COMMERCIAL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14657, 18 April 1911, Page 3

COMMERCIAL.

A PROSPEROUS BANK. J 1 . — ■ , i f'FEOM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.] 1 London, March 10. , The Financial Times observes: "The Bank £ of Australasia has an "unusually favourable 1 dividend announcement to make. ! The pro-, j fit allows th directors to declare dividends j and a bonus equal to 16 per cent, per i annum, as against 14- per cent, declared a j year ago. At the same time they add J £50,000 to reserve and write £20,000 off, j promises account, leaving the balance for- . ward much as before, at £15,725. Thole- 1 serve fund now amounts to £1,810,000, and 1 compare# with a paid-up capital of * £1,600,000. It will be remembered that this j bank, in contradistinction to some of the , other important Australian banks, has pro- • ferred to keep its capital unchanged, while 1 increasing its dividend. In consequence, we see tho good relation of the reserve to the paid-up capital." — ( CHILLED MEAT INDUSTRY. ; [FKOM our own CORRESPONDENT.] J London, March 10. j Mr. A. Wood, chairman of the River Plate i Fresh Meat Company, addressing the share- s holders this . week, said they had had a t Satisfactory year. While they had to pay ( high, prices in the River Plate for cattle and j sheep, they had tho advantage on this , side of a steady market, which had readily < absorbed the increased imports not only , from Argentina,- but also from Australia j and New Zealand. The general increase in . the shipments from Argentina in 1910 was , over 35,000 tons, from Australia the increase was 52,000 tons, and from New Zealand 10,000 tons. The shipments of chilled beef from the United States continued to dwindle, those in 1910 being nearly 20,000 j tons less than in the previous year. While , the reduction in shipments from the United < States partly accounted for the ready market for largo shipments of chilled beef from , Argentina it could not be that the j real factor was the greater consuming power > of this country. Our shipments of frozen , beef and sheep in 1910 came to about 60,000 'j tons, against 40,000 tons in 1909. The gene- j ral result, of the company's trade during the past year was that the board were enabled to recommend a distribution of 15 per cent, and to place £30,000 to reserve. HIGH COMMISSIONER'S MARKET 1 CABLEGRAM. . . J [BY TELEGRAPH.PRESS ASSOCIATION.] Wellington, Monday. < The High Commissioner's market cablegram, ' dated London, - April . 15, is as follows: — ] Mutton: The market is quiet, and trade very i disappointing, there being only a very_ hand-to- j mouth demand. Canterbury, 3id; . North Is- . land, 3|d. . > Lamb: There i* a jjood demand on account of . Easter. Canterbury, sd; other than Canter- ' bury, 4|d. < Beef: The market is ; depressed on account of j supplies of lUver Plate beef being heavy and j supplies of American chilled beef large. New j Zealand hindquarters, 4d; New Zealand fore- j quarters, 2|d. 1 Butter: 'Hie market is very firm for best 1 quality. Choicest New Zealand butter, 109s. Cheese: The market is very firm. New Zea- 1 land, h3e. i Kauri gum: The market is quiet and only small business is being done. Ordinary to fair three- , quarter-scraped, £8 15s; fair half-scraped, £5 ss; ' brown, fair half to three-quarter-scraped, 85s; ( brown pickings, common to good, 40s; bush, fair t to good pale and amber scraped, £8 ss: stock,' / 209 tons. J — 1 ■. V, \ ■ (