Commerce, Mining, & Finance

Evening Star, Issue 22575, 17 February 1937, Page 7

Commerce, Mining, & Finance

AUSTRALIAN STOCK EXCHANGES Press Association —By Telegraph-Copyright SYDNEY, February 16. The investment market developed a slight reactionary tendency to * da >> a number of industrials were marked down due to profit-taking.

MELBOURNE, February 16. The market generally was slightly easier, with some profit-taking in industrials. Barriers were a little lower on metal quotes, and Loloma were inclined to drift on the announcement of a new capital issue of 75,000 shares at £1 in the proportion of one for 10. £ s. d.

SYDNEY WODL SALES Frees Association —By Telegraph—Copyright SYDNEY, February 16 At the wool sales 12,860 bales were offered and 10,680 sold, while 1,558 were disposed of _ privately. Average and faulty descriptions continued in irregular demand at the lower levels reported yesterday, but the market was firm and unchanged for all good wools. American, Japanese, and Yorkshire buyers competed keenly.

MOUNT LYELL COMPANY

PRODUCTION STATEMENT \ _ The Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company Ltd. has issued the following progress report for the fortnight ended February 3: —North Mount Lyell: Tons extracted, 4.108. Royal Tharsis: Tons extracted, 851. West Lyell: Tons extracted, 17,781. Prince Lyell: Tons extracted, 4,557. Lyell Comstock: Tons extracted, 3,179. No. 8 level, No. 1 mullock pass drive to 30ft, through ore; main crosscut to 203 ft, through low-grade ore; south drive to 16ft through mineralised schist and ore; main shaft to 131 ft below No. 8 level through porphyry. Reduction works; Furnace in blast throughout period: 3,921 tons refinery anodes made for current year. Concentrator: Mill operated 336 hours and treated 31,378 tons ore, producing 1,834 tons concentrates. Copper refinery; Tank house in operation throughout period, 504 tons cathode copper being produced. Total for current year, 4,581 tons. BELFRIDGES (W.A.) LTD. Selfridges (Australasia) Ltd., are offering shares in a new company, Selfridges (West Australia) Ltd., to shareholders of the parent company. The new company has nominal capital off £250,000 _in shares of £1 each. The present issue is of 125,000 shares, of which 15,000 shares are to go to the parent company for trading rights, 30,000 are to be subscribed for in cash at par by the parent company, 17,600 may be taken up at par by the parent company at a later date, 5,250 are to be allotted to the promotors of the new company—namely, the directors and secretary of the parent company—and the remainder are offered to shareholders of the parent company in the proportion of thirtv to every 100 shares held in Selfridges (Australasia) Ltd.

KING SOLOMON MINE PROBABLE GOVERNMENT GRANT FURTHER PROSPECTING DISCUSSED [Per United Press Association.] INVERCARGILL, February 16. “ I have no hesitation in saying that I am prepared to recommend Cabinet to grant the sum of £I,OOO for the further prospecting of the mine, and I have sufficient confidence in my colleagues to believe that they will agree to the "rant,” said the Minister of Mines (the Hon. P. C. Webb) to the directors of the King Solomon Deep Lead Ltd. at Waitaia to-day after ho had inspected the mine and heard representations from the company for a "rant or subsidv to allow the company to proceed with the further prospectin" of areas which it was believed mf"ht yield good results, and enable it to recover its financial position. The Minister announced that the "rant would he conditional on the company making available for prospecting work a similar amount of money, and on the repayment of the grant it gold were found, before any further dividends were declared. , Air Webb instructed the distnet mining inspector to forward a report to AVellington immediately, and said 1 he would bring the matter before Cabinet at the first opportunity. QUESTION OF COMPANY’S LIQUIDATION SHAREHOLDERS DEFER DECISION The proposal put forward by the directors of King Solomon Deep Lead Ltd. to proceed to voluntary liquidation was considered at an extraordinary meeting of shareholders at Gore on Saturday night, and it decided to adjourn the meeting until March 4 to allow further prospecting work to be done in an endeavour to recover the lead of gold-bearing wash which had been lost and to, permit other schemes to be explored to enable the to carry on. Only a few shareholders, besides the directors, were present, and those who entered into the discussion announced that they were opposed to liquidation until, further prospecting work was done. 'A .statement made bj the directors showed that liquid assets on the day before the meeting gave a surplus over liabilities of £iM. The chairman of directors (Mr Henry Smith) presided and there were 13 shareholders present. Seventy shareholders, of a total of 50 0, were represented by proxy. The directors submitted a comprehensive report dealing with the company’s activities during the past 12 months and stating that the com P aII J ® funds were almost exhausted, and that there seemed little hope for the future. There were still areas which might repay investigation, but it was tor the shareholders to say whether , any further expenditure should bo incurred. Mr R. 0. Ruffin, mine manager of the company, produced a plan of the workings. He said that from his point of view the exploration of the field o,t operations was only in its infancy. Rich bearing wash had been secured, and it was evident that severe faulting had occurred since the deposit ot the wash. Deep lead mining was very different from other methods of mmin" He had followed the conventional method' of prospecting and developing the mine. In this mine weekly commitments had had to be met, which meant that only a limited amount ot developmental work could . be done. Further, it was necessary to proceed with the blocking out of the wash fairly soon after areas had been explored as,- if too, great a time elapsed, the timber supporting the developed areas would begin to rot and there would be a danger of a “ run beginning, which would prevent the full amount of payable wash being extracted. An enormous amount ot prospecting had been done, but it had proved costly. A large area which had been believed to be valuable had subsequently proved valueless on the level at “which it had been worked, llrom his point of view it would be rash to say that these areas were worthless, but the development of them would be purely a prospecting venture. A tremendous amount of prospecting had been done to the south with the object of circumventing the faults, but although wash of fair value had been found, the results had not justified proceeding with it. In his opinion, however, there was scope for considerable farther exploration with reasonable prospects of success. The mine was in an unfortunate state just now, but new money was required. He could not say definitely that the new money would show a profit, but there was a reasonable prospect of success. In reply to a question Mr Ruffin Said there was payable wash in the area surrounding the shaft, hut to remove this wash would endanger the safety of the shaft. He had been informed that extremely rich results had been secured by boring in the vicinity of “Radford’s Garden,” but the limited prospecting he had undertaken had not touched the wash. He was prepared to believe, however, that rich wash existed in that direction.

THE SEARCH FOR GOLD NEW GUINEA GOLDFIELDS After providing £15,237 for depreciation, New Guinea Goldfields Ltd. records a profit of £113,303 for the year ended September 30, compared with £152,020 for -the previous year. Because of possible capital requirements no dividend is recommended. The profit increases the credit balance to £324,596. Capital and ore development expenditure • amounted to £92,924, the chief item being the Edie Greek mill, which began operations in January, and to September 14 returned an operating profit of £17,927. This, the directors point out, was insufficient to offset a, decrease in revenue from the Golden Ridges mill and from alluvial operations. Sales of bullion realised £313,636, and revenue from other sources raised the total to £328,647. The Edie mill treated 28,468 tons of ore for a recovery of 9,4390 zof fine gold and 26,3400 z of fine silver to September 14. Head values averaged 0.4260 z gold and 19.220 z silver. The Golden Ridges mill treated 35,835 tons of ore and retreated 20,399 tons of tailings for a total production of 17,7400 z of gold and 11,5880 z of silver. The working profit was £65,358. The average grade was 0.7060 z gold and 3.3160 z silver. Production from the alluvial areas was 8,0370 z of fine gold and 6,4150 z of fine silver, and the tributers produced 5,1810 z ot fine gold and 3,2310 z of fine silver, together yielding a working profit to the company of £52,787. MATAKI RETURN [Per United Press Association,] AUCKLAND, February 17. The Mataki Gold Dredging Company reports that the telegraphed return l for the week ended on February 14 was 220 z for 131 hours’ work and B,6ooyds treated. . MARTHA (WAIHI) REPORT The following information has been cabled to London by the Martha Gold Mining Co. (AVaihi) Ltd.: —No. 2 level, Bell Reef: Sinking winze at 96ft west, the next 14ft assays, I7s 9d a ton. The lode is about 3ft wide. No. 3 level: At a point 40ft in No., 2 shaft south-east cross cut and at 34ft south have intersected east section of Edward lode, 3ft wide, assaying 36s 6d a ton. No. 4 level, Bejl Reef; Have driven to the west on this vein 30ft, assay value 5s 6d a ton. The lode is about 2ft wide. No. 8 level: Driving south-west on the west section of the Edward lode, the next 49ft is of little or no value. The drive has. holed to Scorpion north-west cross cut at 245 ft. No. 9 level, north branch of-Martha lode-; Driving east, the next 28ft assays 23s a ton. The lode is about 2-]ft wide. BUNDI TIN Bundi Tin Dredging reports that during a run of 186 hours the dredge treated 29,122 cubic yards for a recovery of 120 oz gold bullion. FELAGO PROFITS INCREASE Pelaco Ltd., manufacturers, in a preliminary statement, shows a net profit for 1936 of £15,210, which is £5,075 higher than for 1935. Dividends of 7 per cent, on the “ A ” preference shares and of 14J per cent, on the “ B ” preference shares (reducing the liability for “ B ” preference dividends in arrears to £13,500), require £9,332, and the balance, £5,869, reduces the debit at profit and loss to £2,918.

THE SHARE MARKET

DUHEDiH STOCK EXCHANGE BOOM CONDITIONS PREVAIL Good business continued on the local share market this morning, when dealings were recorded at the Exchange meeting in a wide range of stocks. • . ... All banking scrip again had an active inquiry, and New Zealands- showed further improvement with sales after the call at 40s 6d. Commercials were a shade stronger, and other Australian issues remained firm with strong buying support. Insurance issues attracted more attention, business being done in Standards at 58s 9d. while only 6d separated the quotations for New Zealands. Meat shares were also in better demand, particularly Southland paids, South Otagos, and Waitakis. Coal shares remained firm, while buyers of Mosgiel Woollens moved 2s to £9 18s without response. In the miscellaneous group Broken Hill Proprietarys continued to appreciate rapidly, reported business at 94s fid, being yesterday’s lowest selling limit. G, J. Coles were again a shade easier, while New Zealand Woolworths had a market of £7 2s to £7 ss. The Sydney shares were easier, with sellers at £8 ils fid, and no buyer. New Zealand Breweries were sold late yesterday at 59s fid, but a seller at £3 this morning failed to find a buyer. In Australian mining Electrolytic Zincs suffered a loss after the recent sharp rises, while Mount Lyells were steady from 45s lOd to 465. Mount Morgans showed improvement, while Rawang Tins moved up from buyers at 11s 2d to 11s 9d, with sellers asking 4d more at 12s. SALES REPORTED. Associated News (pref.), £1 3s IOJd. Broken Hill Proprietary, £4 4s fid. New Zealand Breweries, £2 19s fid (late yesterday). Waimumu, Hid. SALES ON ’CHANGE. Mort’s Dock, 13s fid. Mount Lyell, £2 5s lOd, £2 5s lid, SALES AFTER CALL. Bank of New Zealand, £2 Os fid (2). Standard Insurance, £2 18s 9d. Mount Lyell, £2 6s (2).'

DIVIDENDS DUE National Mortgage and Agency (N.Z.) —5 per cent, per annum Feb. 24 Gillespie’s Beach —Id a snare (8 1-5 per cent.) Feb. 24 Bank of N.S.W.—lnterim, quarterly, 6s per share Feb. 25 Equitable Building—4 per cent. per annum Feb. 26 Silverton Trams—9d per share ... Feb. 26 Christchurch Gas—lnterim at rale of 7 per cent, per annum ... Mar, 1 Elder, Smith—lnterim, at 6 per cent, per annum Mar. Electrolytic Zinc—Half-yearly, 6 per cent, on ord. and pref. ... Mar. 18 Broken Hill South—ls per share ... Mar. 24

FOREIGN EXCHANGES OH NEW ZEALAND CURRENCY BASIS The Bank of New South Wales, Dunedin, quoted (,he following rates for purchase and sales of foreign exchanges (all rates subject to alteration without notice) ;

DOLLAR RATES. , The Associated Banks (other than the Bank of New South Wales) quoted the following dollar rates to-day on a New Zealand currency basis. They are subject to alteration without notice;— U.S.A. . Canada. (Per £1 N.Z.) (Per £1 N.Z.) SELLING— T.T. (dol) 3.92| 3.92 g O.D, (dol) 3.93), 3.931 BUYING— T.T. (dol) 3.96 e 3.96 s O.D. (dol) 3.97 J 3.97 i

morning sales. £ s. d. Commonwealth Bonds 4 p.c.. 1938 4 p.c., 1950 4 p.c.', 1955 ••• Commercial Bank of Sydney 1Q1 100. 100 22 13 2 5 14 9 6 0 0 Bank of New South Wales 37 0 0 United Insurance Australgas A (new) It 1U T 8 0 0 3 3 Tooheys 1 JU Tooths ... ••• ••• 2 1Y Associated News ... ... 1 4 7i British Tobacco 2 12 9 Broken Hill Propy. ... ... 4 0 0 Broken Hill Propy. (pew) 3 13 6 David Jones 2 5 6 -David Jones (new) ... ... 1 7 lUi Electrolytic Zinc 2 1Y u Coles ••• 5 11 0 James Stedman ... 0 17 9 Morris Hedstrom ... ... 1 10 1} AFTERNOON SALES. Bank of New South Wales 37 0 0 Commercial Bank of Sydney 22 16 0 Commercial Bank of Aus4i tralia 0 19 Union Bank 10 16 0 Queensland National Bank o 12 0 United Insurance 11 10 0 Colonial Sugar 43 5 5 Berlei ... 2 0 3 British Tobacco 2 12 9 Tooths 2 17 3 Tooheys 1 17 3 Coles 5 9 6 Goldsbrough, Mort Wilcox Mofflin 1 18 0 13 9 0 Morris Hedstrom ... . 1 10 li Henry Jones 2 7 0 Fairymead Sugar 1 19 6 David Jones 5 9 Mount Morgan ... 0 17 3 Mount Lyell 2 6 0 Kuala Kampar ' 1 2 9 Rawang ••• 0 12 1 Loloma ... _ 1 4 0 Newbold Brick ... 1 17 0 Tin '■ 2 0 0 Pungah Tin 1 12 6

Commercial Bank of Australia ;• • •• 0 19 6 National Bank (£5 paid) ... 7 14 6 National Bank (£10 paid) 15 15 0 Howard Smith. 1 3 6 Coles 5 8 6 Drug Houses 1 7 6 General Motors ... ... ... 1 4 6 Electrolytic Zinc 2 16 9 Mount Morgan 0 17 2 Mount Lyell ... ... 2 5 10* Broken Hill Proprietary ... 4 5 0 North Broken Hill 4 0 3 South Broken Hill .;. ... 2 9 0 Zinc Corporation ... 7 9 6 Emperor 1 0 U Loloma 1 o 10* Maldas Shoes 1 11 3

Quotations as under: — Buyers. Sellers. £ S. d. £ S. d. BANKING— Australasia — 13 10 : 0 New South Wales ... 35 10 0 — New Zealand 2 0 0 2 0 6 Commercial 0 19 3 0 19. : 6 Commercial (pref.) ... 9 i 0 : E.S. and A 6 6 0 — National of New Zealand .. ... ... 3 0, 0 3 3 0 Union of Australia Ltd 10. 12 0 — INSURANCE— National 0 18 0 0 18 1 5 New Zealand 3 X 9 3 2 3 Standard 2 18 6 2 19 ■ 9 ■SHIPPING — Howard Smith _ 1 3 i 3 P. and 0. Deferred Stock 1 16 0 ; U.S.S. Co. (pref.) ... 1 6 0 ' ■ MEAT PRESERVING— Gear ... ... — 0 I?! 6 N.Z. Refrigerating (paid) — 1 0; 5 N.Z. Refrigerating 9 1 (cont.) — 0 5 Southland Frozen 0 (paid) 3 16 0 4 0, South Otago 8 0 Freezing 7 12 6 0; Waitaki Farmers’ Freezing ... ... ... 4 2 0 LOAN AND AGENCYGoldsbrough, Mort ... — 1 18 6 Mortgage Corporation 0 3J per cent. Stock — 98 HP National Mortgage (“B” Issue) 1 12 0 —; N.Z. Loan and Mer46 0 cantile (ord.) 44 0 0 0: N.Z. Guarantee Cor0 poration ... ... ... 0 5 4 5 ! 6 Otago Farmers’ Co-op. 0 3 9 —. Perpetual Trustees ... — 3 4 : 0 Wright, Stephenson (ord.) ... 0 18 3 Wright, Stephenson 0 (pref.) 0 19 “““ COAL— Kaitangata 1 2 0 — Westport 1 4 0 1 4 9 WOOLLEN COMPANIES Bruce (ord.) — 0 13 3 Bruce (pref.) — I 2 9 Kaiapoi (ord.) — 0 14 ; 9 Mosgiel 9 18 0 MISCELANEOUS— Anthony Hordern ... — 1 1 3 Associated News (pref.) 1 3 9 —■ Australian Glass 4 12 0 < — British Tobacco 2 11 0 —:. Broken Hill Proprietary ... 4 4 0 4 5; 0 Broken Hill Proprietary (cont.) ... ... 3 11 0 —■ Brown, Ewing 1; (ord.) 1 0 0 1 3 Brown, Ewing (pref.) 1 2 6 — Colonial Sugar Co. ... 42 10. 0 — Consolidated Brick ... — 0 11' 0 Crystal Ice Co — 2 5 6 D.I.C. (ord.) 0 16 0 . — D.I.C. (pref.) 1 3 8 — Dominion Fertiliser ... 1 4 0 1 4 6 Dominion Rubber ... 1 11 0 — Donaghy’s Rope and Twine 0 2 11 — Dunlop Perdriau Rubber — 0 19 4 General Industries ... 1 0 2 1 0 6 G. J. Coles 5 6 0 5 10 0 Hume Pipe 1 1 3 — Milburn Lime and Cement 2 2 0 — Mort’s Dock 0 13 5 0 13 9 National Electric — 0 15 3 N.Z. Drug Co 3 16 0 — N.Z. Paper Mills 1 7 0 — ‘ Otago Daily Times ’ 2 6 0 — Regent Theatre 1 0 6 — Shillings Ltd 0 18 6 — Wilson’s N.Z. Cement 1 19 0 Woolworths (ord.) ... 7 2 0 7 5 0 BREWERIES— New Zealand • 3 0 0 Staples’ 1 15 9 Dominion (ex rights) — 2 5 0 Dunedin 1 8 0 1 10 0 Carlton — 3 6 0 UNLISTED STOCKS— Woolworths (Syd., ord.) 8 11 6 Quartz Mountain (5s) 0 1 0 Elliotvaile Coal 0 16 0 “ OVERSEAS MINING— Broken Hill South (£1) 2 10 0 Electrolytic Zinc (ord., £1) 2 16 0 2 16 9 Mount Lyell (£1) ... 2 5 10 2 6 0 Mount Morgan (2s 6d) 0 17 1 0 17 3 Placer Development 5 3 0 Rawang Tin (10s) ... 0,11 9 0 12 0 Sulphide Corporation 0 12 6 0 15 0 GOLD MINING— Argo Dredging (Is) 0 2 1 Big River (Is) 0 1 9 Central Shotovei (Is) 0 0 4 Clutha River (2s) ... 0 2 9 Gillespie's (Is) 0 1 6 0 1 7 King Solomon (Is) ... 0 0 8 Molyneux River (2s) 0 2 4 Maori Gully (Is) 0 0 7 Nokomai (5s) 0 2 0 0 2 6 Okarito (5a) 0 3 9 0 4 3 Paddy’s Point (5s) ... — 0 2 9

Skippers (Is) — 0 0 35 Waimumu Sluicing (Is) ... V.. 0 0 11 0 1 1 Waitahu (5s) — 0 2 3 Worksop (Is) 0 1 7 — N.Z. GOVERNMENT LOANS3-.; p.c. Stock, , Nov., 1938-52 101 0 0 101 17 6 3j p.c. Stock, March, 1939-43 101 5 0 102 0 0 ' 3j p.c. Stock, Sept., 1939-43 101 5 0 102 0 0 3£ p.c. Stock, May, 1939-52 1 102 5 0 p.c. Stock, March, 1941-43 101 0 0 34 p.c. Stock, Sept., 1941-43 101 0 0 3i p.c. Stock, May, 1941-52 101 0 0 — 34 p.c. Stock, Ncv., 1941-52 101 0 0 — 4 p.c. Bonds, 1943-46 101 15 0 102 5 0 4 p.c. Stock, 1943-46 101 15 0 — 4 p.c. Stock, 1946-49 — 103 17 6 4 p.c. Stock, 1952-55 — 103 10 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— £P to £100 N.Z T.T. £90 7/6 £89 Now York— Dollars to £1 N.Z. ... T.T. 3.96,5 3.92-4 O.D. 3.97i 3.93 Montreal— Dollars to £1 N.Z. ... T.T. 3.964 3.92| O.D. 3.97 g 3.934 Austria— Schillings to £1 N.Z T.T. 20.58 O.D. — 20.60 Belgium— Belgas to £1 N.Z. ... T.T. 23.186 O.D. — 23.197 Cz'echoslovakia— Crowns to £1 N.Z. ... T.T. 111.80 O.D. — 111.85 Denmark—Kroner to £1 N.Z. ... T.T. 18.203 17.893 O.D. 18.263 17.903 France— Francs to £1 N.Z. ... T.T. 84.21 O.D. — 84.25 Germany— Kcichmarks to N.Z. £1 ... T.T. 9.705 O.D. 9.710 Holland— Florins to £1 N.Z. ... T.T. 7.301 ’ 7.151 O.D. 7.361 7.155 Italy— Lire to £1 N.Z. ... T.T. 74.51 O.D. 74.56 Java— Florins to £1 N.Z. ... T.T. 7.265 7.105 O.D. 7.325 7.109

Norway— Kroner to £1 N.Z. Sweden— Kroner to £1 T.T. O.D. 16.181 16.241 15,891 15.901 N.Z. Switzerland— Francs to £1 T.T. O.D. 15.785 15.845 15.490 15.500 N.Z. T.T. 17.426 17.156 Noumea— Francs to £1 O.D. 17.531 17.161 N.Z. Papeete— Francs to £1 T.T. O.D. - 82.84 82:90 N.Z. Hongkong— N.Z. pence to 1 T.T. O.D. - 82.99 83.05 dollar T.T. 18 17-64 18 49-64 India and Ceylon— N.Z. penco to 1 O.D. 18 15-64 18 3-4 rupee Japan— N.Z. pence to I T.T. O.D. 22 13-32 22 3-8 22 11-16 22 43-64 yen Shanghai— N.Z. pence to 1 T.T. O.D. = 17 15-32 17 29-64 dollar Singapore— N.Z. pence to 1 T.T. O.D. 17 53-64 17.51-64 18 21-64 18 5-16 dollar T.T. 34 23-32 35 13-64 Chefoo— N.Z. pence to 1 O.D. 34 5-8 35 3-16 dollar T.T. O.T). 17 53-64 17 25-32 18 29-64 18 7-16