COMMERCIAL.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XXII, Issue 1269, 26 July 1864, Page 4

COMMERCIAL.

Lytlelton Times Office, Monday evening. The general dulness of trade and the unsettled weather have produced an unfavourable effect on the market. The farmers are engaged iit various occupations on their lands, land besides, the foggy weather causes the wheat to he so damp that otherwise tending buyers decline to effect large purchases. Wheat may be quoted at last week's prices, viz., 10s to 10s 6d per bushel. Barley is still nominally 5s per bushel, and oats 3s to to 3s 3d, but the transactions in both these articles are extremely limited. Flour still rules at £30 to £30 10s per ton (wholesale), and 32s 6dper 100 lbs. (retail). There has been absolutely, nothing done in either bran, sharps, peas or maize. Hay is still plentiful and realizes about £4 per ton. Potatoes are rather cheaper; they fetch from £10 to £10 10s per ton (retail). We have no alteration to report in the price of the miscellaneous articles of consumption. Fruit is very scarce; the stock of apples and pears being very limited. Eggs are about 3s 9d per dozen. Carrots, parsnips, &c., remain at last week's prices. The same remark applies to building materials and fuel which have undergone no change in value. The following are extracts from the Argus commercial correspondence from London: — London, May 26. Tlje month just expiring has been one of extraordinary agitation in the money market. Just after the dispatch of the April mail a sudden demand for gold and notes sprang up, traceable to no special cause, which threatened to seriously derange our financial equilibrium. It was sharply and decisively met by the directors of the Bank advancing their minimum from seven to eight per cent. The measure however proved inadequate to the emergency. There appearing no prospect of an immediate subsidence of the movement, four days after the previous rise the Bank authorities advanced their lowest rate to nine per cent. Numerous transactions for several days took place at nine and a half to ten per cent, but these were exceptional. The cause of the last rise is said, among other things, to have been the endeavour to secure £700,000 for export to Egypt; and as the directors, in the then condition of the Bank, considered that it was not prudent to suffer such an export, they determined, at any risk, by measures of stringency, to defeat such a step.

The policy was successful. The exchanges turned in favour of this country, speculation was restrained, and money flowed back into the coffers of the Bank, The apprehended crisis was averted. As the current terms in the open market soon receded, the directors of the Bank of England found themselves obliged, on the 20th instant., to reduce their minimum to eight per cent—a movement which was immediately imitated by the Paris establishment. The addition to the resources of our national establishment since the sth instant amounts to £SOO,OOO in the stock of coin and bulliotf, and to near £1,500,000 in the reserve. At the corresponding period of last year, the coin and bullion were £14,653,141, or near £1,400,000 above the sum at present held, while the rate of discount was only three per cent. The reserve then stood at £8,665,531, or £1,507,620 higher than the figures in the last return. The Bank of France holds £1,508,000 less bullion than in May, 18G3; but the increased trade demand is evidenced in the amount of bills discounted and not due, which is higher by £7,500,000 than that given in the corresponding return of 1863. On the whole, the last monthly return is the best issued for a long time.

At noon to-day (26th) the. Bank minimum was reduced to seven per cent.

Dividend Meetings.—At the meeting of the New Zealand Banking Corporation, on the 2nd inst., a dividend was declared at the rate of "10 per cent, per annum. It was also decided to reduce the nominal value of the shares to £10 per share, and to increase the number in proportion, as well as to issue the remaining 2000 shares at a premium of twenty-five per cent. The annual meeting of the Trust and Agency Company of Australasia took place on the 9th,when a dividend of seven and a half per cent.was declared, making a total distribution for the year of nearly ten and a half per cent. At a special meeting, subsequently held, the directors were authorised to issue £25,000 of new capital, of which only liqlf the amount will, it is understood, be at once raised, by the issue of shares to the present shareholders at 10s premium. The directors of the Panama, New Zealand, and Australian Royal Company have issued their report for presentation at the ensuing general meeting of shareholders, on the 30th. The receipts for Government subsidies, freight, and passage money, amounted to £118,702, and the expenditure on working account to £84,900 19s. After appropriating £13,600 to repair, renewal, &c., the difference in favour of the company represented £20,201 7s. 5d,; which added to the balance brought forward, made a total of £21,195 IGs. After setting apart a sum for depreciation, and writing off the balance of preliminary expenses, &c., and taking credit for the dividend for the half-year ending June, a dividend on the old shares, for the six months endfng the 31st December, 1863, at the rate of seven per cent, is now recommended. In defiancc of the extreme stringency of the money market, several new financial companies, after the type of those which have inundated tire public for many months past, have made their appearance. These are the Maritime Credit Company, capital X 1,000,000, intended to make advances on shipping, wharfs, ship-yards, docks, warehouses, and every description of maritime securities; the General Contracts Company, with a million, to take over the business of Mr. Rowland Brotherhood and his establishment, at the Great Western Railway Station, Chippenham; the Freehold and General Investment Company, capital £250,000, for the purchase of freehold or leasehold property in London aud neighbourhood susceptible of improvement and adaptation to first-class houses, offices,and chambers; the English, Swedish, and Continental Financial Company, capital £1,000,000; the Italian Credit Association, capital £3,000,000, designed to promote the monetary and industrial undertakings of Italy; and the General Credit Company have resolved to augment their capital to £5,000,000, and start an affiliated society in Paris. So great has been its prosperity, that a profit of between £350,000 and £400,000 in the year is anticipated. Then we have, in addition, the International Contract Company, with a capital of

.£4,000,000-, nn<l the Lund Credit Company of Ireland, capital one million. The creation of now bnnks also proceeds with unabated vigour. Tho Eastern Exchange Bank, with capital of" two millions, is formed to connect Liverpool with the Mediterranean, the East Indies, China, and Australia, with which it has not now * single direct hanking connexion. The Asiatic Banking Corporation is about to commence business in London, and ngcncies and brunches arc being organised at Bombay, Calcutta, Singapore, Ceylon, llongKoiig, and Shanghai. The subscribed capital is £?>OO,OOO, with power to increase it to two millions. The Provincial Banking Corporation, capital £2.000,000 aims at acquiring.the business, nnd connexion of existing provincial establishments, by absorption or purchase, A Scinde, Punjaub, and Delhi Bond Corporation is announced, with capital of £1,000,000, A London and Venezuela Bank also is in course of formation, capital half a million. A Scottish and Universal Finance Bank, capital £1,000,000 is started on the model of the Credit Mobilier of Paris ; the directors have bought the business of Messrs. Nathan and Co., Cornhill, the bullion and exchange brokers. Several existing banks, in order to enable tliein to compete with their new upstart rivals, are increasing their capital. Thus, the Oriental Bank propose to raise an additional £ 1,500,000 ; the Union Bank to increase their resources from three to four millions : and the Bank of London to add £200,000. Meanwhile the work of amalgamation is steadily and simultaneously proceeding, particularly among banking and financial and credit associations. A disposition is evinced, both by directors and shareholders, to encourage -this movement, on the-ground that it will arrest or mitigate the competition which would otherwise inevitably ensue. The too, will tend to diminish the tremendous pressure which will be increasingly felt as engagements mature and calls are made. Among the amalgamations announced are those between the private banks of Messrs. Barnett, Hoare, and Co., and Messrs. Hanbury and Co.; between the English and. Irish and the European Bank; the Bank of Wales has absorbed' that of Messrs. Lock, Hulm, and Co., of Pembroke and Tenby; the directors of the Scottish and Universal Finance Bank have purchased the business and connexions of Messrs. Haggard and Co., bullion merchants. The Mercantile Credit Association and the Imperial Financial Company are also about to unite their fortunes. The Board of Trade Returns for the month, and. three months ending March 31, present some extraordinary results. I subjoin a statement of the total declared value of the exports of British and Irish produce and manufactures during the month and three months in the last three years For the month. For the three months. f862 £9,661,649 1562 £26,423,763 1863 10,217,473 1863 27,561,204 1864 13,555,674 1864 35,667,381 The mon th's exports are shewn to have been larger by £3,338,201, or thirty-two per cent., than in. the same month of 1863, and larger by £3,891,025 or forty per cent., than in March, 1862. The magnitude of this increase is very Remarkable, and, as usual, nearly all the great staples of manufacture have participated in it. It appears that a convention has b?en , signed between the French, Portuguese, Italian, Brazilian and Haytian Governments, for the establishment of telegraphic communication between the continent of Europe and America. A total subvention of about £480,000 will be given jointly by the Governments, who guarantee the neutrality of the line. , , _i In reference to the telegraph to America, the New York Tribune says " The necessary arrangements for another attempt to lay a submarine telegraph between Ireland and North America have been made and the Atlantic Telegraph Company are more sanguine than ever that the experiment to be undertaken in the spring of 1865 will be a cemplete success. By the time that the Atlantic Telegraph Company is ready for its grand enterprise, a second and entirely different line of telegraphic communication between Europe and America will approach, if not reach, its completion. This is the line running across Siberia, thence connecting with Russian America, thence passing through British Columbia, and ultimately reaching our Pacific States. The most difficult portion of this telegraph, that through Siberia, is now, according to a recent dispatch, completed .a3 far as Irkutsk, the capital of Eastern Siberia. Mr. Collins, a citizen of the United States, to whom the Russian Government has given for a period of thirty.?six years the exclusive right of working this telegrkph through the Russian dominions, has now obtained from the -British Government the right,of way through British Columbia. The Western Union Telegraph Company of the United States are prepared to assume ithe construction of the line, and capitalists ..are ready to supply the money for carrying out the undertaking. It is intended to continue the telegraph northward along the western coast of British America to Bcrhing's Straits, which will be crossed by a sub-marine cable, forty miles long, thence along the coast of Arctic Russia to the mouth of the Amoor River, at which point the Russian Government have agreed to meet the line and connect it with their own. The new line will be not far from 4,200 miles in extent, and when completed, it will unite Europe, Asia, and America, principally by land."

THE WOOL SALES. The second series of public sales of colonial wool for the present year commenced on the sth instant. The total arrivals since last series amount to 108,763 bales, consisting of 15,281 bales from Sydney, 46,958 Victoria, 15S8 Tasmania, 16,470 Adelaide, 2079 Swan River, 8854 New Zealand, and 12,523 bales from the Cape of Good Hope. The attendance of buyers—both home and continental—was lajge, and the biddings, notwithstanding the .advance in the Bank rate to nine per cent., ruled active, -at the full prices current at the close of lust sales. Since the opening day activity and firmness have ruled; Writing on the 21st, the Economist says:—" The attendance of buyers at the public sales of colonial wool now in progress continues good. For most descriptions the biddings have shown increased animation, and, compared with the close of last series, prices now exhibit an improvement of $d to Id per lb. Export buyers are operating freely in the usual descriptions of wool." At the recent public sales of low wool, held at Liverpool, the greater portion of the supply offered— viz., X 0,958 bales, of which 10,603 bales were from the East Indies, 8000" from South America, and about 4700 bales from Russia, Turkey, Smyrna, &c.—wa9 taken by home buyers. Messrs. Ronald and Son state that good white and yellow East India advanced on the average 2}-d, lower classes and grey wools Id to l£d, and Persian Id per lb. White East Indian realised Is to 2s 2£d ; tinged white aud good yellow, ll£d to 2s ; low and middling yellow, 9d to Is 2d; and white Persian, Is 4d to ls7£d per lb. For English wool, by private contract, there is a good demand at the full prices. New home-grown produce continue to realise high rates. At Bradford, new Yorkshire and Lincolnshire hogget- wool has been disposed of at 2s Cd to 2s 7d ; wether do. 2s l£d to 2s2£d; Irish: hoggets, 2ssdto2s6d; do. wethers, 2s 2d to 2s 3d per lb. We learn from the Cape that the demand for wool for shipment to the North American States ruled active, and that Bfd to 9£d per lb. had been paid at Port Elizabeth for best greasy wogl for that purpose. Freight for London at Cape Pown was Id to per lb.; at Algoa Bay, £d to Jd per lb. To the United States, the rate of freight was $d per lb. for grease wool.