WELLINGTON TOPICS

Hokitika Guardian, 29 January 1927, Page 1

WELLINGTON TOPICS

INVESTMENT IN SHARES

(Special to “ Guardian.”)

WELLINGTON. January 20

The Rent Restriction Act and the .Mortgages Extension Act which Parliament considered necessary for .stileguarding the community during the war period and after created new dilficuities. Had these measures been given a temporary existence the position might not have developed as it Inis, hut the .Mortgages Extension Act was maintained longer than was necessary. while the Rent Restriction Act with slight modifications is still in force. These Act- and other restrictions together with heavy taxation forced those with funds to invest to seek other channels of investment. avoiding mortgages. The slump of 1920-21 which found the weal; points in. farm laud values was another factor to turn investors from mortgages of real estate to other investments. Such were ready to hand in Government stocks and bonds and in debentures of local bodies. The latter, however, never gained a popularity bei a use it was no so easy to convert, -ueh debentures into cash when the ueccssitv arose. Now the investors are quite satisfied with Stock Exchange securities and the exchanges of NonZealand hist year handled a large volume ol business. It may lie that the turnover during the cum nt year will not equal that of li'c’d, hut of course a good deal must depend upon the volume of money available for such investment. The probability is that it will he less I it: cause the income ol the 1 eottittry on the trade figures has been substantially less. Values of shares displayed a remarkable steadinesss throughout the year, and of course there wore certain groups that were more favourable than others. Eor instance haul; shares have claimed the close attention of investors, notwithstanding the low yield. It was not the interest return that iiillueneed inves-1

tors, hut the probable appreciation ol capital. The issue of new shares tit a small or no premium, and bonus shares have proved very attractive and there have las'll quite a number of such

issues during ihe past three or four years. The first, share list issued by the Wellington Stock Exchange gives the quotations ruling for all classes of stock and slum's as at January l ltli, 11)27. and it is interesting to compare the prices of to-day with those of twelve months ago. It may he said generally that the trend of prices litas been upwards and in many eases the advances have been substantial. Taking hank shares, the quotation for the Rank of Australasia shares is til l Is. and it stooil at the same figure a year ago. Bank of New South Wales shares were Cl 3 lOs in January, 1!)2(>, and now' rule tit thi Ins. an advance of £3 os. Union Bank shares standing now at £IS ils (more lias been paid for them) have risen 5- lid. Bank of New Zealand shares have perhaps had more turnover than the shares of any other bank, and they show a rise of 3s at the current, quotation of oils. National

Raid; shares a year ago were in demand at Co l.’ls, and to-day buyers are offering C 7 Is. Insurance shares show somewhat similar movements. Standard .insurance shares at oils 9d show tut advance of 8s and South British shares at ofks (Id. are 3s (Id higher. New Zealand insurance shares at 37s I’d are at the same price as they were a year ago. while National Insurance) shares at 73s Oil arc 3s 3d lower. Investors have shown very little interest in some groups of shares and for obvious reasons. .Meat coys’ shares have been out of favour for a considerable time and one has only to examine the recently-issued balance sheets to appreciate this. Then again the shares of timber companies have been slow, for the timber industry is alleged to bo i suffering from the menace of imported timbers which are underselling the local product. Lcyland-O’Briett Timber shares have remained steady at about 40s. but this concern is a merehaiiting as well as producing. Kauri Timber shares, on the other hand, dropped from 32s to 27s (Id. Huddart Parker shipping shares tit -Ids (Id show the small advance of 2s. but P and 0. deferred stocks at £2ll show an appreciation of El l. Coal shares have been spasmodic but Westport Coat shares advanced 3s 3d to 31s Oil. British Tobacco .shares advanced from 13s (id to 50s 9d, and Colonial Sugar Coy’s shares show a rise ol 20s at £54 15s. The mortgage business is now left mainly to the Advances to Settlersoffice and the other lending departments of the State, while private enterprise is represented principally by building associations and mortgage companies.