FINANCE AND TRADE.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4396, 29 June 1901, Page 8 (Supplement)

FINANCE AND TRADE.

Messrs. Clins. Halmc and Co. write of the wool market on titli Mayan fallows : —The attendance in the sale room continues Jfirjfe. aijrl competition for merionH, in very iinirtifilefJ from all ''quarters. Prices m now stand 5 per cent:, above last Hories rales, tlie appreciation ‘being most pronounced on fine-haired combing **nd clothing parcolK, particularly when in c conred condition, as welTas bulky pieces, which are actively sought; after by the foreign section of the trade. Medium and inferior description's J aro in pood demand, but do not soli on such favourable terms. Tine crossbreds are also rather dearer than at f lic commencement of the auctions. but the position of medium and coarse grades' has not materially varied, and current quotations for thoso qua!itics‘still remain 7.1 per cent, below March final rates. South' African wools have sold readily during the part few'days at gradually hardening values, good combing greasier meeting with strong support from both home and foreign buy ora.

Although there has been nothing significant about the market in Mark Lane for the week ending May 18th, ’sellers were encouraged at the general situation. Home grown wheal; still gradually strengthens, being in unusually small supply, arid rattier firmer, with 'scarcely anything here. 30 s Gd, delivered. Foreign firm, and American reds continue baro'ex ship. "No. 1 Northern spring, old. quoted at 32s Gd landed; No. 1 hard Manitoba, in the same position. 34s 3d- Flour firm, appart front plentiful supplier on hand and near, while shipments keep fuller pace than requirements. Ton rice town made, 29s net. The London Millers* Association reduced theii prices, making town households 24s Gd, and whites 27s> Gd 3 pcr sack. American first patents quoted at 24s Gd 2as. and first bakers, 20s—21s. Grinding barley maintained. Persian 17s ex ship, 17s Md ex quay. Oats lj?d to 3d dearer, and a good deal transacted during the past d wcek in consequence of exhausted supply of FngJish. American mixed clipped, 15h 9d cx ship. IGs 3d‘ex quay.

Mr W Nelson, oolonial manager of Nelson Bros'., Limited, who is now in London, is very dissatisfied at the'lack of organisation among the consignees in the meat trade. "Every fclloff' in the business, he says, "is attempting to‘work for himself and’against everybody else,” while the American and Hiver Plate people operate in separate harmonious •'combinations, to the mutual advantage of themselves and the meat shippers. He points out that the consignees of Australasian supplies are '"often very much hampered by instructions from the colonial consignors.” who. ho suggests, should leave their London representatives untrammelled.

Tt is gratifying to learn that 'the Natal authorities are realising that if their trade is to increase they must have better port facilities. Durban, owing to its bar and the heavy roll which is always‘experienced in the bay, is by no means a port that ship" masters, owners or "merchants regard as perfect. Under such conditions it is satis, factory to find that the preliminary steps towards carrying ont the 'immense improvements projected, necessitating the expenditure of .£3,000,000, are well forward. Mail advices also state that attempts 'are being made to force on the improvements at the port of Colombo. Those are urgently needed, and delays to vessels not infrequently occur.

There is something evidently in a name worth fighting for. It there are J two Jameson’s whiskies—that of William Jameson and Company and that of John Jameson and Son. The former belongs to the Dublin Distillers Company, and that concern was "restrained by injunction from selling whisky bearing the name "Jameson,” unless 'accompanied by the prefix "Will iurni” or by some abbreviation 'thereof. This was some little time ago, and the Dublin Distillers Company has since been selling its product nnder'the name of "W. Jameson’s whisky.” So far, good, ’but John Jameson and Son. it seems, objected, and applied for a writ of sequestration against the Dublin Distillers for having committed contempt of court, inasmuch as "W.” was not an abbreviation of "William.” The court took a common-sense view of the matter, and dismissed the application-

While telegrams glowing with Imperial sentiment are being received from Austral* ia, and reproduced with graceful embroiclery in fleet Street, ‘"Commercial Intelligence” publishes a s a corrective a set of figures showing that the most substantial bond between Great‘Britain and the new Commonwealth is steadily dwindling. At all events, as far as the older States are concerned "trade is leaving the -flag.” It is pointed out that within fourteen years—--1885-0 imports to New Smith Wales from the United Kingdom 'declined from di11,885,000 to .£8,211,000; the Victorian proportion fell from .£6,046,000 to £5,990,_ 000; the South. Australian from ■'£2.781,000 to .£2,040,000; and the Tasmanian from .£650,000 to £501,000. The decrease of £3,674.000 shown by ‘the New South Wales comparison was co-incident with a marked increase in that State’s total imports, which rose from £23,737,000 in 1885'to £25,. 594.000 in 1899. The decrease of £2,956,000 worth of British goods in the case‘of Victoria took place upon a slightly reduced general import, the total of which dell from £18,044,000 in 1885 to £17,952,000 in 1899. The United States and Germany, of course,'get a large portion of what Great Britain loses. "Commercial Intelligence” adviseg the British manufacturers,, as they have s o often been advised before, to take more trouble to ‘meet the special requirements of colonial customers.

Generally, it is admitted that the United States is » most energetic, ‘ingenious, and determined competitor in the industrial world. The intensely practical methods of the American* are universally admired, a»d tha following desaription of the manner in which the by-products of Chicago slaughter houses are utilised proves that there is good ground for “this admiration. "The by-product* are most interesting. From the horns are made mouth-pieces for pipes, combs, buttons and fertilisers; from the skulls, hoofs and‘knuckles, buttons, knife-handles and cyanide of potassium; from the hone, chessmen,, dice, tooth brush and table ‘knife handles, all kinds of “ivory” articles, and imitation buckhoru pocket knife handles. The bone refuse is all ground up for fertilising purposes, and goms Of the dust is sold to a man who has a "secret process by which he makes billiard balls. Extract of meat is made from some of the blood, and ‘the albumen is extracted from the rest and gold for sugar refining and leather dressing. Gelatine is made and neat’* foot and other animal oils. Sinews and bladder# are used‘for many purposes., and the hair is cleaned and curled for upholstering. Butterine, soap, ammoniates, pepsin and blood meal are made, and every thing tha; «ncapes these ‘uses is turned into «i!e grease and fertilisers.” The utilisation of by-products profitably is one of the great reasons for the United States’ sue. cess. *

French an well as British manufacturers are complaining that the demand of the untrea status xor textile fabrics hag of late‘been seriously reduced. The reason for the decline in the demand for foreign made goods is feadily accounted for by the strides which are being *made by the United states In textile manufacturing. During last year no fewer than 531 textile mills were erected as compared with 298 for the corresponding period. 'The State of Georgia leads with 436 mills to its cred. it, closely followed by'North Carolina with 41 new ventures and South Carolina with 81. So far as cotton manufacturing is concerned South Carolina still leads the van —a position she has occupied for the past five years. During the period under

review capital to the VAent of ■• £9nn . was put into the new mills, but nP fl 'tfrora this capital stocks of fourteen pix-vioir.b established rnillsUvero enlarged by a total of some A 589,000. Now South Wales is burrowing in a verj ‘ XLr ’ 11 “ smee tue upeuint free ami easy maniiei. ama i * 01 the year jii.uuu.uuu has been taken 0.. tue local market, and XI.UOU.UUU Horn ; on don, while mere Uave aim been con-nhianle increases in tue savings Banks funds used ami in the issue of i muled stock. During the hnanciul year 1900-1901 the amount iroin the havings Hanks is shown to he JbSt.OOO, ami tue sales of funded s toek amount t< another -B.iU.tVa. All debts contracloc from the first .January last form a btat( debt out of the power of the Common wealth, which has, under the Constitution, only power to deal with and consol! date such debts as exist at the time of its proclamation. The free expondittuo or borrowed money in New South Vv ales naturally toads to increase the temporary “prosperity" of tlie people, but if persist, ea in may prove disastrous. The total of m^opem IBOU was uhout tons Of t.u----1,1 Aiehmakes the worlds yield for the year 520.0UU long tons. R Of Vrol.'x figure. iU-ilUc seen that the European gain dm in K the decade was just over I P e ““■ while the gain in production rithoU te 1 States during tlie same panod has ueoi about 105 per cent. ■ • w ;th the overtures made In 'connection "it . fol - America! to Sir Clirwtopher states tW coal shipments, tl a blisU a regular he has been asked to estaoiiau , Steamship service to lor Anxori. maritime coaling stations between Jiußi.ancl and the La t. The American movers m the phi n fidrnt that the British export tax will en- “ hem to undersell coal me- - The ‘‘Times’ adds that oi del f have already been placed for special tram, steamships. German nowapaper H iat markable foothold ' au( i Central Am, ters commercial J S authority st ates that erica. Xhus, on ,• ea occupy sue) the German steam P goutll American a strong position American commer traffic that the North r Ap en , er i n t( cial fleet is entirely nn fewer thar competition with t ’ slli companies I” So S,th“ i o“' sstst a =» Sh* ern provinces. In connection with^^P^^^^r beet sugar industij . t t hat negotiation, nal of Commerce sta chioago for the have been sugar concern formation of the laige lias been or in the world. A, , JL k of 6,000,000d0l ganised with a Valley Sugai to be knownw the y> Th( Beet and Irrigation to \, c i n Prow plant of new company Eookj era County, Col.. n m , m ber of J New Ford fruit district. A numu r York capitalists, .including tne m.u Cuttings, Hamiltons. InvwsOns.J tnd Guj Richards. of . tlie Mercantile Tiust Company, are interested. The new con oerii has purchased the holdings of thr Great Plains Water Company whjch wn prise about 125.000 acres along tho A. kan sas Biver in South-Eastern Colorado. Colonisation of the land with farmers wil be undertaken by the company. More tlmr 2 OOO.OOOdoI. will he expended this year oi improvements. With both Canada W the United States showing such a deter mination to make the beet sugar industry a -'success, surely something of a similai character should be found profitable ir Victoria. That success has so far not a tended local attempts to "establish thir industry has been due to palpable mis takes, and hence, if these in the "futun can bo avoided, there is a fair prospetd that our soil and climate will be utilisec 1 to develop an industry capable of yielding highly satisfactory results.