FINANCE AND TRADE

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 6176, 6 April 1907, Page 6

FINANCE AND TRADE

The revenue received .'it Wellington .voff• r<f;ij.* totalled l'-G7B. TI&A MWW V riXANCK. Tutored; i.-* just now being centred in Ui r. balance-sheet of t. ho Wei! ington tramway system i'or f lip year jum concluded. /’ui/ details are nuJ yet to hand, tail; suKkdent known (o enable the following preliminary comparison, to bo made:

'I Ik? striking feature.-* are, of course, Hie i'4-jjl. i)n.?rease iu the earning rate, arrnnipanicd i >y Ur* fall iu the proportion ;,f expense--, (o leeeipls. Ts-tbo Mayor .pointed out ve,l(*rday, a Jot oi malarial If,an not yet begun to earn ilamey, and (ho prospect* s-rm bright tor an. even belter .Glowing when th>- in w section:. ,u’i! opened. The .Brooklyn servn.v, it must be noted, did not do a veer’s work, vho Austin street section onl.v coni ri* bated two or throe mouths* working, and the Karori ears had only just begun ■cunning. ; TRAMWAYS TX THE UNITED .KINGDOM, Xt may bo profitable to introduce some figures relating dm working of Urn ■'.ram ways of tho Lnited Kingdom tor the vear 19(1."M>. From the exhaustive (aides l u ll»o "Municipal V<*«r Book lor UJOi /,e BiinunaritSo as lolloui*. giving iu parUlcl column* the details of private eompanlew' systems. and sy* tom,j owned by local authorities: —* Municipal, Trivate. Undertakings worked KM 1-7 Capital outlay ... £31,117.3<K> £2-6,305,928 .MilcH open Uni. 1 , 7-IB] Total receipts ... £6.853,UG .kn.789.G8-i Working expenses £1,323,73-1? £2,512,029 Nett receipts ... £2,529,752 £1,277,Cnj) Nott receipts to capital 3 per cent -11 percent Expenses to It would he useful to institute a comparison between some British city and Wellington, if a. HrihVli city in its genera! features similar could he found. IfUjsuix hail, in 1905-C. a syelem rod in:/ -.£387,951, and Hull a *jbUmu costing £-102.723. Tot the ilu)ifax lines upem/d measured 37.03 mile-, amt these of Hull only 13. G miles. Hut. the grow receipirf for Halifax totalled £80.925, and Idi Hull £115,832. the nett returns on capital being 0.05 per cent, and 11.51 jk?v rent, respectively. This will indicate him very wide variation of percculagci*. am: lht>* uselessnessof comparing (ho tramways of any one British city with thetro od Wellington. Wo may call attention here to tho testimony which the British figure? hear to tiro superiority of municipal over private enierpiicc in tin* matter of street transit. WASTING ASSETS. A 1 recent article in the London “Tinics” financial supplement conclude*? with the following interesting statement of a. principle;—“Tho beet argument, in favour of good fmanco anti the writing down of assets to scrap-heap values is tho result shown by actual experience. The most pu-ccwbful ami profitable companies iuthe long run are those which, like banks and fmuiranco companies, trade on their credit. and can therefore call nothing an jusset which would not realise its price. II; i,q because tin's evidence of experience* is so overwhelmingly on the side of good finance, and because so much might be demo by auditors in the direction of v-Umulnting its cultivation, tliat we view with regret the spectacle of eminent acyountants arguing on the side of a purely conventional valuation of assets, or contending that an effective valuation can bo secured by tho calculations of shareholders and tho open market, based on tho company's earning power." JAPAN'S BUDGET, The Budget of Japan for 1907-S shows; a considerable increase both iu ordinary ’ and extraordinary expenditure, most of ■which is to be met by loans. The ordinary revenue is estimated at £12,111,700, .nfl against £39,253,200 in the current financial year —au advance of £3,191,500, chiefly furnished by the larger yield of taxes ami ‘the bigger receipts from State monopolies. Tho extraordinary revenue is put at £18,691,600, ns compared, with £.10,217,200, and is mainly composed of borrowings. Thus tho total revenue is £61,139,300 —au Advance of £ll,66B,Boo—and represents the anticipated frxpendituro of tho year. Tho War and Navy Departments arc responsible for tho hulk of the additional outlay, tho former accounting for /A 11,161,700, au increase of £5,918,000, and It ho latter for £8,218,200, on increase of c&1,295,400, i A considerable sum is also to bo spent on tho development of Formosa, on railroad and telephone extensions, and on tho establishment of ironworks. No jplan or scheme of fresh sources of taxation ifl suggested, but probably the Finance minister is waiting for the result of tho Commission ou the Reorganisation .of Taxes, which was appointed last year. Apparently tho new Budget is liable to considerable modification, as tho Finance ."Minister admits it to be of a temporary jolraraotor, .Sir B. Montague Nelson, speaking at twenty-third annual general meeting jiof Messrs Nelson Brother*, held iu Lon4lon recently, remarked that there war, little alteration in the figures of the acJDOimte, tho amount of profit being about tho same, and tho dividend of 7 ;per cent, on tho ordinary shares being fthe same m last year. Prices for frozen meat in London during (lie last six had been comparatively high. .That might seem satisfactory, but the 'Now Zealand sheep-farmer felt sure that tho London prices were never going to (fall, and the price he demanded for his sheep, he reckoned, should be on n par {with the price being realised hero for the Kmormont. High prices had also a tendency to damage tho trade at Homo, iwhioh, when lost for a time, had to bo up again as prices fell to (heir level. STOCK EXCHANGE. 1 YESTERDAY'S QUOTATIONS.

l&W-G. ieOG-7. X X Capital T>T>;i\C> 359,100 Total receipt* 7H,-T'i Working expense.-? ... -"iljrir Melt receipts :{J p u*l 1’er J.Vr COJ»t. CL-IJ{. Nett receipts to capital 1 8.:. Kxpenses to receipts... OD.I <>1.G

Bvrxxs. BEU.XA8. Salis £ a. a. £ B. a. £ a. d Sivxs~~ t Rational ,, — 6 7 0 ! Wow Zealand •• — 10 2 8 — FxiiAiioufc— H.Z. and E, Halo.. — 1 10 0 Qab— .. — 1 3 3 PalmcrstonNorth .. 7 o e Wellington, £10 W#lHajfton,£5 IS 15 0 19 0 0 — 0 7 C — — Ihhhujio*—* Standard ol N.Z. 110 — — Meat P»*a«nTiRoGear Meat, £1 2 4 0 — * _ W’ll’n M«ut,£2133 Id ~ a 5 0 — R*n>wATS am> Surrjau— •W’sc’tO'Manawaia*.. 118 8 _ Union Steam Ship.. 17 6 0 W’nt’n Ferrj, 15s paid — 0 15 0 — Wool*** MAHmomiviva— Xaiapoi Woollen 6 f 9 3 12 6 W tliington Woollen.. — 3 0 0 — Waetporl — 7 18 — — Mimszj^ajmv*— Levland • O’Brien B 4 8 — — UaariceTille LlmoOo. 1 6 0 Bkarland and Oo.,Ord 110 ,, Preferenoa .. 119 1 1 0 Taranaki Pelrolenra, £1 paid ,. 9 16 0 0 17 3 Ward and Co.. Ltd... 9 12 0 Taliimam Consolldated 1 13 0 Waihid.M. Co. .. 9 10 8 3 0 9 2 0 Waiotahi O.M. Co, 1 7 6 Karanul Caledonian 0 3 * Ex. 0 1 5