COMMERCIAL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13699, 16 March 1908, Page 3

COMMERCIAL.

Thv; sharemarket was quiet on Saturday. In investment lines New Zealand and River Plates sold at 32s 6d, at which price more were offered, -with buyers at 325. Wiseman's (ordinary) sold .at 13s. In mining lines Waihis were firm, with sales at £9 6s 6d, and further buyers at same price, sellers asking £9 7s. Talismans changed hands at 52s 6d, sellers closing at 535, with more looked for at 52s 6d. Waiotahis woro done at 3s; Champions at 5s (paid up), and 3s lOd (confc.); Golden Ikdts at 2s Id; Golden Cross at. sd; New Waitekauris at s?d; Tairua Broken Hills at 3s 4d and 3s 3d; and Heady Bullions at 6d. The Stock Exchange will be closed tomorrow (St. Patrick's Day). AUCKLAND STOCK EXCHANGE. BUSINESS DONE ON SATURDAY. Previous day's closing sales Now Zealand and River I'lnte—Zis 6d ... — Wiseman and 'Sons (ord.)—l3s . -•• 0 13 0 Waiotulii2nd call, 3? ... — Champion (paid up)—2nd 'jail, ;>s . 0 5 2 Champion (con.)— call, 3s lOd Uoldeii —2nd call, 2-s Id 0 1 It Golden Crosslst call, 6d — New Waitekanri— call, fijd ... .. — Tairua Broken Hills2nd call, of 4d, 3s 3d .. ... ..036 Talisman—2nd call, 528 6d . 'i 12 3 Wailii— call, £9 6s fid 0 6 3 Ready Bullion—lst call, fail ... — CLOSING QUOTATIONS. ' Sellers. Buyers. £ 8. d. £ 8. d. BANKS— New Zealand 0 16 0 — National ... b ii 6 o 7 6 INSURANCE— New Zealand ... ... 3 16 6 a 15 9 National 1 a 0 — ' South British ... 1? 19 0 2 17 6 FINANCIAL— N.Z. and River Plate ... 1 12 6 1 12 0 COALJlikuranici ... • ••• 0 15 3 0 14 6 Nort. Coal, 10s paid ... 0 16 3 0 16 3 Taupiri Mines, Ltd. ...10b 103 Westport ■■ 7 5 0 — GAS— Auckland 14 li 0 14 12 6 Birkenhead and Noi'tlicote — 1 & 0 SHII'I'ING— Union S.S. — 1 14 0 New Zealand Shipping ... 6 16 0 — Northern, pa.id up ... 0 17 0 0 lb 9 Northern, con. ... ..0 8 0 0 7 7 Devoupoit Steam Kerry... — 1 11 6 TIMBER. Kami, paid up 15 6 Kauri, con. ... ... 0 10 3 0 10 0 Mountain Kiniu, Ltd. ... — 13 0 MISCELLANEOUS— Hibberd'a Syndicate, paid 0 17 6 — Auckland Tramways, ord. 14 8 — D.S.C., Limited 0 6 0 0 4 9 Grey and Menzics, ord. 0 9 0 — II M. Arcade Theatre Co.. prtf. ... .. ... 1 0 6 — N.Z. Portland Cement Co. 1 12 0 1 10 0 New Zealand Paper Mills 13 9 — Union Oil ... — , 110 Wiseman and Sons, pref. 1 0 0 0 18 0 | Wiseman and Sons, ord. 0 14 0 ' 0 12 9 Wilson's Portland Cement « Co., ord. ... .. — 2 3 6 | DEBENTURES— Auckland Harbour Board • »• 4 per cent. 97 0 0 — Auckland Gas, 5J cent. 53 10 0 — MINING— Bonanza, con. ... 0 I) 4! 0 0 2' Halcyon 0 0 6 0 0 4J Kuranui — 0 0 7J Kuranui-Caledonian ... 0 0 11 0 0 8 Magnet, con. 0 0 2i 0 0 1 May Queen 0 18 0 17 May Queen Extended ... 0 0 9 0 C 4 New Dart, paid ... ... 0 0 6 0 0 3 New Moanataiari 0 0 6 0 Ml New Monowai 0 0 5 — New Occidental 0 0 3 — New Sylvia 0 12 0 11 Old Alburnia 0 1 1 0 0 81 Saxon ... DOS — Scandinavian ' 0 0 — / Thames ... ' ... 0 1 0 0 0 11 ... 0 1 1 0 0 10 Waiotahi 2 1 0 2 11 Waitangi .. ... ... - 0 3 0 2 7 Watchman ; 0 0 7 """S •■>!). Mount Zeehan, con. ... 0 0 5 0 0 "4 Hauraki Freehold ... 0 0 6; 0 0 5 Old llauraki Gold Mines 0 2 3" 0 2 0 Old Kapanga ...'' ... 0 0 4 0 0 2 Tangiaro 0 0 6 — Tokatea u o 4£ Auckland ... ... ... 0 0 4" Cornstock, con 0 0 9 0 0 5J ~ Coronation ... .... ... 0 0 dj 0 0 1 Champion, paid up ..0 5 1* "0 '5 0 Champion, con 0 3 11 0 3 10 Crown ... 0 7 1 0 7 0 Golden Belt 0 2 1 0 2 0 Golden Cross 0 0 6 0 0 4£ Kirikiri, con. ... . ... 0 0 4 ivKa'rangahake Oil' 010 Komata Reefs _ 0 13 Oil New Waiteknuri 0 0 7 0 0 44 Pride of W.iihi ... ... 0 0 6 _ Rising Sun 0 0 3 _ 'V Silver Hills ... ... 0 0 5 0 0 4 Taihoa ... 0 0 5 Tairua. Broken Hills ... 0 3 4 0 3 0 Tairua Consols ... ... 0 0 4' — Tairua Golden Hills, 9d paid ... 0 18 0 16 Tairua Golden Hills, 6d paid 0 16 0 14 Tairua Extended ... 0 0 34 -1 Tairua Triumph, con. ... 0 1 9* — Talisman Consolidated ... 2 13 0 2 12 6 Waibi ... 9 7 0 9 6 6 Wailii Beao\i 007 005 •Wailii Extended 0 3 6 0 3 3 Waihi Consolidated ... 0 1 0 Wailii Grand Junction ... ..1 2 0 10 0 Ready Bullion ... . . 0 0 61 0 0 5 Mountain King, con. ' .0 0 9" 0 0 7.1 Sunbeam Gold and Silver, Is 6d paid 0 0 7 .0 0 21 Ngatiawa 0 13 0 11 Aupouri ... ... ... 0 0 2j — Lanigan's Antimony Mines 0 0 6' 0 0 4 CALL AND DIVIDEND LIST. Dividends.* Waiotahi ... 0 0 3 Mar. 19 Bank of Australasia, per annum 14 p.c. Mar. 27 Calls. Ngatiawa, February 17 0 0 1 Now Kupowai, February 26 ... 0 0 i Mar. 16 Old Hauraki, March 10 ... 0 0 1 Mar. 18 Mount Zeehan, March" 4 .. 0 0 '2 Mar. 23 New Dart, March 9 0 0 1 Mar. 23 Coronation, March 9 ... ... 0 0 1 Mar. 25 Reliance, March 9 0 0 1 Mar. 26 New Sylvia, March 5 ... I) 0 1 Mar. 26 Sunbeam, February 17 0 0 1 April 3 Waihi Extended, March 6 ... 0 0 2 April 6 Watchman, March 11 0 0 1 April 8 MARKET QUOTATIONS. The following are the quotations for butter and eggs for the -week ending March 21, 1908: Factory butter, Is 3d per lb; separator butter, and farmers' butter (best), lOd per lb; eggs, Is 3d per dozen. ASH BURT ON PROPERTY SALE. [BY TELEGRAPH. —PRESS ASSOCIATION.] Asiiiiurton, Sunday. Groatio Burn farm, two miles from Ashburton, the property of the late Mr. Donald Williamson, and the homestead of tho original Ashburton run, which extended over 15 miles, and at one time included the present town and suburbs of Ashburton, was sold at auction yesterday, the 226 acres realising £52 per acre. OHAUPO STOCK SALE. The New Zealand Loan and Mercantile. Agency Company, Limited, Hamilton, report:— On Tuesday, at Ohaupo, we yarded 300 head of cattle. Young cattle were in demand and all sold, but grown steers were at low values. Strong calves realised from 18s to £1 3s 6d ; others, 12s 6d to 17s; yearling steers, £1 183 to £2 3s; store cows, £1 15s to £3; two-year-old steers, £3 3» to £3 10s; springing heifers and young cows, £4 2s 6d to £4 15s; bulls, £2 5s to £4. On Wednesday last, at Ohaupo, we. yarded 18,000 sheep. A large attendance of buyers was present from all parts of the Waikato, King Country, north of Auckland, and neighbourhood, and we report a successful sale, only a few pens of lambs and 2000 Napier ewes remaining unsold. The rain, which fortunately came on Sunday arid again on sale day, gave buyers an incentive to purchase at higher values than previous sales. This was more noticeable in the values of full-mouthed ewes, this class realising quite 2s per head over our first fair. Two, four, and six-tooth ewes were in brisk demand and sold up to 17s 6d, most of this class being bought by outside buyers in large lines. Fresh full-mouthed ewes made 14s lOd to 16* 9d ; good full-mouthed ewes, 12s 6d to 13s 9d ; others, 9s to lis ; cull ewes, 68 to 7s 6d ; two and four-tooth wethers, 148 3d to 15s 6d ; fat and forward wethers, 16s to 17s 6d; good woollcd forward lambs, 3s 6d to lis; others, 6s 9d to 7h lOd; cull lambs, 4s 6d to 5s 3d; good shorn lambs, bs.fed to 8s: culls, 3s 9d to ss. An extra large yarding of rams of all classes Lincoln*, English Leicester*, and Romneys—were required. Shropshire* and Southdowns were at low values. Two-tooth Lincolns realised from 34 guineas to 6 guineas ; English Leicesters, 3 guineas to 5 guineas; Romneys, 34 guineas to 4t guineas; Shropshires, I£, guineas to 2 guineas. LONDON. By Telegraph.—Press Association.—Copyright. > ■ London, March 13. SIUCEPSKINS. At the sheepskin sales 7300 were offered, including 6500 Australasian. Bidding was slow, and there were largo withdrawals, especially of short merinos. As compared with the January sales merinos declined J<l, fine and medium crossbreds Id. and coarse crossbred? Id to lid. ANTWERP WOOL SALES. The Antwerp wool sales closed on Wednesday. The features were unchanged. During the day 4508 bales of La Plata were offered and 1914 sold. SILVER. Silver is quoted at- iaTJU per ounce standard.

FINANCIAL JOTTINGS. [[•ROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.] London, February 7, The bank rate is now 4 per cent. It is proposed to raise the status of the President of the Board of Trade to that of Secretary of State for Commerce. Music halls are very profitable investments just now. Moss' Empires show a net profit for the year of £139,800, while a small London suburban hall has just paid 20 per cent, and a bonus of 2j per cent, for the year. An idea of how foreigners invest in English industrial undertakings may bo gathered front the fact that of £300,000 ordinary capital of the Capo Copper Company, £250,000 is held ill France, and is represented by bearer warrants. Sir Thomas Shanghnessv, the president of the Canadian-Pacific Railway Company, has just issued a circular stating that pension regulations have been arranged 50 as to provide a minimum of 20 dollars a month to all who have been in the service of the company for 10 years or more and have readied the age limit. With regard to the question of directors' fees in mining companies, the suggestion is made that, for a non-dividend mine, the total fees should not exceed £350, but with dividend-paying mines they should rango from about £500 to £1000. It is argued that it is a mistaken policy to cut and earvo down directors' fees when shareholders arc getting dividends. When a mining company is paying good dividends, it is only reasonable that the directors should benefit; and with all .such mines the directors ought, it is said, to receive a commission on the total net amount paid. There is a good deal of truth in these arguments. The report of the National Mortgage and Agency Company, made up to September 30, states that, after paying all Home and' colonial expenses, a bonus of 10 per cent, to the staff, also interest on debentures, and making provision for bad and doubtful debts and depreciation on premises, plant, etc., the net profits amount to £35,225, which, together with £7521 brought forward, gives an available balance of £42,746. , From this an interim dividend of Is 6d per share has already been paid, and it is proposed now to pay a further dividend at the same rate, with a bonus of Is per share, both tax free, making 10 per cent, for the year, to add £15,000 to Hio reserve fund, and to carry forward £7746. The Hoard of Trade's returns of tramways and light railways .in the United Kingdom for 1906-7 shows that since 1878 the route, length of line open for traffic has increased from 270 miles to 2400 miles; the capital expenditure from £4,207,400 to £64,092,100; the number of passengers carried from 146 millions to 2455 millions and the net receipts from £231,000 to £4,485,400. Of the total of 1570 miles of line owned by local authorities, 1420 miles are worked by those authorities themselves. The total expenditure 011 capital account by companies is £22,356,500, and by local authorities £41,735.500, and the net revenue earned by companies represents 65 per cent, on this outlay, and' by municipalities 7i per cent. The amount actually distributed by companies in interest and dividends was equal to about 3-j, per cent, on the total paid-up capital. As doubtless will bo recollected in New Zealand, a good many locomotives now running in tho Dominion have been built at the famous Baldwin Works at Philadelphia. Regrets will, therefore, be felt in the Dominion that the rumours which have lately been current of the prospective closing down of the Baldwin Locomotive Works have been partly confirmed now. A member of the firm has stated that 10,000 of their 19,000 employees had been paid off since December, owing to the lack of orders. Whereas formerly the works built 60 locomotives a week, only" 20 a week are now being turned out. Tho representative of Messrs. Baldwin admitted that there i was a possibility of the works closing down altogether, owing to the lack of orders from America, as well as from Europe generally. No business, he added, was now coming from Japan, owing to the •financial troubles there.