Finance, Stocks, and Mining.

Free Lance, Volume II, Issue 97, 10 May 1902, Page 20

Finance, Stocks, and Mining.

THK balance-falieet of the Feikluig Gas Company for the yeai ended 28th February is satisfactory There is a credit balance of £595 3s .Id, out of which a dividend at the rate of 5 pei cent, is to be paid,i which will leave a balance of £145 3s -3d. Last ■year the dividend was at the rate ot 3 per cent , so that there has since been a con.sideiable impiovement. • • * Shaies in gas companies are geneiallv viewed wih extreme favour by speculators, and rightly so, for, given lair management, gas companies are mvanably successful. Although they are monopolies to a certain extent, they seldom escape the troubles which attack most joint stock companies in their first veais The Feildmg Gas Company has had its shaie of worries, and is now on a fair way to be counted amongst the satisfactory dividend-paying concerns ot the colony. » • ♦ Feilding is a very prosperous town and even in the great depression of 1893-1894 was regarded as a sate business centie. There is an enormous extent ot veiy fine pastoral country around it, and, as the settlers ; aae mostly doing well, the town reflects their prosperity • * * The Wellington Deposit, Mortgage, and Building Association show s a very satisfactoiv balance-sheet for the tew months that it has been in existence. Theie is a debit balance of £17/ 18s lOd due entirely to the whole of the piehminarv expenses being debited. » ♦ * This company is bound to do well if managed at all cautiously, and of the management the best may be said with truth There is plenty of scope for such a concern, as investments in city and suburban property axe strongly in favour. The growth of population, and the increase in the number of transactions in the real estate market, wairanted the introduction of another building company, and the success recorded in the few months proves that the company has been wanted. » • • The piospectus of the Mauriceville Lime Company was issued during the week The capital is fixed at £7000, in shares of £1 each, payable os on application os on allotment, and the balance in calls of 5s each, at mteivals of not less than two months. The company acouires the extensive lime deposits at Mauriceville, and, although they have been worked for fifteen years, there remains sufficient to keep the company going for a long time, even on an increased annual output. • * * The estimates of profit, based on a close and critical examination, show that £1050 should be available as profit, which would equal 15 per cent, on the total capital of the company. Jv/en it we halve this estimate, and assume that a 71 per cent, return is all that the company will earn, it is still a good investment, because the prospects ot expansion are good, and the need for developing such industries is imperative Under the new Companies' Act, very full details must be furnished in the piospectus, and it is refreshing to note that there are no promoters' shares to bo issued to any person, nor are the directors in any way interested in the property except as shareholders. Ine company is placed on the market clean. The preliminary expenses are expected to amount to £300, while the brokers are to receive 5 per cent. The directors are well known business men. and the subscribers to the memorandum ot association are also well known. * * * The vendors receive 111 all £2500 in cash, and 2250 fully paid-up shares, so that the public is offered 4750 shares and the minimum subscription on which the directors may proceed to allotment is 3000 shares. The company is an assured success, as the support promised before the prospectus was issued was very considerable * * * Mr. F. Moore has hatched another scheme for improving the frozen meat trade. By dint of bustling, both in Wellington and Pahiatua, and by interviewing Ministers and members 1 of Parliament, Mr. Moore managed to get the Government to authorise a conference being held to consider his proposals. w # The conference was held in the Chamber of Commerce, Wellington, on the 27th August, and was a rather dismal affair. Mr. Moore's proposal then was to consolidate the intereste of dealers and agents, and to get the middlemen to work in concert.

K\entualh. the following 1 -esolutioii \\cte pioposed, and seconded, and earned without comment — 'That this conscience approves the pioposai to ueate a Boaid of C'ommeice, consisting of representatives of the farming, trading, and labouring communities, and the repiesentatives ot the State, to administer Ihe functions now being discharged b\ the Minister of Tiade amd Customs " And theie the matter diopped. Mv Mooie is now once moie to the foie and tins time he proposes the consolidation of the pioducers' interests onh , and suggests the formation of a crmantic co-operative freezing company, which is to have the light conferred on it by Parliament to pi event any producer outside the co-operative concern fi om dealing w ith his stock in any way that mav suit him. „ * ♦ Mi. Moore's schemes aie lemaikable, m that they are gigantic and impracticable. He puts great faith in legislation curing ail ills, real and imaginary, and there is a good deal of fancy about the grievances* of the freezing industryIt seems to be quite fashionable to attack all concerns that are doing well and prospering. The farmers, however, are not quite as foolish as some people imagine. The stronger the freezing companies are financially, the moi'e hkelv are the-* to take risks on occasions when such nsks would he'p the mdusFanneis cannot take the risks, and therefoie piefei to sell outnght to the heezine- companies If a farmer sells his fait sheep at a profit, what does it matter to him what becomes of t'he sheep or whether the buyer ma.kes a piO'fit 01 a loss? The farmers are being taught to believe that they aie entitled to the entire profit, and tha.t the freezing companies should receive none at all. It is fair to assume that the business methods of the Wellington companies are sound and ~ood. otherwise the bal-ance-sheets w ould have been like some that have been issued in other parts of the colony — disclosing heavy losses. * * * The finances of the colony are appaientlv in a sound condition, for the Acting Premier has announced that the surplus for the year just ended exceeds £270 000. The Railway Department shows the largest increase, being over £148,000 in excess of the previous year. * • * The trade returns of the colony for the first quarter of the year aie not as satisfactory as could be wished. The exports show a decrease of €723,398, and the imports a decrease of £211,730, as compared with the coi responding quarter of last vear. * * * The fall in the price of wool is chiefly responsible* for the decline m the export figuies, and it is probable also that a more correct valuation of the staple this year has made the shrinkage appear larger than it really is. * « • It is difficult to say what has caused the fall in imports, and we must assume that, the exports being less we have been foiced to purchase less in the foieign maikets It is verv likely that there will be a shrinkage in trade t.as vear but not to an extent to cause any distress There may be a reviva.l if peace is quickly restored in South Africa and the promised direct steam <-prvice established In anv case, the savings of the past few prosperous vears will tide us over anv difficulties. * * ♦ Mining calls foi little lemark this week. The letums continue to be satisfactory without being sensational, while speculation is confined to a few stocks some of which sho^ ach ances. * * ■♦ The Big Flat Dredging Company's balance-sheet has been issued and it is likely that the company will go into voluntary liquidation * *• * The Hartley and Riley Company paid a dividend of 2s fid per share on Saturday last, and the Golden Gate a dividend of os on Monday. The Hartley and Rilev has had another good return, so that the shareholders ma\ look for another dividend. * » * The Hartley and Riley is not listed on the Dunedin Exchange, consequently the shares are never quoted, which is a mistake. In the past the speculation m Hartley and Riley has been very encouraging for market operators. * * * The Teviot dredge is working steadily on the Roxburgh Lead claim, but the ground is very deep. * • * The Grey River Dredging Company will either wind-up or remove its dredge to another claim.