TRADE AND COMMERCE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIII, Issue 351, 20 March 1922, Page 5

TRADE AND COMMERCE.

MARKETS VERY STEADY

BETTER TONE ON STOCK EXCHANGE-.

By Electrio Telegrp ph.—Copyright. Received March 20, 8.5 a.m. LONDON, March 18. Under the influence of the engineering lock-out, the political complications, tins Indian unrest and (he South African d'.sturbance. there has been smite restriction on busine.-a on the Stock Exchange. A "bearish" tendency became apparent anil British funds had ihe first setback for some time, there being numerous profittaking alts, but tie markots-generally displayed remaikahh steadiness, and with the crushing o! thi Rand rebellion and the annonnieinetit tltiit a nninber of the most

important mines were resuming work immediately, the tone al| round improved considerably. This tendency is hejped by the general impression that the Budget will reduce the income tax by Is. The rccenl weakness of Ihe American exchange appears to have been due to profit-taking by American investors, which ' lias now ceased. The depreciation of the Gentian mark was a natural result i>t the drain of ihe reparations payment. Wool. SALES SATISFACTORILY. The progress of the. won! sales is completely satisfactory, especially the way the catalogues are being cleared. A noteworthy feature is the German demand, which has been well maintained despite (bo depreciated eiirrtney. German representative* :ini also inquiring in the English country markets for n.-01. Reports from ihe Leipzig fair state thai German wool and textile manufacturers rold mi the lirsl day till tiny could deliver within a reasonable time, and thai the inadequate supplier nl wool are restricting the output of the finished article. Considering tile enormous quantities of raw material which have pone to Germany during the la-i 12 months, the probability is that llits shortage refers only to hosiery "sorts, last, month over 10,000,000 pounds of wool .were slopped to Germany from liiitaie, and during the last four months the shipments averaged 24,000 bales. There is great scarcity of line tops at Bradford owing to the refusal of the wool combers' operatives to work overtime, which makes ii impossible to increase the supplies. CHEESE OUTLOOK PROMISING. The outlook for the cheese trade is very promising. Om consumptive demand for imported cheese is reckoned at about 11,000 ions montlilv, but the March arrivals only amount to 9500 tons, and only 3800 tons arc. due in April, litis I cite; mainly owing to the shortage of .shipping spac- from New Zealand. Consequently importers are able [to raise the prices, The only fear is that I the advance will check the retail demand. APPLE SI PPUES EXHAUSTED. The at pie supplies, are nearly exhausted, and the prospects foi fresh Australian appear excellent. One leading importer thinks thai good varieties should realise 20s per THE WINE TRADE. The national '.vine week being held in Paris is a conference of glowers, merchants and shippers. The primary object is to reestablish prosperity of the wine trade. Forty year* ago 6.000.000 acres in France were under vine cultivation and yielded about 1,825.000,000 gallons per year. Now the acreage is 4,600.C00 and the output 1,000,000,000 gallon-. M. Gervais, of the Academy of Agriculture, styles that the sale of wines has diminished 50 per cent, during the last 50 years, lie attributes this to the increased duties abroad, which tire prohibitive for ordinary wines. He point- out that the present F.ngli-h duties represent a tax of 17 per cent, on fine Bordeaux wine. 35 petcent. 0!: \iu ordinaire, i,in\ 113 per cent, e.u the cheapest wines. M. Gervais advocates a general revision of the la.rill's from the proportional point of view. Tins French conference decided upon n propaganda campaign in ihe Allied and. neutral countries in favour of French wines. Ii was declared thai the French people would regard the prohibition of imports of wine as a declaration of an economic war. One of the measures suggested is an agreement between France and the other countries exporting wine- and spirits for mutual tariff concessions.—A. and X.Z. cable.