Finance Stock and Mining

Free Lance, Volume XIX, Issue 1029, 17 March 1920, Page 5

Finance Stock and Mining

TFIHE price of the reel of cotton has i come in for a great deal of consideration because of the very high price demanded, but very little notice !-i is taken of the expanding values of cotton goods. * The price of cotton goods will go higher next summer, and there may be' a further rise in the summer of 1921; The cotton position is , somewhat peculiar anct somewhat arti- ■ ficial. ' .- ■.-•• . ■ .. .« * * * The great bulk of the cotton machrn--cry of the world has been supplied by the textile machinery makers, of England. The latest tabulation of the International Cotton Federation the year before the war showed that there were 144,0000,000 spindles in lie • twenty-one cotton manufacturing countries of. the world. There has been very ' little' extension of this machinery since the war owing,..to the- fact that : the textile machinery makers, in England were very . largely. turned on to munitions at the' beginning of 1915, , and it has therefore been impossible to deal with all but the most pressing repairs and renewals. Also a', considerable amount of machjnerv has been destroyed and broken up. ■ .. ■ * -. • The cotton industry ismianv millions of 1 spindles behind what would . have , been renewed 1 had. .not war occurred, the rough estimate .being - 25,000,000 to . 30,000,000. In addition a large amount of machinery has been destroyed in ' Belgium, France, Russia, etc. The textile 1 machinery makers are . inundated with orders, but it • will ■ be a •comparatively slow process to get their machinery into! order and get back to ■ .pre-war production,. • The result of all - this, including the rises in wages and in everything, that enters into- the production of machinery, is that- the ,cost «f machinery is 250 per cent, to 300 per cent, above pre-war prices. : - ■■ •• •* : * " Extravagance and booms seem to be • pretty general in poor, as well as rich countries. In the United States there is an orgy of extravagance, and., money-' is being scent lavishly. In every country in Europe there is ■ extravagance. A French paper, after making exchanstive inquiries,'was able to inform its readers that in the first ten months of 1913, there was sent in to the 'State Guarantee Office for stamping 3,200,000 gold and platinum articles, and 17.200,000 pieces of ' silverware. During the same period of 1939, there were handed in 7,102,000 pieces of gold and platinum and 22.300,000 piecesi of silverware. In • weight alone the increased gold total .- r w'as 6,732 kilogrammes, and this is all the more startling at a time when there is no gold in circulation, and the price of fine gold'which is the only sold that the French State Guarantee Office will stamp has doubled while the price of platinum i s five times what it t was prior to the war. ' • * * . * * . . Prime Minister Massey has just furnished details of +"ne Honsolidated Re-

and Expenditure for theveleven months ended with last month and

which is more than the total revenue raised in 1910, and... these permanent charges will remain for years to come and what is more will steadily increase as more loans are raised. The . total expenditure for 11 months is as much as the total revenue for financial . year 1917-18. Compared with the eleven months of ; the last: financial year "the expenditure Has increased by £4,290,558 or about £4 per head of the entire population of the Dominion. ■. * • ■ : * * ... •» . At " Westfield, heavy prime steers made £22/15/- to £25/15/-, prime steers £17 to £22, lighter £9/10/- to £16; best cows and heifers £11/10/- to £18/10/-, other cows £5/10/- to £11. At Himitangi, fat cows sold at £10/10/-; at Levin, fat cows made £10/10/-. 'At: Ad-.' dington, extra prime steers made up to £27, prime steers £20 to £25/15/-, medium steers £15' to £19/10/-, ordinary steers £12/5/- to £14/15-; prime heifers £14/7/6 to £18/1776, lighter heifers £8 to £13/2/6; prime cows £14/15/to £18; lighter cows £11/10/- to £14. , ■ * ~.- x- ■ ■ •* ■ ■ • * .' ; At Westfield, extra heavy prime wethers made 42/6 to 45/9, heavy prime wethers 38/6 to 42/-, medium to heavy prime wethers 35/B to 38/-, light prime wethers 32/6 ■■.to-. 34/6, lighter 29/- to <33/6; extra heavy prime ewes 36/6 to 40/6, heavy prime ewes 32/- to 35/-, lighter fat ewes 28/6 to 31/6, others ,20/- to 28/—.' At Palmerston North, fat ewes made 28/6' to 31/6; at Himitangi, fat two-tooth sheep made 32s Id and fat ewes made 24/10; at Feilding, fat ewes sold at 36/-. At Addington, extra prime, wethers made 45/3 to 51/-, prime wethers 38/6 to - 44/-, medium wethers 34/- to 37/-, lighter wethers i 31/- to 33/6; prime ewes 35/6 to 46/-, medium ewes 30/6 to 35/-, lighter- ewes 24/11 to 29/-. ■/..,-■ • " •* 7r ■: *• - At Westfield. extra heavy prime ; lambs made 35/- to 40/-,. heavy prime lambs 30/- to> 33/-,. lighter prime lambs 26/- to 28/9; light fat lambs 22/- to 24/-; others 16/- to 21/-. At Himitangi, fat lambs made 20/-. At Addington, extra prime lambs made 36/-, prime lambs 28/6 to 33/6, medium lambs 25/9 to 28/-, lighter 23/5. to 25/3.; . At Westfield choppers made £9/16/to £10/6/-, heavy baconers £7/16/- to £8/14/-, light to medium baconers . £6/15/- to £7/15/-, heavy porkers £5/5/to £6/12/6, medium -porkers £4 to £5, light porkers 63/- to 75/-. At Addington there was a good demand for baconers the average price being lid to 11 Jd per lb and porkers made. 12Jd to 13d. • -35- -» * * There is considerable activity in the share market, and prices are ait a high level. Bank of . Australasia, buyers £135 ; National Bank, buyers £6/12/- ; Bank of New South "Wales, -sellers . £36/10/; Bank of New Zealand (£3/6/8 paid), buyers £17/7/6; Union Bank, buyers £12/15/-; Abraham and "Williams, /buyers £5/9/-; Dalgety and Co., "sellers £12; Goldsborough Mort, buyers 49/6; Metropolitan Building, sellers i £14/12/6; National Mortgage; buyers £6; Loan and Mercantile, ordinary stock, sellers £113/10/-; Wellington Investment, buyers 4 10/6; Wellington Trust and Loan, buyers £6/3/6; "Wellington Gas, buyers £10/2/6; New Zealand Insurance, buyers 33/- ; South British Insurance, buyers £9/9/-- Standard Insurance, sales 66/-; : New* Zealand Refrigerating (10/-), sellers 30/-; Huddart Parker (ord.), buyers £2/15/6; Union Steam, sellers 21/-; Wellington .Woollen (ord.), buyers £9/2/6; Hikurangi. Coal, buyers 14/-; Westport Stockton, buyers 8/3; Leyland O'Brien Timber, buyers 29/6; Taringamutu To-

tara, buyers 21/6; Gates Ltd., sellers 26/; Howard Smith Ltd., sellers 26/6; New Zealand Paper Mills, buyers 35/-; Wellington Cordage, sellers 22/-; Wilson's Cement, sellers 16/6; Eclipse Petrol (20/-), sellers 38/-; Kelburn Trams (pref.), buyers 21/6. * * •# « In the mining market there were buyers of Blackwater -at 11/-, Talisman at 9/2, and Waihi at 46/-, and there were sellers of Progress at 3/- and' Grand Junction at 12/6.