COMMERCIAL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19217, 5 January 1926, Page 7

COMMERCIAL.

DAIRY PRODUCE MARKET. WEAK TONE IN LONDON. [BY TELEGRAPH. —rjIESS ASSOCIATION.] WELLINGTON. Monday. The New Zealand Producers' Co-opera-tive Marketing Association has received the following cabled report under date January 1: The butter afloat and discharging from New Zealand, Australia and the Argentine is under 1,200,000 boxes. The demand improved during the early part of the week, but the advance in price has again checked business. We anticipate lower prices. Danish has receded to 1735, curtailing the northern market for colonial butter. The market is weak. New Zealand, 163s to 170s. Cheese.—The market is weak. New I Zealand, 96s to 98s; Canadian, 104s to 106s; Australian, 94s to 955. THE OUTLOOK FOR COAL. BRITISH EXPERT'S OPINION. Giving evidence before the Royal Commission in London on the coal industry, Sir Richard Redrnayne, formerly chief inspector of mines, stated his conclusion from available statistics, that the present depression in the British coal export trade was part of a world depression, from which Great Britain had, in fact, suffered slightly less than the world at large. Although considerable advantage would result from amalgamation of different mines, ho considered that very careful preliminary consideration would be necessary. He believed that coal would remain the most important of all sources of power for many years to come, and that an increase in the world's coal requirements would go on concurrently with the development of other power resources. Although Germany would probably Le- . come increasingly formidable as a competitor, tho present management of British coal mines was not : nferior to that of any country in the world. The output per man per shift, according to recent official figures, was 18cwt. in Great Britain, as against llcwt. in France, 9£cwt. in Belgium, and and 17icwt. in two German areas. He reiterated his opinion that a return to the eight-hour day would result in a 10 per cent, increase of output, with enhanced earnings for the miners.

THE RABBIT INDUSTRY. GREAT GROWTH IN VICTORIA. Landowners in many parts of Victoria look upon rabbits as one of the greatest pests they have to combat, and when it is remembered that five rabbits eat os much grass as one sheep, their objections may be regarded as well founded. Most landowners go to much trouble to keep down the pest, spending hundreds of. pounds on wire netting their fences, for example, but, particularly where th r country is thick with undergrowth or stones, the task is difficult. Enterprise has stepped into the lists to help sheep farmers, however, and has found a use for rabbits, both for food and clothing, that has greatly helped in preventing Victoria from being over-run. The industry has proved profitable, and gives direct employment to thousands of in Victoria alone. This may be realised when it is known that, on a conservative estimate, 8,G00,000 rabbits are sent into Melbourne each year. ? In pre-war days the rabbit industry was almost entirely an export one, but when the Federal authorities stopped the export in 1917 a very great setback to the industry was prophesied. In fact, many people went out of the business, but others set about creating a demand that has increased beyond all expectations. So much is this so that 90 per cent, of the rabbits that are caught in Victoria are consumed in Melbourne, and when it is known that, on the average, 160,000 rah bits are sent from tho country each week the extent of the industry will be realised. AUSTRALIAN WHEAT CROP. 00 REVIEW OF THE PROSPECTS. The latest business estimates of the Australian wheat crop show an improvement on what was possible at tho middle of I November. Reckoning New South Wales £t 38,000,000 bushels, Victoria at 27,000,000 bushels, South Australia at 25,000.000 bushels, and Western Australia at 20,000,000 bushels, tho total is about 110,000,000 bushels. This will provide an exportable surplus equivalent to about 1,700,000 tons of wheat, a substantial quantity in itself, though much less 'than tho exceptionally large shipments of 3,150,000 tons during tho past season. Tho total exports of wheat and flour for tho 1924-1925 shipping season are stated by tho Adelaide Register of December 5 as 117,638,134 bushels, against 77,976,181 bushels for 1923-1924, 60,220,247 bushels for 1922-23, 87,738,285 bushels for 1921-22 and 107,507,274 bushels for 1920-21. A good start is being made with shipments on account of the new season in Western Australia, and in South Australia the wheat is moving fairly freely, but business in Victoria so far has been quiet. Reports on the Argentino crop have been conflicting of late, but tho official estimate cabled on December 16 is 5,845,000 metric tons, or about 215,000,000 bushels, which shows a reduction as compared with the estimate of 6,400,000 metric tons at the middle of November, but is larger than the actual yield of about 190,000,000 bushels last season. From the point of view of exchange the reduction in the Australian crop will be felt after tho first threo or four mouths of the year. During the first ten months of 1925 the official returns showed wheat and flour exports from Australia of a value of over £38,250,000 sterling of which £34,000,000 sterling was in the first six months of the year, but tho active shipping season will doubtless close earlier in 1926 than in the past year.