COMMERCIAL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15552, 9 March 1914, Page 5

COMMERCIAL.

LONDON MARKETS. By Telegraph.—Press Association.—Copyright (Received March 8, 5.5 p.m.) London*, March 7. COPRA. The market is dull, with little business doing. South Sea bags, £27 to £27 2s 6d. HEMP. The market is quiet. A March-May shipment has been sold at £25 15s. COTTON. March-April shipments are worth 6.62 d. RUBBER Para, 3s; plantation, 2s 4d; smoked, 2s 4*d. KAURI GUM. The stock consists of 520 cases. The New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company, Limited, have received the following cablegram from their London house, under date 4th inst.:—" Wheat: We have sold an Australian cargo at 36s 9d c.i.f. The market is quiet, but steady. The outlook is uncertain. We quote per quarter, c.i.f., New Zealand wherit, longberried 355, short-berried 34s 6d. Tallow: We quote present spot values for the following descriptions:—Fine mutton, 35s per cwt; good beef, 33s 9d; mixed, 32s 6d. The market is quiet. ASSURANCE COMPANY'S AFFAIRS. YEAR'S SURPLUS, £11.332.. The report of the directors of the Australian Alliance Assurance Company, which was submitted to shareholders at the 51st annual meeting, held in Melbourne on February 24, shows that the net result ol the company's underwriting operations for the year ended December 31 last was a surplus of £11.332, and that the balar e of profit and loss, after transferring £5000 to reserve fund, was £24.414. The directors have created an accident reserve fund of £10,000. and carried forward a balance of £14,414.

CHEAPER MONEY. The recovery in monetary conditions that has taken place since the beginning of the current year is (says the Australasian Insurance and Banking Record) almost unprecedented, especially when the opinions regarding the outlook for 1914 expressed by financial authorities are taken iuto consideration. With one or two notable exceptions, writers in London wrote cautiously, as if they did not wish to commit themselves to optimistic views. The? very rapid transition from a rather stringent and difficult money market to ease in the European centres was not, and could not be, fully anticipated. The sudden fall in rates was indicative of the existence of a large amount of money available for investment, which bad been held in reserve pending the clearing of the horizon, and as the British investor had become ■ more favourably impressed with the material conditions prevailing in the Dominions, quotations tot Australasian stocks correspondingly \>enefited. Hence once the advance commenced it rapidly became important enough for the ground lost during the last two years to be recovered, and quotations are now about the same as those ruling carlv in 1912. » The seeming indisposition of investors to take up new Australasian loans arose only to a slight extent from dislike of financial methods. Monetary considerations mainly governed. Whether any further advance will take place in the immediate future is uncertain, but the probability is that a maximum has been reached.

PROPERTY SALES. Mr. H. Davidson, auctioneer, advertises that to-morrow and Wednesday he will sell the property known as The Laurels, Green Lane, the property of Mr. Scott, together with all the furniture and appurto: inces. The freehold, comprising 4J acres of land, wil] be offered for sale by public auction tomorrow, at twelve o'clock, on the ground. The house contains 13 rooms, and is built of kauri, with stables, coach-house, motorshed, and loose-boxes close bv. At 12.30 p.m. several thoroughbred horses will be sold.

To-morrow and Wednesday, at 11 a m 500 valuable lots of high-class furniture will be put up for sale at The Laurels besides antique china, sterling-silver, and rare oil-paintings. The goods will be on view to-day, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., by catalogue only. BUTTER AND EGGS. The wholesale quotations for butter and eggs for the week ending March 14, are as follows:—Butter (factory), la Oid per lb: do. (fanners'), 8d per lb; eggs, Is 2d per dozen.