Commerce, Mining, & Finance

Evening Star, Issue 22261, 12 February 1936, Page 7

Commerce, Mining, & Finance

THE METAL MARKET Pres* Association —By Telegraph Copyright LONDON, February 10. The following are the official metal ' quotations:— , Copper.—Spot, £34 los per ton, forward, £35 3s lid. , Electrolytic.—Spot. £39; forward, £39 10s. Wire bars, £39 10s. Lead. —Spot, £ls 12s 6d; forward, : £ Spelter 6 —Spot. £l4 11s 3d; for- . ward, £l4 16s 3d. . , Tin.—Spot, £203 12s 6d; forward, £197 17s 6d. , „„ „ , Pig Iron. —Home trade, £3 10s; for- < eign, £3 Is 6d. , Antimony.— British, £<2 10s; for- ; eign, £47 15s. i Molybdenite, £1 14s 6d per unit. : Wolfram, £1 15s. . Silver. —Standard, 19 10-16 d per oz, : fine, 21 id. SYDNEY WML SALES ! Press Association—By Telegraph-Copyright SYDNEY, February 11. At the wool sales 10,723 bales were ■ offered, and 10,243 sold, while <O4 were disposed of privately The tone ’ of the market was very firm, with a hardening tendency for better-class skirtings. Greasy merino made to ; 29id. ’ . GROWTH OF SAVINGS THRIFT IN AUSTRALIA Deposits in all savings banks in Australia on. December 31 last amounted to £220.525.000, compared with £212,922,000 on December 31, 1934, according - to figures made available by the_ Commonwealth Statistician (Mr E. 1. M’Phee). The increase during the year was thus £7.603,000. or 3.57 per cent., comparer! with an increase in the preceding year of £9.591,000, or 4.72 per cent. In New South Wales the deposits on December 31 were £78,534 000, an increase of £2.306,000, or 3.11 per cent, r During December the deposits throngh- ’ out Australia decreased by £1,140,000, or .5 per cent. ANTWERP FUTURES Press Association —By Telegraph Copyright ANTWERP, February 11. (Received February 12, at 10 a.m.) Antwerp Futures. —Dry-combed Australian tops: March, 2SJd; May and July 29d. The Continent does not follow the lead of the English industry, which is maintaining a high rate of consumption. Users of tops abroad are reluctant to increase commitments _in view of the difficulty in obtaining higher prices for yarns and spinners ; therefore r ;buying.. is only ,for immediate requirements. STEEL INDUSTRY PROPOSAL FOR DOMINION CLOSE INVESTIGATION. The Government is continuing its investigation of the proposal to found a steel industry in New Zealand, according to a statement made by the .Minister of Industries and Commerce, the Hon. D. G. Sullivan, in Christchurch. . , , , - Mr Sullivan said a good deal of work had been done, and the research ■' would be continued until the full details of the proposal had been thor- : oughly examined. The investigation was in the hands of highly-qualified ~ men. the Government having assem- ; bled the best experts available to ex- ' amine the scheme. These men ere making an intensive study of the pro- ' ’ position and were getting results that ■ could be counted encouraging. The i- examination at the present time was '. concerned with finance and the economio aspect applying to the industry. ■ There was still a great deal of work ->• to be done before the investigation could be brought to a conclusion and m report submitted to the Government. GAS TAXATION CLAIMS OF COMPANIES " You will perhaps be tired of hearing me talk on the subject of unfair taxation, but I cannot let an annual meeting go without referring to the unequal position we are placed in by being heavily taxed while our competitors are free from it.” said Mr F. E. Graham, 'chairman of the Christchurch Gas, ' Coal, and Coke Company Ltd., at the annual meeting this week. “ I can see no justification for any difference to be • made between ns, and perhaps the new ;Government may see the justice of onr claim and correct it.” Mr Graham said the accounts were most satisfactory and disclosed a very sound position.

AUSTRALIAN STOCK EXCHANGES

Pros Association —By Telegraph—Copyright SYDNEY, February 11. Although there was evidence here and there of a little profit-taking, the investment market to-day presenter! a strong front, Toohey’s shares went ahead, hanks were steady, and Commonwealth Bonds firm. MORNING SALES.

(THE SEARCH FOR GOLD BULOLO AND PLACER DEVELOPMENT Mr Fred. G. Dunn, attorney for Clutha Development Ltd., has received the following cablegram from Sydney:— “ Cabled advice has been received that the hull of the Pato dredge No. 3 is being built in Florida, and will be towed up the Magdalena River to the Pato property, where the machinery will be added. It is contemplated that the dredge will now be operating this December instead of June next year, as was advised at the annual meeting. For the five months to the end of January the Asnazu dredge dug 633,000yds for a recovery of 40 cents per yard. This in Australian currency represents a recovery of approximately 2s per yard,” ARTHUR'S POINT RETURN The secretaries of the Arthur’s Point Sluicing Company Ltd. report a partial wash-up of 81oz, which was _ obtained on Saturday last. The previous wash-up was on January 13, when 250 z were obtained. WAIPAPA BEACH RETURN Messrs W. A. Mitson and Co., secretaries of the Waipapa Beach Gold Dredging Co. Ltd.,have received advice from the dvedgemaster that a return of B§oz was won for 133 hours’ dredging of previously worked ground, WINNIPEG WHEAT MARKET Press Association —By Telegraph—Copyright WINNIPEG, February 10. There was a pronounced weakness in wheat to-day in the wake of statistics showing a large increase in the world shipments. Last week the price closed 2J cents lower; May, 80 cents, down ? 3 .

PRICE OF GOLD Press Association —By Te'egraph Copyright LONDON, February 11. (Received February 12, at noon.) Fine gold is quoted at £7 0s 8d an ounce, DOLLAR AND FRANC Press Association —By Telegraph—Copyright LONDON, February 11. (Received February 12, at noon.) The dollar is quoted at 5.01 3-16 and the franc at 74 15-16.

STANDARD INSURANCE COMPANY DIVIDEND FOR HALF-YEAR At a meeting of the directors of the Standard Insurance Company Ltd., held yesterday, it was decided to declare a dividend of Is 3d a share for the half-year ended December 31, payable on March 2. ,

RABBITSKIN SALE REPORT The Dunedin Stock Agents and Woolbrokers’ Association reports as follows: Catalogues were considerably larger than usual ait this time of year. The offerings were comprised mostly of summers and racks, for which there was again a good demand at prices which were on an average about 3d lower than last sale. Compared with values ruling at this time last year, prices to-day for racks, summers, milky, etc., show a rise of more than 100 per cent. The following is the range of prices;—■

Summer broken, 26Jd to 28d ; runners, 26d to 29d: summers, 2oid to 30d; small, 15d to 15Jcl; light racks, Slid to 33d; prime racks, 32d to 34d; milky. 27d to 34d ; fawn, 12d to 14d; summer blacks, 12d to 14d; hareskins, (id to 9d; horsehair, 16d to 18d. THE CHAIN STORE POSITION IN NEW SOUTH WALES - Mr S. A. Lloyd, a member of the New South Wales Legislature, speaking at Bathurst last week, said that he believed the State Government would shortly amend the law in its relation to chain stores. Mr Lloyd was speaking at a meeting, which decided to inaugurate a campaign against the chain stores in the country districts. Bathurst Commercial Employers’ and Property Owners’ Association has be_en formed to combat chain stores, with the object of originating a general movement to preserve existing country retail stores. The following motion was carried:— “ That this meeting views with alarm the proposed development of self-ser-vice chain stores in country districts. It considers that this competition is unfair, and that other factors common to self-service chain stores’ methods of business seriously threaten the continuance of employment and the maintenance of property values, and will have a disastrous effect on the future economic progress and sound development of the town and district. Further, this meeting urges that representations be made to the Government to control and regulate the development of self-service chain _ stores, in order to preserve the best interests of the whole community.”

FIXED TRUST MOVEMENT BEGINNINGS IN NEW ZEALAND The beginnings of the fixed trust movement in. Australia and New Zealand are seen in the formation in Auckland recently of the Investors’ Fixed Securities Limited. The company has an authorised capital of £25,000, in 25,000 ordinary shares of £1 each, of which nearly £15.000 has already been subscribed. The directors are I)r Tt. G. M'Elroy and Messrs AV. J. P. Hodgkins and AV. J. Foote. Originally developed in the United States, the fixed trust movement has grown remarkably in Great Britain during the past five years. There are now about 50 trusts in operation in Britain, and £40,000,000 is invested through them. 'The appeal is largely to the small investor, and it is estimated that the average holding in British trusts is only about £2OO. So far New Zealand and Australia have had experience only of the management type of trust. The essential difference is that, whereas in the case of the management form of investment trust the board usually asks for, and receives, carte blanche as to the choice of ultimate holdings, in the case of the “ fixed ” trusts the board tells the investor, prior to his investment, explicitly what securities it has chosen, limiting their choice to, say, 20 named stocks.

£1 IS WORTH

£ s. d. Commonwealth Bonds— 3} p.c., 1942 101 0 0 4 p.c., 1941 ... , 102 18 9 4 p.c., 1947 105 7 6 4 p.c., 1953 104 10 0 4 p.c., 1961 106 6 Commercial Bank of Australia ... 0 19 9 Australian Gas (A) 8 1 0 Toohey's 1 12 Tooth’s 2 13 3 Tooth’s (rights) ... 1 11 6 Associated News (pref.) 1 3 9 British Tobacco 2 2 3 Br6ken Hill Proprietary ... 3 0 3 Dunlops 0 1G 0 Goldsbrough, Mort 1 1# 3 Howard Smith u 18 10i Janies Stedman 0 17 10* AKTERXOON SALES. Bank of N.S.W. ... 34 17 6 Commercial Bank of Svdney 20 12 0 Com. Bank of Australia ... 0 19 9 Queensland National Bank 5 10 0 Colonial Sugar ... 43 i 6 United Insurance 12 0 0 Associated News ...' 1 3 0 Associated News (pref.) ... 1 4 0 Automatic Totes 1 1 0 Howard Smith 0 18 10* Australian Gas (A) 8 1 6 Berlei 1 16 n British Tobacco 2 2 3 Tooth’s 2 13 3 Toohey’s 1 12 4* G. J. Coles 3 18 0 Australian Glass 4 7 9 Goldsbrough, Mort 1 13 3 Winchcombe. Carson 1 12 6 Wilcox, Mofflin 0 11 10 Morris Hedstrom 1 5 0 Greater J. D. Williams ... 0 8 10 Millaquin Sugar 1 lo 9 Electrolytic Zinc (pref.). ... 1 19 3 Standard Cement ... ... 1 3 6 Woolworth’s (second pref.) 1 6 4* Victoria Nyanza 0 9 8 Mauri Brothers 2 15 0 Hume Pipe 0 17 0 Peters 2 6 Kandos ... 1 6 6 Sargents ... 1 5 10* J. Stedman ... 0 17 10* Mark Foy ... 1 5 6 E. H. Gordon 2 17 G Wunderlich 1 3 0 Emperor U 14 3 Mount Lyell ... i d 3 North Broken Hill 7 12 6 Kuala Kampar 0 14 5 MELBOUENE, February 11. Cora. Bank of Australia ... 0 19 6 Australian Cement 1 13 0 Electrolytic Zinc 1 16 0 G. J. Coles 3 17 3 Hoyts (A pref.) 0 19 10 Yellow Express u o 6 Mount Lyell 1 3 Enterprise ... 3 15 0 Emperor 0 14 5 Loloma 1 4 9

Based on rates on February 5 a New Zealand pound was worth approxiniatcly:— £ s. d. London 0 10 1 Australia ... 1 0 1 U.S.A. 0 10 6 Canada ... 0 16 6 France 0 9 8 Germany ... Java 0 9 0 9 7 G Japan >.. ' ...: 1 1 11