COMMERCE AND FINANCE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVIII, Issue 18583, 9 December 1920, Page 8

COMMERCE AND FINANCE.

<BT OUR FINANCIAL EDITOR.) : DAL&ETY AND CO., LTDtV roport of Dalgety and Co., Lid., tor «ha year fended June 80, 1920, presented to tho . annual meeting in London on November % shows that tho dividend on ordmasy shares for tho yoar, inclusive of interim dividend, is at tho rate of 10, per cent, m addition to a bonus of 6 per cent, together 16 per pent, against 14 per cent in _ the two previous years. The sum of £50,000 is transferred to reserve fund, raising to ,8900.000. Othef aptopriationa inciudo £SO, written off premises, and £IO,OOO to the staff benevolent fund. A comparison with the two previous years is ss follows:

• ‘ ' June 80, June 80, June 30, • - 1918. 1919. 1920

CHEESE PROSPECTS. Decent statements in tho Press concern jpg- the cheese position in England are causing some tmeasinSSs among ch'c'so suppliers, writes the Hamilton correspondent of the "New Zealand: Herald.” Advices jreceived by cpble by tho New' Zealand CoOperative; Dairy Company -within the last tew days show- that there is no cause for nhdue. .anxiety. There has certainly been ft Blight; weakening in (lie cheese market in Great Britain, the fall in price being about ft peimy per lb. :This decrease is due largely •tft.-the exceptionally heavy British make ■which "li';now being marketed, and the preindications afe that the fall is temper. is possible that cheese may pay slightly ..less than was indicated some months ago; blit so far the difference in price is BOfriiiifficient to “cause uneasiness. Th’et*?first consignment of New Zealand cheese, manufactured this season will be shipped from the Auckland province shortly, hilt Will not reach London until about the';'end., of January. The bulk of New Zealand:'oh ere e, therefore, will not, be available Great Britain until March and April, when it is anticipated that a large portion of . the British make will have been disposed 'of',' and" -that New Zealand will Jiavoia fairly' free market. To,:,nr ovule for contingencies ill the event Of a. further decrease in the price of cheese the (New Zealand Co-operative Dairy Company has considered the possibility of a changeover from cheeso to butter. At the present; time the position does not warrant this and the company therefore recommends cheese factories to continue as usual 'V:

• * CEMENT .SUPPLIES. As an outcome of the, Canterbury Progress Jjeague’s recent efforts to secure cement supplies for the Otira tunnel, the Public Department , is calling tenders for tho supply of imported cement. The league organiser (Mr P. R. Clhnie) was advised to tins .effect vesterdev by the Under-Secre-It may be necessary for those Christchurch firms who at the suggestion of tho league,, recently supplied Quotations to the Department for cement, to do so again in tertns of the contract, which will be duly advertised in the local papers. ' . . '

f; T HONEY PROSPECTS. .1° rec ®nt years the demand for honey has increased enormously and the export from New, Zealand has grown in proportion. Many [returned soldiers have become interested in commercial bee fanning, and according to the last returns there are GIOO apiaries in the Dominion ! aud 75,009 colonies of bees. In addition to the number stated it is known that there are residents, scattered throughout New Zealand, who have-failed to register their 'hivca, and the department purposes taking action against the offenders for not complying with tho regulations. Foul brood, it is stated, is one of the principal diseases that apiarists have to contend with, and •the disease is so. of ten spread from colonies fept for a hobby that it is nocossary that 4jyll colonies should bo registered in order •fiat -the apiarists who farm bees for comifaercial purposes may not suffer through their took becoming contaminated.

... SHIPMENTS. The shipping companies have informed the Agricultural Department that there is reason lor believing that ample space will be available far shipment of this season’s apple crop. There have already boon a considerable num,ber of applications for space, the preliminary bookings being in the vicinity of 230,000 leases, but the shipping companies will be unable to state what spaco will bo available until about ,the middle of January. .When this is ascertained', shippers who have applied for accommodation will bo called [upon to sign an agreement and enter into '* bond, .undertaking to consign the number 'Sf cases for which space has been allotted ; tbem. In the event of this not being carried 'out, the dead space will have to bo paid for. No objection, if is understood, will be made against a shipper who finds that he cannot carry out his oontract, arranging with another who is in a position to fill the space.

!*; THE WORLD’S WHEAT, ....The latest bulletin of agricultural and Commercial statistics, published by the -{lnternational Institute of Agriculture of i Rome, announces that the United States •wheat crop 0f.1920 is estimated at 21 million ijaetrio tons (14.5 million winter and 6.6 million spririg J ttheat)^- / ‘The latest estimate of :the Canadian crop is 7.9 million tons, while the stocks of old crop wheat in the United States on July 1 were 4.1 million tons. The aggregate North American supply of wheat for the current season is, therefore, 33 milMpn tons, as. compared with 82.4 million fn s>l9,and/an average of 31.8 million during - j.tfco previous five years. Those data all include estimates of old stocks at the beginning ','ii July, and indicate that the North ■ American supply of wheat for 1920-21 is apparently much ns usual. • Farm preparations for the winter wheat crop of 1921 are progressing favourably, i>'< Including the North Amerioan data, estimates of the northern Hemisphere 'wheat .crops of 1920 from tho following countries:— Spain, Italy, Algeria, Tunis, Bulgaria, Finland, Switzerland, British India and Guatemala, amount to 48.4 million metric tons, a« doom pared with (the same aggregato of 48.4 (/■million in 1919 and an average'of 49.2 miljjilion during the previous five years. Ex-

elusive of Russia, these quantities are about 79 per cent of tho wheat production in the northern hemisphere. Tho wheat crop is reported *s above the average in Austria, Czccho-Slovakia, Denmark, France, tho Netherlands and Sweden; average in Germany and Ireland, and slightly under average in England end Scotland. Rye is good in Austria, the Netherlands and Sweden, but below tho average in Germany, Czecho-Slovakia and Poland.

Reports on tho course of tho Indian monsoon have been fairly favourable, generally speaking, for rice and other summer crops, but more rain is needed in the areas to. bo Eown with wheat. Karachi wheat prices have advanced about 6 . per cent. The preliminary estimalo of area under wheat in Argentina is 6.5 million hectares (a hectare is not quite 2J acres), 7 per cent larger than last year’s, but 3 per cent below the average. Tho aggregate in Argentina, South Africa and Australia, comprising 92 per cant of tho wheat-producing area in the southern hemisphere, is estimated at 11,5 million, hectares, 28 per cent more than in 1919 and 2 per cent above the average. None but favourable accounts of the growing wheat crop were receiver? by tho institute for Australia, while the official report from Argentina forecast an average yield.

y; £ Jffof profit . . 2G1.000 B&l.' brt. forward . 102,770 £ 262,157 113,771 £ 292,577 120,928 363,770 875,928 413,505 Dlv. on ord. shares, 8 per cent . . 80.000 — Div. on ord. shares, 10 per cent . . — 100,000 100,000 Bonus-on ord. shares, 6 per cent . . 60,000 — Bonus on ord. shares, Bonus, oh ord. shares, 4 p&t 'cent . . — 40,000 — Bonus; on ord. shares, E per'ycent . . — Div -dir pref. shares, 50,000 5 per cent . : 25,000, 25.000 25,000 To reserve fund .. . 50,000 50,000 50.000 Written off premises 25,000 30,000 60,000 Staff- benevolent fund . . . 10,000 10,000 10,000 Carried forward . 113,770 120,928 128,505