Finance Stocks and Mining.

Free Lance, Volume VII, Issue 351, 23 March 1907, Page 5

Finance Stocks and Mining.

WTEW York lias again proved the JM financial stoim centre. About -* 1 ™ six niontns ago there was a splendid booon m stocks and shares, and the nation.il banks of New Yoi k, w hidh take no inconsiderable part in the gambling, bom-owed 1 money fteely in Londkm and Pans, paying vary btiff rates for same. The crisis of last week may or may not have been just a continuation of tihe September troubles, but there is no doubt that the multi-millionaires, E. H. Ha.uiman on the one side and J. Pierpont Morgan on the other, have had boraethmg to do wbth it. • * * These two men have been opponents in the world of finance foir about thirty years. The other day Hamman is said to have scooped the pool and made a large sum of money on papeu Then it seems that J. P. Moirgan took a hand! in the game and! apparently with 6Uooess. Morgan would naturally depress the shares and get the banks, or such of them as were undlex his control, to call in loans. TJniablp to borrow money, and with shares being knocked 1 down, the market collapsed, Harriman was unable to finance his large holding, and Morgan is again top The United States Treasury has had to come to the rescue to prevent a panic, and has placed seventy-one million dollars at the disposal of the New York hanks. This will bring peace for a time, but later on, perhaps in three months' time, there is sure to be another upheaval in Wall-street. We have yet to learn of the number of failures as the result of the panio of last week. • • • For a twenty-veai-old office, the ( t zens' Life Assurance Company shows a remarkable record. The report and balance-sheet for 1906 are now before us, and the figures aire truly impressive. Dun ing the year the ordinary bran oh issued 6695 policies, assuring £1,040.704 producing a new annual premium income of £36.608 18s Bd. The renewal premiums, less reinsurances, amounted to £192,962: interest and rent produced 1 £49,617 • the tofcail income fo- the year being £278,713 14s 6d. On the othei sidle of the account, olaimia amounted to £25,776, endowments and endowment assurances to £9754, surrenders and bonuses to £24,998, net expenses to £34,88t>, the total outgo being £97,529 5s 7d, the excess of revenue over expenditure being thus £181,184 8s lid; consequently the funds have been mci eased from £1,058,572 19s 8d to £1,239,757 8s 7d. The expense ratio of the ordinary branch shows a very substantial decrease as compared with the two previous years. In 1904 the ratio was 13.3 per cent, of the total income, in the following yeai it was reduced to 13.1 per cent., and there was a further reduction in 190b to 12.51 per cent. • • • The investments of the company are very well distributed, being held puincipally in Government and municipal securities and debentures, the amount so held in the ordinary branch being £633,687; loans on moutgage and policies total £414,761. The. average rate of interest earned by the funds ■was £4 8s 3d, which was slightly lonver than in 1905, owing to the large investment in Government securities, which, while affording a very safe investment, do not yield so la.rge a return as loans on mortgage of real estate. Every penny of inteiest due was actually collected, and that says a good deal for the care displayed in making investments. • • • In the industrial branch the total revenue amounted to £205,909 10s 7d, of which £180,109 17s lOd was received fi om premiums and £22 594 8s lOd interest and rents. The claims and expenses aggregated £122,856 12s 3d, leaving the net revenue at £83,052 18s 4d>, and the funds have been increased from £479,799 2s 3d to £562,852 0s 7d. The total assets of the industrial branch is £569,734, of which Government securities and municipal debentures amount to £270,457. • • • The Provident Life Assurance Company is a small ooncern, with head«n«r+.oTc in ThiTiArKn Thp oomnanv

handles, industrial life assurance, a class of insurance that is receiving a great deal of attention. At the annual meeting, held in Dunedan last week, the chairman was abLe to gave substantial evidence of progiess. The premium income increased fiom £15,118 to £17,430. Indiistnal assurance is always expensive to obtain, because the policies aie small and theie is considerable expense in collecting the pieimums. The mcieased piemium income, amounting to £2312, was obta-med at a cost of £5231, or 226 per cent. The claims paad show a very low latio and aio actually some £700 less in amount than those paid in the pievious year. • • • Tli© Bank of Australasia's dividend foi the half-yea.i ended 10th October last, is at the rate of 14 piai oe-nt. as compared with 12 pci cent, in the previous half-year, and the largetr dividend absorbs £115.000, as against £96.000. The profits of the bank have expanded from £137,451 to £]73 245, 4o that theie is ample warrant for the inoi eased diytu lbution to shareholdei-s. The increased' dlividlend, following upon a similar increase by the Union Bank and the unusually good' showirne; of the Bank of New Zealand, will assist to confirm British investors in their belief that there is something tangible about the' prosperity of Australasia. • • * Business has been somewhat quiet m the shaaemarket. The holiday influence and the end of the quarter approaching are piartly responsible. Banking shares are steady. Bank of New Zealand shares are very firm, with buyers offering £10. Holders, however, do not display any great anxiety to accept the big price offering. National Bank shares are offered at £5 7s. • • • Financial shares are more or less neglected, but values exhibit no tendency to weaken. There are sellers of National Mortgage at 61ss and Wellington Deposit and Mortgage at lie. Gas shares are firm, andf meet with eood inquiry at full market rates. Hawera Gas shares are wanted at 20s, and Wellington Gas shares at £18 10s and £9 5s fo* the respective issues. Feilding Gas shares are offered at 24^ 3d. • • • Manawatu ItaiJs changed 1 handls at 38s, and in view of the excellent bal-ance-sheet just out thei shares are likely to keep firm. Gear Meat shares are very firm at 44s for the pound l paid-up issue. There are sellers of Wellington Steam Ferry shares at 15s. Taupiri Coal at 20s 6d, Leyland and OBrien Timber at 465, New Zealand Times at 425. New Zealand Paper Mills shares aire wanted 1 *at 2Se 6d. and Taranaki Petroleum at 13s 3d. • • • In minine shares, the demand is confined to Waihi. Talisman, WaiotaH and the other standard mines on the Northern goldfieldis. There is nothing new to chronicle.