FINANCE AND TRADE.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXIX, Issue 3673, 24 February 1899, Page 7

FINANCE AND TRADE.

“ Mew Zealand Times ” office. Thumlny evening. Iha Customs returns for to-day amounted to JJ1770 17a 3d.

Nohon Bros,, Limited, have ot last exporienned a prosperous year. The business for tliO'year ended 30th September, 1808, has resultsd_ in a profit of JCiS.fiO'd, hut ‘this amount is more than swallowed up by t-e de fiolt of -33'-9,(105 carried forward from the previous year The oompanv has bad a chequered career Jt-wa? originally formed to ‘acquire the sheetifarming and preserved meat business of Nelson Bros, and Williams, id' Tonioana, the purchase money being fixed at 4848 ( 000 in cash and. XT?,000 in 4000 shares paid Bp to :iB. tin /.April,-. Xi9l, 30,000 uow shares were created, and. in August of the same-year 20,000 were offered to the shareholders at pnr, and those not taken up (s‘i !S VrCte issued to the public at a premium of Hiper share ■ Further 1476 werft I sued in i 893, and'l6 r o in 1894 at par in Mew Z-a!and. In Maroh, 1893, the capital was further increased by’the creation of 20.000 (i p.r cent, non -cumulative preference i hires of J}lo each, entitled to priority of capital without’further participation, In October, 1893, fiflfO wero offered, and 2920 were taken up.' The English branch of tbb business Vft» sold to the-Coloniai Consignment and D.otdituition-' Company, -lor-- X 283.000, pavablo , j£5!23 000 in’ ordinary- h bar OK and -900, (10. 1 ill cash. A S- per Of-ilt.' dividend was paiddn, eachof tho 'two and 1893-4, tin Ibe'otdinary shared,-but) since then there hits, been no distribution- : -Iu addition to the share capital there'are'.£3o,o(lo in 3 per cent debenture stock issued 'at pur in-lS9f-7 and redeemable itl any time at 110.- Thn'-prefits for IAPS efiable' 1 the company to practically wipiront'fhpaccy.mnle-.ted deficits of previous years, and tho'fediioiibii'df the sh'dre'ioftpital from sCIO ,to,' r iCß .per. share; is, a move in the right direotiotr’-Xf-tlie prices of froscn-'mcilt and tallow continue ,tq Inniptain Ibeir present level the company bfi'gllt'iidxt year lo be ally to enter ili-i liar, of "dividend paying instil uI'idn’sw)/■! T„ii-c'iivjit tn.i ?-;iI-H!,i!Sr’, v i '

Too litUd ttttf-ntion ls given- in .-Newj Zca hind ■ to -the ■ collection iand" publihatitin vof ataliatios in a form-,that' would'! bo .‘useful. to the people/ ' OfPPnrso, the Year Book issued annually by thWßhgietrttr' General-.is 'a".very creditable publication,' and makes ; its -appearance with extreme regularity- - Whatiis needed > is. the monthly.’-publication of tho trade figUros.-Wevonue receipt?, gold rttiirfls a Bd*suclr othßi-matters which in the reet of the colonies are furnished promptly at the end of the mouth. To urge the limited interest of those returns r or their non-pub icatJon is an insult to tho meroantiio community. The. Mines -Department of Victoria issues a very elaborate return each month showing iu detail tho outpiit of ‘ the mines in ibe various districts ; the quantity of oretrentml. the total yield,‘the average yield per ton; the total value of'the metal end the dividends paid- by ,oneh company, , together with information relating to thi >hara capital of the'reßiJeotiyo companies and the work in operation,at the vavloias’mines.';These elaboi ate-‘c el ail s for rthd month of January are uoW tohanrt, aVid it'irf “humiliating to-think that wo are st‘ll without the tliahteHt infirinatioh respeotiilß l the output of Mew Zealand. If the collection- and -publication of this information uah i be- accomplished , with unuti prompfituda in .-Victoria; surely, the .same, can be-, done in Now 'l'he-wliolo business of ,ocrl eating and. tnrnishiugv statist ic-il ififurmatinn is sadly neglected, in '.New Zealand;i and lit is-bigu/titnc: some change was made. • k- - : i

Tha Viotoiiail gold y laid far January wns 51(3780*,'against 4.‘),7t!00is in January, 1898, . ‘ arid 27J»rilofrin 18 »7-. -• 'I be tdt<U cold prod notion of Vjotoria from 1851 to tha end of last’ month wiii# (J1;786i9H i bunoßa, valued at 1 .£250,914;<j36!' 'The dividonda paid by pobliu (joinpanios in Victoria during the past five years,wnra aa follows: ■ ' Year. - ■ X ». 1894 ; ... 459,721 10 1895 ... 418,507 0 1890 ... ... 519,C95 S 1 1897 ... 537,094 7 i 1898 ... ... 015,634 « The sugar bounties of Europe, which have brought about the collapse of the. sugar cane industry in the West Indies,' and .so caused ruin, to.tha. .islands, still remain fin force, although strong efforts have been made to get taem abolished: What has failed to bo overcome by the pressure of Great Britain, will, it seems: .nave to yield to the economic changes that are at work. The acquisition of Cuba and Porto Eico by the United . States is destined to revolutionise th 4 sugar trade of the world before many years. Before her recent - war with Spain the yearly quantity of sugar directly and more immediately controlled by America—that is to say, her own dot ' mestio production and that furnished! under treaties, ’by . Hawaii—did not greatly exceed 600,000 tons, or not one: third of what is needful, under existing circumstances, for her consumption: Now she succeeds to Spanish dependent cies, which even in'' their disorganised state previous to the contest . produced fully-500,000 tons, and which under more administration are .capable*,.of doubling That quantity. ’ Then The "Haw-* aiian Islands, with iv production of 250,000. tons, - from .having long beep semi: American,bave become wholly so, andrnay reasonably-be expected to increase their area of cultivation; so that it. is safe ttj conclude that within three years ■ the total of 600,000 tons, which to-day reprei . seiits Swhati may more or less strictly be regarded ns.American in origin, may be increased 'to 1 something which -may -come to little, if at 'all, short of .2,000,000 tons: When, therefore, America is thus 1 provided for, what is. to be.the destination-of those crops; which heretofore have contributed so largely to her requirements ? During the past . year her importations from foreign sources, leaving out of sight those from her new possessions, were, roughly speaking,. 1,000,000 tons, and this is about the quantity which must soonet or later, be left to. find fresh outlets. It appears, then, that ns about 800,000 tons of this quantity consisted of cane sugar 1 , the hulk of. it, especially ns .this description ‘ is -’gaining in popular favour in Great Britain, will again'find its way to British.ports, and to the same extent that of beet: root and its refined product will be displaced! At first sight-it may seent that, instead of contributing to .improve'ment, this; unappropriated supply must of necessity operate in quite the opposite direction; but when it is considered that its disposal will fall directly upon European producers, and that the burden thus entailed must force ameliorative legislation needed to stimulate Continental consumption, it is here that the changes art most likely to find their origin.': Under the heavy burden of a duty of about 21s on every hundredweight of sugar- con 'sunied-in-Erancß.-lls in -Russia, , and about 10s in Germany and Austria, the aggrer gate consumption of those,;four great producing countries' barel- exceeds 2,500,000 tons, or a little over 201b’per head of tlieir combined population, and it is therefore easy to understand that; some reasonable treatment of the question by the Govern' merits concerned will he sufficient to make the present Continental production of 5,000,000 tons not only easily disposable, but even to fall short of natural requirements. ■ The abolition of the sugar bounties is, therefore,, a matter of time, and will be directly due to recent American conquests.

The totnl quantity of butter imported into the United Kingdom during the past three years compares as under:— j

3,03?,718 3,217,802 3,209,093 Thfl proportion contributed by Australasia is a more trifle, and there is plenty of scope for the expansion of the industry. The' Now Zealand 1-oan nud Mercantile Aeonov Cornnany, Limited, has received the following cabin mnsssßO from its London house, dated the 23rd instant: - " Tallow ia in good demand, and has advanced.3(l per owt sinbe'dast report. Butter—Stocks light and weather seasonable. Market is likely to improve. Fine qualities range ini value from 9 i« to 100 a.”

1896. 1897.; 1893. | owta. t owta." owta. ! Canada 88,357 1(10.403 150.805 NS.W... _••• 7,777 23.835 34.391 i4ew Zealand 50;370" "70,592 09,919 Victoria 151.835 109,075 124,2>3 Denmark ... 1,228,781 1,334,720 1,465,030 France 467,602 448 128 410,821 Germany ... 107,825 . 51,701 41,231 Holland 234.409 278 CSI 269,324 Sweden ... 393,829 299,314 294,962 United Statea 141.553 1.14,190.. 66,719 O'r Countries 220,237 273,312 .269,585