EXPORT OF FRUIT

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21498, 23 May 1933, Page 5

EXPORT OF FRUIT

THE SEASON IN AUCKLAND) DESTINATION OF OUTPUT T,he Auckland fruit export season' will be closed with the sailing of the Port Nicholson for London and West Coast ports on Friday. A cargo of 11,000 cases of apples, mostly Doehertv, will be loaded at Auckland. The total export of apples and pears from the Auckland province, 121,983 cases, compares with 181,000 cases in 1932 and 116,000 cases in 1931. Of tho total, there were 116.769 cases of apples and 5217 cases of pears. The drop in the total exports was due to a reduction in apple shipments, pears remaining about the same. Delicious apples accounted for almost the total shipments. The destination of the output (in eases) is shown in the following table:—• Apples Pears Totnl United Kingdom . . 7(5,379 4,4-41 80.820 Continent . . . . '',666 7 " ( > 8,442 South America .. 23.277 Canada .. .. 0,417 Totals .. ..11(1,769 5,217 121, OSS It is expected 'that the return to .growers, including the exchange pre* mium, will be slightly better than was obtained last season.. BRITISH STEEL MERGER TWO POWERFUL GROUPS ■ Two of the most powerful of the stce! industry groups of Great Britain will be united with tho merger between Dorman Long and Company and the South Durham Steel and Iron Company. The Economist states both companies have risen with the steel industry of the north-east coast. In 1923, after it had absorbed several companies, the paid-up capital of Dorman Long was £8,018,056 (including £6,000,000 in ordinary shares), and £400,000 of 4 per cent first mortgage debenture stock and £3,500,000 of 5* per cent redeemable debenture stock were outstanding. Between 1915 and 1920 profits averaged £481,407, but in 1922 they had fallen to £160,369. Ordinary dividends had touched 14 per cent, but in 1922 they were passed for the first time, and they have not been reinstated. Dividends on the preferred ordinary shares ceased after 1924 and on the 6 per cent cumulative preference shares after 1930. In 1931 and 1932 earnings, after depreciation and other charges, were insufficient to cover debenture interest, though this lias been paid regularly. In 1929 the compsmy acquired the undertaking of Bolckow, Vaughan and Company, which held a controlling interest in Redpath, Brown and Company, an important constructional engineering business centred at Edinburgh. In the following year Dorman Long bought the Tees-side Bridge and Engineering Company. The South Durham Company is the leading representative of the Eurness group, whose interests range from coal mining to finished steel. At September 30 its capitalisation comprised £300,000 of 4£ per cent perpetual debenture stock, £300,000 in £1 6 per cent cumulative preference shares, £350,000 in £1 ordinary shares and £587,820 in £1 B ordinary shares. It has paid moderate ordinary dividends throughout the depression. ,

JELLIED EELS

WAIRARAPA INDUSTRY A new industry is about to be eatablished in the Wairarapa, one perhaps unique in New Zealand, a company to export canned jellied eels to Great Britain. The company is being formed in pursuance of a contract made ia London in September, 1932..The directors are Greytown residents. The scene of the company's operations will be in the neighbourhood of Wairarapa Lake* LOW INTEREST RATES "There seems to be no doubt, in atv cordance with the known results of every major depression and the recent experiences of Great Britain and Australia, that New Zealand will #go through a period of low interest rates, gradually rising as the demand for money increases as trading conditions improve," said Mr. E. H. S. Hamilton, chairman -of directors of the United Building Society of Christchurch. at the annual meeting last week. Mr. Hamilton said the reduction of £456 in the net profit of the company for the year was due to the statutory reduction in the rates of interest payable on mortgages. This reduction was offset to a certain extent by lower rates paid on deposits made with the society, but the j-elief was not great, because reduction*' in the deposit rates applied only to new deposits, and the society's total of deposits was small ia proportion to the mortgages held.

PRODUCE AT PUKEKOEE [from our own correspondent! PUKEKOHE. Monday The demand for Pukekohe potatoes has eased during s tlio past week, the price remaining about os per cwt., f.o.r. Pukekohe. New season's onions are firm at 6s per cwt/ Cauliflowers, - which are at present rather scarce, bring up to 12s 6d a largo sack; cabbages, 6s 6d a large sack; parsnips, 3s 6d a sugar bag; carrots, 3s 3d a sugar bag; beetroot, 3s 3d a sugar bag; pumpkins, 4s 3d a, cwt.; marrows, 4s per cwt.; rhubarb, 3s & dozen. . . %