FINANCE AND TRADE.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXIX, Issue 3648, 26 January 1899, Page 7

FINANCE AND TRADE.

"Now Zealand Times” office, Wednesday evening. The Customs returns for to-day amounted to .£2026 4s 3d. It was well ■ known that the various Colonial Treasurers in the colony , have LeOn waiting for a favourable market for the raising of loans in London, and the announcement that South Australia is inviting tenders for a loan of i 11,500,000 at 3 per cent..will not occasion any surprise. The reduction of tho Bank of England discount rate last week gave, indication of easier monetary' conditions, and South Australia, which stands in somewhat pressing need of money, has taken prompt advantage of tho situation. For tho financial year ended 30th June last, the actual revenue of tho colony was -<£2,566,611 or ,026,433 less than the estimate, while the actual expenditure, .£2,598,939, exceeded tho estimate by ,£6403. Tho result was that the expenditure exceeded revenue by .£32,328. The public debt of South Australia, inclusive of that of tho Northern Territory (.£1,806,470), (was on Ist July last . ,£24.408,535, the interest payable thnroon annually being .£950,091, the average rate being 3.917 per cent. South Australia. has already had two emissions in 3 per cents, and on both occasions was very successful. Tho results of these compare as under;—

Amount Amount Average I)ite. Wanted. Tendered. Price. £ £ £ a d. Fob. 20, 181 i 830,500 3,725,000 97 4 11 May 28, 1897 1,090.000 4,784,300 97 13 8 Tho issue price of tho last loan was 95, ' and theactual average tender price yvaathiu AJ2 13s 8d per cent. more. The iqinimum price fixed for tho loan now Under offer is J 194 10s per cent., and the probability is that the average price will reach 96, or perhaps a little more. Colonial 3 her cents, have not maintained their Stock Exchange value, and compared with twelve months ago, all show a decline us nndor; Jan. 20, Jan. 21, 1893. 1899. £ £ per cents. ... 103 99. SA. do 100 984. 1 N.Z. do ... 101* ’ 98iiIf tho South Australian loan meets with a good reception wo may safely assume that the other colonies will promptly tap the market. The seven colonies require about .£7,000,000 of John capital. In case the reported shortage; in tho wheat harvest of Cape Colony should raise false , hopes with New Zealand wheat - growers, it may be as well to state that the official estifixes the shortage at 355,000 bushels, There is reason to believe, however, that ■ the wheat harvest . in the Orange Free State will far exceed the average yield, and that will materially affect the market in Capo Colony. Tho quotations for wheat in the neighbouring colonies serve, as a guide to the prices that may he expected to rule iu New Zealand. In Sydney; milling wheat is nominally 2s 7d per bushel, and Hour £7 to .£7 ss; in Melbourne wheat is dull at 2s 64d per bushel, and in Adelaide 2s 6d to 2s 7a per bushel are the quotations for wheat and Tie 15s for .flour, 't he Queensland wheat yield for the season in returned at 700,000 bushels, or an average of 10 bushels per acre, as against a total yield of 1,000,000 bushels, and an average of 10 bushels per acre last year. The dividends paid by joint stock companies in Australia, last year are computed of J 34,116,510. of which mining companies contributed .£3,674,407. Ihe goldfields of Austral u a a have been wondrqusly _ productive daring 1893, audit is nob surprising that the sharetaiders should have drawn largo dividends. The following table shows the dividends paid iu 1898 in each of the colonies except New Zealand • Non-mining. Mining. ..£ £ . New South Wale j ... 876,987 ... 474,701 Victoria ... ... 310,507 ... . 570,880 Quoensh nd ... ~.. 64,770 , ... 780,683 South drstraJa. ... 126,374 ... 16,000, Tasmania 38,565 ... 236,843 Western Austialii ... 25,100 ... 565,293 1,442,103 2,674,417 The activity of American buyers has quite changed the complexion of.the. London wool ,* snlera now current. The Americana .are relieving tho market ot crossbreds, and their » operations havu caused an advance, in values equal to 10 per cent, on the closing rates of the December sales. Too much must nob be expected from the American demand, which is to a very largo ’extent speculative. There nro heavy stooks of colonial wool ► till hold in the United States; notwithstanding that, a considerable quantity has during the past two months gone into consumption. These t foots are available to manufacturers at a few emits below the cost of imports, so that until there is a further depletion of stock* it would be foolish to place too much confidence in American buying. Still, it is pleasing that , prices have not followed the course predicted by experts, and those growers who have gone to the expense and trouble of go-ting their new season’s clip marketed at the present sales must be gratified at the promising results.

State insurance of goods in transit ins just been initiated in Victoria, and consists in the insurance of parcels sent through the post, the following charges being fixed Within the colony, 4d for parcels not exceeding -810 in -value, and 2d for each additional -810 up to -850, the maximum charge to be Is. Between Victoria and New South Wales, 5d for parcels not exceeding 1810 in value, and: 2.}d for each additional -810 up to-830, the maximum charge to be 1s 3d. Apparently this form ot insurance is to cover only inland postal traffic, and that to a limited extent, the scheme, however, is certain to develop,

The misfortunes that have befallen marine underwriters in recent years can be easily understood when the list of loasss is,taken into consideration. Thus during the five years 1891 to 1898 inclusive, the total losses by sailing vessels, excluding those timberladen. wore 40 in number, 29 being outward bound vessels and 11 homoward bound, 'j he casualties to steamers during the same period numbered 68, and of these no less than 23 werefi-es, all more or less serious. Of well - known New Zealand traders, the Nairnshire and Kaikoura were jon fire in 1894, the Matatua'and Eimutaka: in, 1895 j the Waikato and Kuahino in 1896, the Nangatica and Morayshiro iu 1897, and tho Matatua, Buteshire - and Tokoa in 1818. The latter was twice on fire last year, once while at Port Chalmers and again at the Capo, boino of tho fires have boon traced and others are known to have originated in the insula- < tioix. Twtnty out of the 23 steamers on fire during tho above period are fitted with refrigerating machinery" and insulation, and iboto is to doubt that such on inflammable material as charcoal adds considerably to tho risk of fire. Pumics bus been tried and proved to be safer and more effective than charcoal and it is not unlikely that marine underwriters will make some ■move to effect an improvement in the material used for insulation. ,

The Dominion of Canada, it appears, is determined to make the export of frozen pr.dnoa, if possible, a success. According |to- “ Cold Storage,” cold-fitted oars are running every weok on 18 routes of tbo Canadian railway system, connecting with the shipping port’, and2S ocean going stoaraars Have boon fitted with refrigerating chambers, for carrying butter, fruit, eggs, poultry and meat to Hnropo. Tbo initial cost 'of fitting the steamers is given at about £200!) per vessel, of which the Government. has paid onehalf, and. to the railways it guarantees; twothirds of tbo carload rata from tha starting point. ; Mr P. Villiers, the warcorrespondent, lias been under firo over a hundred times, and has witnessed a score or so of first class battles. Some of his experiences have been very trying. At Abu Kea, for instance, Mr St. Lcger Herbert, one, of his comrades, was shot through the brain while standing by his side ; Mr Cameron, another correspondent, was killed a few yards from him on the same day ; and his camel boy was also slain while close to him. “ Keating’s Powder ” destroys bugs, fleas, moths, booties and all other insects, while quite harmless to domestic animals. -In ex-, terminating beetles the success of this powder is extraordinary. It is perfectly clean in application. See the orticle you purchase is “Keating's,” na imitations arc noxions end ineffectual. Sold in Tina, b’d. Is and 2s 8(1 each, by all chemists.