FINANCE AND TRADE

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXIV, Issue 4978, 30 May 1903, Page 8 (Supplement)

FINANCE AND TRADE

Tho receipts of the Norddoutscnor Lloyd in 1902 were 19,410,019_ marks, against 20, 001,021 in 1901 • . Iho °“ t " goings, write oft, and additions to the rasciTC and Insurance funds itmoun- to 19 192/2d2 marks, and balance of „18,-0/ marks will be utilised for the creation of i vvo pension funds, and is declared. This experience is even worse than tlie list of other German shipping results.

Regarding tlio London silver and lead market, advices state:—Silver opened at 22 11-lCd spot and 22 9-lCd fonvard, and advanced to 22 13-lGd and -2 11-10 d, closing, however, at the opening rates. The market has been firm, owing to good buying by the American Government on account of thn‘Philippines torcoinage purposes. Tills buying, which is reported to amount to about halt a million ounces weekly, and winch seems likely to continue for about several months, has attracted speculators. Uio Mast however, inis been slow' to tollow , and their purchases have been insignificant. America, which has .supplied the requirements for the Philippines, has naturally hud less to oiler on tins side. This fretell Outlet lor supplies seems to have relieved the situation considerably, and the tendency is good, with fair prospects of a funner nso. Lead.—Karly in the week a return ot confidence seemed probable, but was checked by the appearance of eager sellers, whereupon buyers withdrew altogether, and the price relapsed smartly, with very little business resulting. There would seem to bo no genuine cause for such a collapse, supplies being no more than normal, and a little forbearance on sellers* part at a critical moment would have saved tho maikct. It may now take some time for confidence to return, but tho largo consumption going on must sooner or later make itself felt. Tho market closes at £l2 7s 6d to £l2 10s.

"Donibuscli,” writing from London on tho 3rd April regarding wheat, says; —ln the last few days a firmer tone lias prevailed in tho c.i.f. market and about a dozen cargoes were disposed ot at full pneos. Californian, February bill of lading, brought 31s net, and AVulla Walla on passage 29s 6d—a Iricolor” AValla’ making 30s 3d. Next in favour camo Plato steamers—G2lb on tho way sold at* 27s 3d net and Glib 26s 7} cl. For one cargo on sample 95s 9d was accepted. Russian shippers hold too high for buyers' views, and to some extent this also applies to Indian offers. American spring parcels have met good inquiry at about 3d advance The relative scarcity of spring wheat in America must continue to exercise an influence upon tins particular giade, notwithstanding tho very favourable condition of tho winter wheat crop. Iho market this season wit bo unusually sensitive to crop scares m any important producing country, and it is due to the unusually lino weather of the past month that this clement of disturbance has been in special evidence. Humours of injury to crops in Damibian regions and in Russia arc, to say tho least, premature and lack confirmation from reliable sources. Tho shipments from Argentina this week are unexpectedly heavy, reaching as they do to i.jO.OGO Quarters, including 315,000 quarters lor the United Kingdom and 140,000 quarters for tho Continent. So 'far the exports to liuropo amount to 2,559,000 quarters, compared with 1,054,000 quarters in corresponding pbriod last year. Tho total shipments in 1902 equalled 2 456,000 quarters and 3,754,500 quarters in 1901.

In connection with tho Indian crop, tho advices state: —Tho tea season has now sot in Assam, and all gardens are more or loss busy tipping. Tho teas at present being made, as is usual with those made from first flushes, are not up to much, but tho leaf has to be taken off tho hushes, and might us well be converted into tea as thrown away. Not that tho tea is by any means bad, but it is simply wanting in “guts,” and the golden tips are w-holly absent. If prices realised' for first flush teas do not cover expenses this year they will not, at auy rate, entail any very heavy loss. Careful plucking is to be the order of the day this year, so iho markets'are not likely to ho tea-lodged. ■lt is doubtful whether we shall turn out much more tea this season than last. Tho probability is that outturn will ho kept well within bounds. If supplies are well regulated by those responsible for the, same, average prices should show up well for some little time to come.

A ’New Tork trade journal writes apropos of the tea trade in the United States as follows;—Nearly two hundred members of tho tea trade have consented to become character members of the proposed National Tea Association, wliich will probably take shape in the early spring, but unless this federal organisation can reach down to tho extreme fringe of tho business and control the actions of the retail cutters who have a weakness for cheap tea, with an

“inducement” thrown in, the tea puddle will hardly he disturbed by any ripple , the National Association can cause. It is not “getting together” that tho tea trade needs so much as an active competition between packers of fine blends, assisted by extensive and expensive ad- ' vertising. It is'“up to” any wholesale or retail grocer with fair capital to be the tea trade’s Moses, and lead it out of the house of bondage—the bondage to “tea for price,” with trading stamps, a cup and saucer or 3 1 i b of sugar thrown in. Who’ll bo tho trade’s Moses? Not Undo Sam, with his tea standards and ' board of inspectors;, not tho blender of “something just as good,” not the tea store chain, system, with its cut prices and very ordinary goods; not tho tea peddlor, who goes from house to house; not Lancelot nor another, hut just tho plain old-fashioned family grocer, who lias the wit to see the possibilities in the tea department when it is properly - developed and pushed.

Tho applications for capital in the United Kingdom by companies and in tho form of loftn issues during the first quarter of this year were very small, tho “Economist” placing the total at only £22,225,900. That compared with £17,993.000 in the first quarter of 1902, with £35,044;000 in 1901, and with £51,587,000 in 1900. There were no foreign Government loans, only very small issues by tho colonies, and as for mining companies, they were represented by £252,000, all told. Tho largest demand was on account of iron and coal companies, amounting to £3,361,000, and British municipal loans stood at £2.938,000, while British railways ab-' sorbed £2,411,100. By the way, the Now South Wales Treasury bills are not included in tbo “Economist” total, for tho reason that they were not issued publicly. It is reported from Odessa that a peasant woman in the Bessarabia district of Southern Russia was recently crucified by a number of moujiks, who accused her of sorcery. Tho woman was rescued and narrowly escaped with ( her life, and is now a cripple.