COMMERCIAL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13691, 6 March 1908, Page 3

COMMERCIAL.

Another quiet week is reported on the Stock Exchange. In standard stocks Na-

tional Banks sold at £5 7s 6d and £5 8s 3d, and sellers now ask £5 8s 6d, with buyers at £5 7s 6d. There are sellers of New Zealands at £9 16s 6d. In insurances New Zealands sold at 74s 6d, and more are wanted at 745, sellers 755. South British sold at 54s 6d, and buyers now offer 53s 6d, with sellers at 55s 6d. Nationals have sellers at 295. New Zealand and River Plates are looked for at 31s, with no declared sellers. In coals Hikurangis are on offer at 16s 4d, with buyers at ifes lOd. There are sellers of Northerns (10s paid) at 16s and buyers at 15s 6d. Taupiris sold at 20s and 20s 6d, and more are offered at 20s 6d, buyers 20s. Westports have sellers at £7 ss, buyers offering £7 3s 6d. In gas Aueklands aro quoted at £14 9s, buyers offering £14 ss. For Birkenhead and Northcote buyers offer 24s 6d, no sellers quoting. Gisbornes sold at 51s 3d, and more are wanted at 51s, sellers asking 525. In shipping Unions have sellers at 35s 9d, buyers 34s 3d. Northern Steams are offered at 17s (paid up) and 7s 9d (con.), and thero are buyers of the latter at 7s 7d. Dovonport Ferrys sold at 31s, and buyers now offer 30s, with sellers at 325. In timbers Kauris (paid up) can be had at 25s 6d. Kauris (eon.) sold at 10s 3d and 10s Id, and sellers now ask 10s 2d, and there are buyers at 9s lOd. Thero aro sellers of LeylaudO Briens at 44s 6d, and of Mountain Riinus (which sold at 235) at, 23s 6d, more being wanted at 235. In miscellaneous lines Auckland Tramways (ordinary) sold at 24s 9d, 24s 7d, and 24s 8d; D.S.C.'s at 5s Id and ss; New Zealand Paper Mills at 23s 9d; Wisemans (ordinary) at 13s 6d and 13s 3d; Wilson's Portland Cements (ordinary) at 43s 3d and 43s 6d. In mining lines Waihis changed hands at from £9 4s to £9 6s to £9 5s 6d to £9 6s (cum div. paid on March 2), and at from £9 2s to £9 Is to £9 2s 6d (ox div.), sellers closing at £9 3s and buyers at £9 2s. Talismans sold at from 53s 3d to 54s to 53s 6d to 53s 9d to 53s 6d to 54s to 53s 6d, with late sellers at 53s 9d, and buyers at 53s 3d. Waihi Extendeds wore done at 4s 2d and 4s; May Queens at Is lid; New Sylvias at Is 2d to Is 4d: ' Thames at Is 2d and Is 2d; . Victorias at from Is 2d to Is to Is Id;' Waiotahis at 3s 3d and 3s sd; Waitangis at 2s lOd, 2s 8d and 2s 9d; Old Haurakis at 2s 2d and 2s 3d; Golden Belts at 2s 3d to 2s 2d to 2s 3d; Crowns at 7s 2d; Karangahakes at Is 2d to Is 3d to Is Id to Is 2d to Is Id; Komata Reefs at Is 4d and Is 3d; Tairua Golden Hills (6d paid) at Is 3d to Is 5d and (9d paid) at Is 7d; and'Tairua Broken Hills at 3s lOd. Smaller priced shares also changed hands in several parcels.

The volume of business being handled by the wholesale distributing merchants is being sustained on a satisfactory level, and the different warehouses are receiving inquiry, which is well spread over a large number of lines, most of which aro in good supply. . Latest published statistics show a continued buoyancy in the Customs duties collected, and it is fairly safe to predict that the consolidated revenue will not suffer materially through the remission of duty on certain articles of consumption. Tho preferential schedule of tho Tariff Revision Act becomes operative "n ilia first, of next month, and good quantities of various lines which will have to pay the extra duty are now close at hand. < • Generally speaking trade in the retail establishments is brisk, and already displays of autumn and winter novelties aro in evidence. The soft goods warehouses are kept very busy, and the various factories are all working full time. Activity is general in the building and allied trades, tho present dry weather considerably assisting outdoor operations. As we go to press work on tho wharves is quiet. Early expected arrivals comprise tho Star of Scotland, Star of England, Rakaia (now due), the Surrey and the Yeddo, nil of which have good cargoes for the port of Auckland.

. Cream of Tartar: Tho opinion recently expressed that the market could not hold at present low level has been verified, as cable to hand notifies an advance, with probability of further hardening shortly. * Castor Oil: A somewhat easier tendency is prevalent, but it is-very hard to predict what the future of this line will be; we do not expect to see price, go any lower. Currants: Diversity.of opinion exists as to the future of the market, but we incline to the opinion that lower values will not rule until a preliminary forecast as to,the new crop comes through. >r . ~: Muuura Fruits: It is now" practically certain that no apricots will be available- for export; the sultana crop will probably be considerably .shorter than last season, and prices will therefore, be quoted on a high level. . ;

Hemp Seed: Forward market is fractionally easier. Local holdings are not heavy. Canary Seed: This lino has been fluctuating somewhat of late, but with fairly full supplies on the spot the forward market is not of much interest to Auckland operators. Desiccated Cocoanut: In very good re- ' quest; .quotation for prompt shipment remains steady. Dried Fruits: Cable to hand from 'Frisco indicates that there is not much strength in the position at the present moment,, and it seems that the various grades aro being offered at figures which do not represent their true value. How long present low prices can hold it is difficult to say, but a reaction is possible at any , time. The demand for dried fruits will bo felt very shortly, and operators will have to go in in tho near future. . Figs: Moving steadily, and local holdings are being rapidly depleted. " Gum Arabic: The market femains very firm, and business is only possible at rates which are quoted "subject to confirmation." Shellac: Price holds at a safe level for buying, and news of an advance would not come as a surprise. . - Linseed Oil: Firm, with upward tendency. Asparagus: Spot holdings are getting light through steady demand, and it is evident that shortage will be felt before the new pack reaches the market. Cocoa Beans: Market is still rather unsettled, and recent quotations have been on a lower basis. Nuts: -Meeting with fair demand, with stocks not too heavy. Rico: We look for prices to be maintained. . Pineapples: Steady demand is being experienced, with forward market inclined to harden. Maize: The market shows no alteration, but as Island maize is expected to arrive by the Sydney steamer on Monday next the price of New Zealand grain will probably weaken somewhat. Potatoes: Arrivals by the Waikare from South were altogether insufficient to supply this market, and merchants find it impossible to fill orders. Tho Wimmera, arriving on Monday, will bring larger shipments of Tasmanians, while the Zealandia will also bring some lines from the South. Those will arrive to a very good market. The quality of the Tasmanian redskins has turned out most satisfactory, and they are preferred at quite £1 more than Southerns. Of course, it is early to say yet what the quality of the Southerns will be, as they are not yet quite ripe. Onions: The market is fairly well supplied with Southerns arid locals. Regular shipments will now be coming forward from Christ church. Price remains at £8 ex storo. Oats: The market is still absolutely bare, as neither tho Wairuna nor Ennerdale has arrived. The first-named is expected on Monday. Price still remains at 2s lOd ex wharf. „ , Chaff: Shipments of Southern have supplied the market. Stocks aro on tho light side; price for local is £5 10s ex storo, £6 5s for Southern. The Southern market is very much firmer, and it is difficult to get offeringfj. . Ul ßran and Pollard: The market is absolutely bare, and it is impossible to fill orders. . . Ricemeal: Very small shipments arrived, and Australian mills report that they have sold their outputs for the next three months. Nominal price, £5 10s ex store. Fowl Wheat: The market is firming; price has advanced quite 2d during the week. Milling wheat has advanced m the South; sales have been reported at; 4s 6d, sacks extra, f.o.b. Flax: The market still continues very weak. Latest advices from London report a further drop of 30s per ton. It is quite evident that all tho mills will have to shut down, as they cannot afford to go on making fibre at these low rates. , - Tow is only worth from £3 10s to £1 per ton. . , , Fungus: Very little is coming to hand; price. 4?d. „ Indian Tea: The season lias almost closed, and the offerings at the Calcutta sales during the last month have consisted largely of tho rough red and stalky leaf kinds usual at this time of the year. With the exception of a few odd invoices the autumnal crop has been generally disappointing in quality. Prices were firm for all grades with the exception of all rough undesirable kinds, and

anything with flavour or well made, blackish leaf, suitable for foreign markets, sold well at fully previous rates. Even well made Pekoes were dearer. Bombay and Persian Gulf buyers were very active; Russian buyers also operated freely, and bought more than in the corresponding sales last season. KAURI GUM. Arrivals for five days of March amount to 36 tons, whereas for the same period of last year 121 tons reached here. Considering the very bad state of the market this falling off in arrivals is about the best thing that could happen. Since our last report there has been but little activity in this market, and any lines that have changed hands have been at considerably reduced rates. There is certainly a little stronger tendency on the part of a few gum merchants to make offers or get options over certain linos; this in itself is somewhat more encouraging, but at the same time it cannot be taken as a criterion that much business will be the result. Pale Select: Scarcely any of this class has arrived recently, and there is still no inquiry. Ordinary : Good rescrapcd coming to band very slowly; a few linos have been quitted where price has been made right. A few lines of bold three-quarter scraped and superior ordinary have been sold, but at a drop of fully £10 per ton. Medium ordinary is meeting with very little inquiry. _ Small lines of good hard nuts sell at a slight reduction on late rates. Other linos of ordinary arc neglected. East Coast: Still coming to hand in only small lines. An inquiry set in for this class and price has been cabled London, but so far no business has resulted. Black: With the exception of rescrapcd all grades of biack are coming to hand somewhat freely, and the bulk of the stocks now held by Auckland brokers consist of this class of guin. Offers have been made for fairly large lines of medium blacks, but prices have been too low to lead to business. Chips and Dust: Bright chips and dust only arriving in small quantity, and sell at late rates. Ordinary and diggers' chips and dust have not been selling at all readily; black seeds and dust have been moving off at low figures.

AUCKLAND STOCK EXCHANGE. BUSINESS DONE YESTERDAY. Previous day's closing tales. Taupiri Coal Mines —3rd call, 20s bd ... — Mountain Rimu— call, 23s — Auckland Tramways (ord.)—3rd call, 24* 8d — Wilson's Portland Cement (ord.)—2nd . call, 43* 3d, 43s 6d 2 3 6 Thames— call, Is Id — Waitangi—2nd call, 2s 9d 0 2 8 Karangahake— call, Is Id 012 Tairua Golden. Hills (9d paid)—2nd aud 3rd calls, Is 7d — T Tairua Golden Hills (6d paid)—2nd call, Is 5d 0 1 .5 Talisman call, 53» 6d 2 14 0 Waihi—3rd call, £9 2s 6d 9 2 0 Mountain King (con.)— call, 9jd ... 0 0 9J.

CALL AND DIVIDEND LIST. Dividends. i ■ Standard Insurance '. — Now Hamilton .Was ... lOp.c. How Walhi ... 0 3 6 ijow Milne arid Cljoyro Bp.c. Now tails. May Queen, February 3 , ... 0 0 1 Now Takapuna. Tramways and Ferry Company, February 4 ... 0 2 6 Now Sunbeam Gold and ■ Silver ; ■■ Alining Company, February 3 0 0 1 Now Old Kapanga, February a ... 0 0 1 Now Waihi Consolidated, Feb. 17 ... 0 0 1 Now Golden Cross, February 13 ... 0 0 1 Now Ngatiawa, February 17 ' 0 0 1 Mar. 13 Kapowai, February 26 ... 0 0 1 Mar. 16 New Sylvia, March 5 ... 0 0 1 Mar. 26 Sunbeam, February 17 ... ... 00 1 April 3

INDIAN TEA TRADE. Mr. E. L. Jones, a. tea. planter of Dooars, near Darjecling, India, was a passenger by the Mftheno from Sydney to Wellington. To a Post representative, Mr. Jones said he was on o holiday tour. Ho left India 011 January and having called at the chief Australian ports lie has come on to New Zealand. "The tea trade," paid Mr. Jones, "is now flourishing in India. The consumption has at last caught, up to the production. For about 10 years wo had a very depressed time. The outlook is now very bright indeed, because it will take that time to bring new land under cultivation. We have our difficulties in securing suitable labour; and, in addition to that, the tea plant is attached by an insect called the helopeltis, which sucks the sap from the plant, and stops the bush 'flushing' or leafing. The export of tea from India is increasing at ft wonderful rate. Russia is our best customer to the British Isles. The Russians buy at; Calcutta, and ship chiefly to Odessa. They also buy large quantities_ of tea dust, which is sent to Hankow, in China, and is there made into brick tea. Roughly speaking, the Russians took 40 million pounds of Indian tea this year." Mr. Jones will spend some months here, and may settle down in the Dominion.

BRITISH EXPORT TRADE

There was a record advance of upwards of £50,000,000 shown by the returns of British export trade for 1907, following upon large increases in the two prcc^®-^years.

CLOSING QUOTATIONS. Sellers. Buyers. £ a. d. £ "• d. BANKS— New Zealand ... ... 9 16 6 —- , National ... - 5 8 6 5 7 6 ! INSURANCE— v. New Zealand ... ... 3 IS 0' 3 14 0 National ... " 19 0 — South British ... A... 2 15 6 2 13 6 FINANCIAL— N.Z. and River Plate ... — 1 11 0 COAL— Hikurangi 0 16 4 0 15 10 Nort. Coal, 10s paid .... 0 16 0 0 15 6 Taupiri Mine?, Ltd. ... 1 0 6 10 0 Westport 7 5 0 7 3 6 GAS- ...» Auckland 14 9 0 14 5 0 Birkenhead and Northcote — 14 6 Gisborne 2 12 0 • 2 11 0 SHIPPING— . Union S.S. 1 15 9 1 14 3 Northern, paid up ... 0 17 0 — Northern, con. 0 7 9 0 7 7 Devon port Steam Ferry... 1 12 0 1 10 0 TIMBER Kauri, paid up . 15 6 — Kauri, con. 0 10 2 0 9 10 Leyland-O'Brien. Ltd. ... 2 4 6 — Mountain Kiinu, Ltd. ... 1 3 6 13 0 MISCELLANEOUS— -, f Auckland Tramways, pref. 15 0 — Auckland Tramways, ord. 1 4 10 14 7 D.S.C., Limited ... ... 0 5 0 0 4 10 Grey and Menzies, ord. 0 9 6 0 8 0 Hill and Plummer, Ltd.' 10 0 — 11. Jr. - Arcade Theatre Co., pref ... ' 10 6 10 0 • N.Z. Portland. Cement Co. — 1 10 0 New Zealand Paper Mills — 14 0 Tonson Garlick Co.,. Ltd. 0 19 6 — "Union Oil . ... •• ... - 110 Wiseman and Sons, pref. 1 0 0 0 18 0 Wiseman and Sons. ord. 0 13 6 0 13 0 i Wilson's Portland Cement Co., pref. ... ... 2 4 .6 — Wilson's Portland Cement ; Co., ord. 2 .4 0 2 3 3 DEBENTURES— Auckland Harbour ' Board '* ' . 4 per cent, i ... , ... 92 10 0 , — Auckland Gas 5J per cant.- 53 10 0 — MINING— ' ' • Bonanza, con. ... ... 0" 0 4! — Halcyon ... ... .... ,0 0 5| — Kuraiiui .. . .0 0 9 0 0 7 • Kuranni-Caledonian ... 0- 0 11 0-09 Magnet, v con., ' 0 0'2 — May Queen 0 2 0 0 1 10 May Queen Extended ... 0 0 6 — New Dart, paid 0 0 6 — New Moanataiari 0 0 6 0 0 4 New Monowai 0 0 5 — ' New Sylvia 0 15 0 14 Old Alburnia ' ... ... 0 1 3 0 0 10 . Saxon ; ... 0 0 10 — Scandinavian ' 0 0 6j — Thames ... .... ... 0 11 0 10 Victoria 0 11 0 10 Waiotahi 0 3 5 0 3 0 Waitangi ... 0 2 10 0 2 7 Mount Zeehan, con. ... — 0 0 3 llauraki Freehold ... 0 0 6j — Kai>owai, con ". 0 0 5 — Old Hauraki Gold Mines 0 2 4 0 2 2 Old Kapanga • 0 0 4 0 0 2 Tangiaro 0 0 7 'J'okatea. ... ... ... 0 0 4i — Auckland ... 0 0 6 — Comstock, eon. .. ... 0 0 6 0 0 3 Champion, paid up ... 0 5 3 0 4 8 Champion, con. 043 039 Crown ... 0 7 2 0 7 1 .Durbar• 0 0 5 — Golden Belt 0 2 3 0 2 1 Golden Cross 0 0 6 0 0 5 Kirikiri, con. 0 0 4 Kara tigahake ... ... 0 13 0 10 Koniata Reefs 0 15 0 13 New Waitekauri 0 0 8 0 0 7 Pride of Waihi 0 0 6 Rising Still 0 0 9 0 0 64 , Silver Hills 0 0 7 0 0 6 'J'aihoa ... (1 0 Tairua Broken Hills ... 0 4 0 0 3 8 Tairua. Consols 0 0 U Tairua Golden Hills, 9d paid ... 0 1 8 0 17 Taaua Golden Hills, 6d paid ' ... 0 16 ,015 Tairua Extended . ... 0 0 4 Tn>rua Triumph, con. ... 0 1 li 0 18 Talisman .Consolidated ... 2 13 9 2 13 3 Waihi ... ... 9 3 0 9 2 0 Waihi Bench ... ... 0 0 7 0 0 5 Waihi Extended 0 4 2 0 3 11 Waihi Grand Junction .,.12 6 110 Mountain King, con. ... 0 0 10 0 0 94 NgHtiawa. V.. ....... 0 15 0 10 A'-pouri 0 0 2' 0 0 11 Lanigan's Antimony Mines 0 0 6 0 0 4"