) ... 1 4 3 Dunlop Perdriau Dalgety’s 0 16 6 8 2 6 Goldsbrough, Mort 1 9 9 Wilcox, Mofflin ... 0 10 9 Farmers ... 1 6 6 Amalgamated Textiles 0 10 11 General Industries ... ... 0 19 4J Mount Morgan ... 1 16 9 Mount Lyell 0 18 9 Broken Hill Proprietary ... 2 19 3 South Broken Hill 4 6 0 North Broken Hill 6 10 O’ Placer Development 31 17 6 Commonwealth Bonds— ' 4 per cent., 1938 ... ... 102 1 3 4 per cent., 1941 ... 103 6 3 ' 4 per cent., 1944 104 11 3 4 per cent., 1947 ... ... 105 8 9 4 per cent., 1950 106 15 0 4 per cent., 1953 106 7 6 4 per cent., 1957 ... ... 104 17 6 MELBOURNE, June 27. % National Bank (£10 paid) 12 16 0 Union Bank 9 0 0 Goldsbrough, Mort 1 9 9 Mount Lyell 0 19 0

Buying. Selling. London— £100 stg. - N.Z T.T. £124- £124 10/ O.D. £123 10/ £124 8/9 Australia— £A to £100 N.Z T.T. £101 £100 10/ Fiji— £F to £100 ' N.Z. ... . . T.T. £90 7/6 £89 New York— Dollars to £1 N.Z ... T.T. 4.00i 3.961 3.96| O.D. 4.0l| Montreal— ' Dollars to £1 N.Z ... T.T. 4.004 3.961 O.D. 4.01i 3.97 France— Francs to £1 N.Z, ... T.T. 60.54 59.24 O.D. 60.84 59.29 Noumea— Francs to £1 N.Z. ... ... ... T.T. 61.49 58.49 O.D. 61.89 58.54 Papeete—j. Francs to £1 N.Z. T.T. 61.49 58.49 O.D. 61.89 58.54 Belgium— Belgaa to £1 IfZ ... T.T. — 23.167 O.D. — 23.182 Germany— Reichmarks to £1 N.Z ... T.T. — 9.614 O.D. — 9.619 ItalyLire to £1 N.Z ... T.T. 47.21 O.D. — - 47.25 Switzerland— Francs to £1 N.Z ... T.T. 12.326 11.926 O.D. 12.401 11.936 Holland — Florins to £1 N.Z ... T.T. 5.956 5.706 O.D. 6.006 5.710 Java— Florins to £1 N.Z ... T.T 5.907 5.682 O.D. 5.957 5.686 Japan—, N.Z. pence to 1 17 13-16 yen ... T.T. — Shanghai— N.Z. pence to 1 24 § Dollar ... .. T.T. 23 5-16 O.D. 23 3-16 24 9-16 India and Ceylon— N.Z. pence to 1 22J rupee ... T.T. 22 25-52 O.D. 224 22 21-32 Hongkong— N.Z. pence to 1 34 21-32 dollar ... .. T.T. 35 19-32 O.D. 33 15-32 34 19-32 Singapore— N.Z, pence to 1 35 3-32 dollar ... T.T. 34 5-32 O.D. 34 1-32 35 1-32 Sweden— Kroner to £1 N.Z ... T.T 15.7S0 15.460 O.D. 15.830 15.470 Norway— Kroner to £1 N.Z. . T.T. 18.000 15.870 O.D. ' 16.240 15.880 Denmark— Kroner to £1 N.Z ... T.T. 18.208 17.878 O.D. 18.248 17.888 Austria— Schillings to £1 20.57 N.Z ... T.T. — O.D. • 20.59 Czechoslovakia— Crowns to £1 ■ N.Z ... T.T. 94.21 O.D. 94.26