FINANCE AND TRADE.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1510, 7 February 1901, Page 19

FINANCE AND TRADE.

Messrs Haigh and Morrah and the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company report a very successful sale of rams at- the Lover Hutt ort Friday last. Lincolns find Romneys wore well represented, but there' was a scarcity of Leicesters and Downs, and they could have quitted a much larger number of sheep had more come forward. There was a large attendance of buyers from the Wairarapa and Manawatu districts and from other parts of the colony. Only one small lot of aged rams was unsold. Prices ranged as follows . Two-tooth Romney rams (flock), 2 ;gs to 3.1 gs ; 2-tooth do (stud), 4gs to Bgs ; 2-tootli Lincoln rams (flock). 2-Vgs to 4gs ; 6-tooth do (stud), slgs; f.f.m. rams, Ig to 2’gs.

COMMERCIAL CABLES. LONDON, February 1. BANK OF ENGLAND RETURN. The Bank of England return issued! for the week ending Wednesday, January 30th, is as under : Issue Department. Note issus ... £18,751,000 Gov. dobs .. £11,015,000 Other securities .. G. 760,000 Gold.. ... 31.976.0 00 £48,751.000 £48,751.060 Banking Depabtmekt. Proprietors' Gov. seouricapitai .. £14.553,000 ties .. 15,432,000 Public do- Other so - posits .. 8,521,CC0 curftieS .. 29 589,000 Other do- Notes .. 19.806,GCu posits .. 41,096,000 Coin.. .. 1,800,000 Rest, 7-day and other bills .. 2,714,CC0 £66,687,000 £66,687,0t0 The leading items cf the Bank of England return afford ' L ho fallowing comparison ; This Last Week. Week. £ £ Bullion 30.976,000 30,614 000 Reserve .. .. .. .. 21.66 tOOO 21.438,000 Note circulation i-8,773,000 28,584,000 Deposits 43,420,000 48,027,000 Proportion reserve to liabilities 41-55 ' 44 53 G OVERNMENT SECURITIES. The following are the latest quotations for Government securities, and a comparison with those ruling last week:

♦lnterest payable in May and November, t Interest payable in January and July. 1 Interest payable in April and October. THE MONEY MARKET. The market rate of discount for three months’ bills is unchanged at 4i per cent. The Bank of England rate also remains unchanged at 5 per cent.

COLONIAL AND OTHER PRODUCE.

Wheat —The market is generally steady. The French market is declining and weak. Cargoes and' parcels are unchanged. The cargo ex John O’Gaunt from Lyttelton sold at 29s 9d per quarter.

According to “ Bradstreet’s ” estimate the American visible supply of wheat east of the Rockies is 87,408,000 bushels.

Sugar is steady. German beet, 88deg., Ijd higher, at 9s 3d per cwt.; first mark, granulated, f.o.b. Hamburg, l-£d higher, at 11s 3d per cwt. Butter is firm, and there" is a good demand. Colonial is unchanged at 108 s to 110 s. Danish is also unchanged at117s, but is recovering. Cheese is flat—New Zealand, 52s to 53s per cwt. Bradford Tops—The market is quiet. Common sixties, £d lower, at 18d per lb; super sixties, lower, at per lb.

At. the wool sales there is fair competition, with a hardening tendency. The sales close on the 9th. “Longburn” fetched 6-}d. THE PRICES OF METALS.

Copper, nominal quotations—Spot, 5s lower, at £7l 5s per ton ; three months’, unchanged, £72 per ton. Pig iron—Glasgow warrants, 6d higher, at 52s 9d per ton, f.o.b. in Clyde. Lead, 15s lower, at £ls 5s per ton. COAL EXPORT. GREYMOUTH, February 3. The exports for the week were : Brunner Coal Company, 1447 tons 7cwt of oal, 61 tons 12cwt coke, 1 ton lOewt >ricks. The Blackball coal mine is again, at work.

WESTPORT, February 3. The coal output for last week was 7612 tons 18cwt, of which the Westport Coal Company shipped 7459 tons 7cwt, and the Westport Co-operative Company 153 tons llewt.

— PriceVariation. £ s. a. 2g % Imps rial Consols 90 12 0 2/0 higher 4 % New South Wales 114 0 0 10/- 1 igher H % New South Wale3 10b 5 0 5/- higher g % New South Wales 100 0 0 5/- higher 4 % Victorian 109 0 0 Unchanged 8A % Victorian .. 102 0 0 10/- lower H j'o Victorian — • , 3k % South Australian iC6 0 e 1 flinch anged b % South Australian 98 0 0 .Unchanged 4 % Queensland 107 0 0 Unchanged 3¥ % Queensland .. 102 0 0 5/- low. v 4 % Now Zealand* 113 0 0 Unchanged Pi % New Zealand! it 6 iO 0 Unchanged 3 % New Zealand! 98 0 0 Unchanged 3k % West Australian 100 15 0 Unchanged 3k % Tasroaro'an 102 0 0 Unchanged