THE FINANCIAL CENTRE

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

THE FINANCIAL CENTRE

SYDNEY OR MELBOURNE ? Business men in Melbourne declare that Melbourne is the financial centre of the Commonwealth, and because of that declaration, they consider that the Department of Commerce and Industry, which is threatened with removal to Canberra, should remain in Melbourne. But is Melbourne the financial centre of the Commonwealth ? asks the Sydney ‘ Morning Herald.’ The headquarters of the Commonwealth Bank are in Sydney, the headquarters of the two largest trading banks of Australia, the Bank of New South Wales and the Commercial Banking Company of Sydney, are irt Sydney ; the headquarters of the largest life assurance institution in Australia, the Australian Mutual Provident Society, are in Sydney; the headquarters of the largest trading organisation in Australia, the Colonial Sugar Refining Company, are in Sydney. Take, again, the bank clearings, the business indicator. The bank clearings weekly and total to date, so far as they concern business transactions, as distinct from Treasury bill transactions, are considerably in favour of Sydney, £15,524,258 in Sydney the week before last, as against £14,988,196 in Melbourne, and for the period to June 10, £319,343,467 in Sydney, as against £300,572,250 in Melbourne. Intrabank clearings are considered to be much more extensive in Sydney than in Melbourne, because of the predominance of the Bank of New South Wales and the Commercial Banking Company, of Sydney. Were it possible to ascertain these clearings, and add 'them to the interbank clearings, the margin in favour of Sydney would be greatly widened. Melbourne was the financial centre of Australia, but the distinction passed from her many years ago. PRDCERA BREAD SHARES SENSATIONAL ADVANCES Rapid appreciation in the prices paid for shares in hte Prooera Bread Process Company was the principal topic of the Wellington Stock Exchange on Tuesday. The company (says the ‘ Evening Post ’) holds certain patent rights which it has protected in almost every breadusing country in the world, and the right to manufacture already disposed of in some of them. The rights are for distributing areas, and Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin are now working under them.. In Australia 52 districts have secured licenses to use the patent, and 12 licenses are operating in New Zealand. Royalties are paid by licensees on loaves of bread distributed. The feature of the patent is the great reduction of the starch content of the loaf manufactured by the process. The’London rights have been purchased by Nevill’s Bread Company, a very old-established London broad manufacturing organisation, which supplies 8,000 shops in the metropolitan area. The balance-sheet of the New Zeal rnd company showed sales of patents and royalties £7,006. expenditure £4,567, profit £2,466. The shares were sold in November last at 14s to 14s 3d, but they subsequently dropped to 9s. The recovery began at the end of May, when sales were made at round about 12s. Since then the advance has been extraordinarily rapid, as the record of sales during the past few days will show:—May 31, sales 12s; June 12, 16s 6d; 'dune 13, 17s 6d, 18s 3d, 19s 9d, June 14, 20s, 20s 6d; June 18, 245; June 19, 26s 9d; June 20, 295; June 21, 335, 37s 9d; June 22, 45s 3d; June 24, 50s, 565, 60s; June 25, 67s 6d. Later sales, however, have been made at a somewhat lower figure than the lastmentioned.