COMMERCIAL

Greymouth Evening Star, 7 May 1936, Page 8

COMMERCIAL

SYDNEY WOOL SALES. [by cable —PRESS ASSN. —COPYBIGHT.] SYDNEY, May 6. At the wool sales, 10,227 bales were ■offered and 8827 sold, also 2932 privately. Competition was again strong and general. The Japanese section was particularly active. Values were equal to the previous day. GOLD AND EXCHANGE. LONDON, May 6. Gold 140/8, dollar 496, franc 75 11-32. ADDINGTON MARKET. CHRISTCHURCH, May 7. Heavy entries were the rule at today’s Addington market, except in the store sheep section. Store sheep values were easier for ewes by 1/- to 1/6 a head, the penning being mostly aged sorts. Wethers and lambs, both forward and for carrying over, were easier by .up to 1/-. Fat lambs: A good sale for a normal yarding. Fat sheep: A heavy entry of 5000 butchers’ sheep sold at last week’s rates, but the lighter sorts were a shade firmer, exporters being more keenly in the market than at last week. Best wethers made 26/- to 30/-, medium 23/- to 25/6. light down to 21/6, ewes made from 22/- to 26/- for best, 19/- to 21/-. for medium, and down to 14/- for light. Fat cattle: Poor quality in a heavy entry of 510 head, and the sale was back by 10/- a head. Best steers made from £lO to £l2 7/6, medium £7 10/to £9 10/-, best heifers £7 to £9 7/6, medium £5 10/- to £6 15/-, best cows from £6 10/- to £8 15/-, medium from £5 to £6 5/-, inferior down to £3 10/-. Fat pigs: Good sale for baconers, but weaker for porkers. Exporters were in market for porkers. Baconers 5d to 5Jd lb. Porkers 5d 5Ad. SALE OF JERSEYS MASTERTON, May 6. An unreserved dispersal sale of the well-known Middle Run jersey stud, founded in 1903, by W. H. Booth arid Sons, was held to-day, buyers being present from all parts of New Zealand. Top price was 181 gns. paid bj r Heapy Ltd., Greytown, for the cow Rewa Freemont. This is the highest price for a jersey female for the past six years. The same purchasers secured the next highest priced cow, Rewa Rose Marie, for 110 gns. The top price for bulls, 71 gns, was paid by A. Somerville, Takapau. The average for cows was 26 gns. and for bulls 28£ gns. The cattle were secured by breeders frbiri both islands, and werp widely distributed.

LONDON WOOL SALES. (Recd. May 7, 11 a.m.). LONDON, May 6. Poor Continental competition was chiefly responsible for values tending in buyers' favour at wool sales. Dawson’s point out that France is very nervous over the internal and also the international situation. Germany is still out of the market on account of import restrictions. The position of Britain is sound and prosperous; but a period ol cautious trading during Summer is advisable. Wool is sounder than most raw materials. Recent irregularities in cotton and wheat, however, cannot be ignored. —LATER At the sales, 11,272 bales were offered, including 3,756 Uew Zealand, and 8,191 sold. A good selection. Competition was active chiefly from the home trade. Australian greasies were again largely withdrawn owing to the firm limits, the prices favouring the buyers. New Zealand greasy half-bred Hakataramea top IGAd. —Average 15d.

STOCKS AND SHARES. WELLINGTON, May 7. Sales: G. J. Coles 73/-; Woolworths Ltd., £7/16/6; Shillings Ltd. S/f). CHRISTCHURCH, May 7. Sales: Bank N.Z. 44/9, Anthony Hordern 19/2, Dunlop Rubber 16/2 (3), Hume Pipe Trust 17/2 (2), Golden Dawn 3/-, Maori Gully lid. Reported: Bank N.Z. 44/9 (late sale 6th), Mount Lyell 24/6; unlisted, Woolworth’s (Sydney, ord.) £7/17/-. DUNEDIN, May 7.’ Sales reported: Bruce Woollen 23/-, Associated Motorists pref. 27/-, Shillings 8/6?b, Refrigerating cont. 9/6, Kauri Timber 22/11, Electrolytic pref. 39/9, Mount Lyell 26/7, Mt. Morgan Developments 3/-, Argo Dredging 1/SX. After call: Gillespie’s 1/2. AUCKLAND, May 7. Sales: Big River 2/1, Martha 1/8, Golden Dawn 3/-, Northern Steam 7/-, 6/11; Leyland O’Brien 22/9, Kauri 23/-, Cement 43/6, New Zealand Insurance 60/10, Woolworth’s (Sydney) £7/16/-, Bank of New South Wales £33, Mt. Albert 1960, £lO6. WESTPORT COAL COMPANY. DUNEDIN, May 6. The Directors of the Westport Coal Company have declared an interim dividend of sixpence a share, payable on May 2S.

BLACKWATER MINES. [SPECIAL to “star.-'] REEFTON, May 7. Blackwater Mines return for the month of April:—Crushed 3,606 tons, yielding 1,704 fine ounces of gold, from all sources, the value of which, taking gold at 140/6 per fine ounce, is £11,968. Working expenses were £6,151, leaving a working profit of £5,827. Development expenditure was £267, and capital expenediture £552. ALEXANDER MINES. Gold returns for March and April: Battery department—s9o tons of ore crushed' for 2580zs Sdwts. melted gold. Cyanide department—36o tons of sands treated for 58ozs. 2dwts. bullion. Total estimated value: £2,290. In addition, 8:J tons of concentrates have been saved, valued at £l5O. Note: In estimating the above values, gold has been taken at 145/- per fine ounce. STAFFORD GOLD PROFIT. Stafford Gold Dredging, N.L., a Melbourne company, earned a net profit of £4071 for the year ended January 31. With £1844 brought forward, a sum of £5915 is available. A dividend of 6d a share, paid May 31, required £3750, and £2165 is carried forward. The directors hope to declare a second dividend at an early date. Running 80 per cent, of possible working time, the dredge treated 466,150 cubic yards; and recovered 2157.30 z gold, valued at £A17,288, equal to 8.9 d a cubic yard. Working expenditure was &A12J170, or 6.3 d a

cubic yard. During the year small jigs installed on the dredge improved the gold recovery, and further experiments are being carried out. At present the dredge is operating in more suitable ground, and bettei values have been recovered. For the five months ended April 10, the average was 10 Jd a yard. Working expenditure during the year was higher than expected, due chiefly to incraSed hiainteriance charges, and further purchases of parts will be necessary this year. Only portion of an ad- J joining area, about 2,000,000 cubic yards, valued at 7Jd a cubic yard, proved suitable, arid the directors decided, instead of forming a separate company, to add the area to the company’s holding. COLONIAL SUGAR COMPANY. HALF-YEARLY REPORT. [BY CABLE—PRESS ASSN. —COPYRIGHT.] SYDNEY, May 6. At the half-yearly meeting of the Colonial Sugar Refining Company, Limited, to-day, it was announced that the profits for the half-year ended March 31 ariiounted to £494,912, to which had to be added £340,439, the balance of the profit and loss account at September 30. 1935, making a total of £835,351. The Board intends to pay dividends to the extent of 12/6 per share, absorbing £365,625, and leaving £496.726, from which £lOO,OOO will be placed in the reserve fund 1 , leaving to the credit of the profit and loss account £369,726. The Chairman, Mr E. R. Knox, in moving the adoption of the report, said that the* Australian sugar crop 1 had been larger than expected, and totalled 622,600 tons. In Fiji, too, the actual production was higher than ’ anticipated. The prospects there for ’ the coming season were bright. In ’ fact, the Fiji indications pointed to a record crop. He said that the preliminary estimate in regard to the Queensland and New South Wales crop stands at 670,000 tons, as cdm- , pared with the previous record of 634,000 tons in 1933. He stated that the consumption of refined sugar in ! the Commonwealth was now on the basis of the peak years of 1928-29, while in New Zealand a steady annual , increase continues.

The Chairman explained that the compariy was establishing a new industry in Australia for the production of fibre board suitable for insulating and lining, to be manufactured from megas, which is the fibre from the sugar cane. The company is also rebuilding, on portion of its Sydney properties, modern structures for the replacing of thblr former old fashioned premises, which will enable the land to be turned to better usb.

The report was adopted. Mr R. W. Gillespie was re-elected a director.