LONDON TRADE REVIEW.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19372, 6 July 1926, Page 9

LONDON TRADE REVIEW.

GILT-EDGED STOCKS FIRM. PRODUCE MARKETS WEAK. INFLUENCE OF COAL STRIKE. A. and N.Z. LONDON, July 4. Although the hoped-for reduction in the bank rate was not made on Thursday the London Stock Exchange expects a reduction, probably to 4 per cent., next week. In anticipation all gilt-edged stocks are firmer. Commonwealth loan scrip has improved to five-sixteenths discount and it is confidently expected the discount will soon be wiped off. In other sections of the Stock Exchange j business is on a small scale, but the tone is confident and hopeful views are expressed that the coal strike will gradually collapse. In spite of all unfavourable influences the first half of 1926 has been a satisfactory time for investors. According to the Banker's Magazine the value of 365 representative securities increased in the six months, December 17, 1925, to June 18, 1926, by £75,653,000,000. Eighty-seven fixed interest stocks have risen from £4,075,633,000,000 to £4,131,392,000,000, and 278 variable dividend securities from £2,388,890,000,000 to £2,408,793,000,000. All branches of the Australian and New Zealand produce trade are suffering severely from the effects of the coal strike with its resultant unemployment in all the industries which depend on coal. It is estimated that nearly 3,000,000 workers are not earning money. Consequently the spending power in industrial districts has been enormously reduced, and the consumption of what may be considered luxury foods, such as butter, apples and dried fruits, has greatly diminished. Other more essential foods have also been affected and the demand for frozen meat and cheese has fallen to very small dimensions. The apple trade is probably the greatest sufferer from this condition of affairs. Prices continue to decline. Even at 6s to 8s a case the demand is not sufficient to clear arrivals. The question of holding some apples till the glut in soft fruits has passed has been considered, but it has been found inadvisable, as the first American apples are due to arrive at the beginning of August, This is much earlier than usual. There seems to bo little hope of any improvement in prices, and it is generally believed that this season's results will be the worst in the history of the apple trade. Regarding wool the Bradford correspondent of the Economist says the conditions on the market are better than might have been expected. The mills are beginning to feel the pinch of the coal shortage and production in all departments is being curtailed, but there is a strong belief in the ability of the trade as a whole to make a good recovery when the fuel restrictions are abolished. This quiet confidence is largely responshle for the steadiness of values. A feature of the trade is the brisk demand for home-growu fleece wool at country sales. Prices for many descriptions are well above those obtainable at Bradford.

NEW MOTOR COMPANY. CAPITAL OF £5,000,000. LONDON, June 28. Morris Motors (1926), Ltd.. has been registered with a capital of £5,000,000, to acquire Morris Motors, Ltd., and subsidiary concerns.

NEW SOUTI! WALES STOCK. CONVERSION ARRANGEMENTS. Holders of New South Wales 5f per cent, funded stock, which matures on August 10. are being offered by the State Treasury the right to convert their holdings into 5| per cent, funded stock or debentures at par, with a currency of 5, 10 or 15 years. Interest, which. will be payable on February 10 and August 10 in'each year, will be free of State income tax, but subject to Federal income tax. The amount of the maturing stock listed on the Stock Exchange is £3,936,239. The amount due on August 10 next is £6,397,541, but as the Stock Exchange shows only the amount mentioned above the remainder is held either on account of some official trust funds or by the Government Savings Bank, or by both. On the Same date there is another amount due, £415,000, bearing interest at, the rate of per cent., but as no mention is made of an offer for conversion it may be taken in this case, too, says the Sydney Morning Herald, thaj the loan is held by some public trust fund. SHIPS AND OIL FUEL. CUNARD COMPANY'S BILL. An interesting' passage in Sir Thomas Royden's speech a* the annual meeting of the Cunard Company referred to the additional expense entailed by the company last year owing to the rise in the price of Oil fur„ In 1924 oil fuel cost the Cunard Company an average price of £2 8s 3d per ton. Last year the average price worked oui at £2 14s 5d per ton, and this made a difference to the company of no less than £556,000. The Cunard Company burns oil principally under the boilers of steamships, and the difference would not have been so considerable in the case of motor ships. For one thing, the consumption of 011 for firing boilers is very wasteful, motor ships requiring only about half as irjuch fuel, and for another, the rise in the cost of Diesel oil has not been so .high as for boiler oil. Nevertheless, the increased cost of oil can be seen to be a matter of extreme importance to shipowners. A speaker at a meeting of the Institution of Naval Architects recently calculated that in comparing steamships with motor ships a change of Is in the price of coal requires a change of 3s in the price of oil to make a corresponding difference

VALUABLE SYDNEY LAND.

TWO THOUSAND POUNDS A FOOT. [from our own correspondent. ] SYDNEY, July 1. The time appears to be fast approaching when one wil! need to be something of a millionaire to buy property in the city of Sydney. For a paltry 16ft. 9in. of Pitt Street a few days ago £33.500 was paid at auctioi and, what is more, the purchaser considered himself lucky, especially as he was desirous of securing a position not without an important bearing on his own business. This price of £2OOO a foot, while it is claimed to be a record for Pitt Street, is not a recor! for Sydney, for in 1924 £2300 a foot was paid for property in George Street. Mr George jndab Cohen, one of Sydney's biggest men in finance and con merce, says he remembers the day when land changed hands in George Street, within "coo-ee" of the post office, at £lO a foot. The precious 16ft. in Pitt Street which brought £33,500 are occupied by a pharmacy of two storeys.