FINANCE AND TRADE.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 6371, 20 November 1907, Page 6

FINANCE AND TRADE.

LONDON COMMKKLTAL CARLE. chess association. DOMAIN. November 18. Silver is quoleil al, :L lIM. * cmusTcnuuar chain .market. cmiisTcii c ii.cn. it Tlio grain market exeepl .anally :,uiel.. Though eoiiie wheal is 01 atereliaitls arr no!, anxious to »>(•>•• pur-eliam-s, ami if anything, Cm imra hue doc lined. . .. 'l'lio only mjl iceablu c[muse is in I lent,lnto market, wlneh li;a, (alien Hilly IDs per lon ai. eounlry station;, NEW ZEALAND Sllll’l’lNO COMPANY ANNUAL MEET INC. I’ltliSS ASSOCIATION. < I!) I! ISI'I 'll UIICII, November 19. The annual meeting of I lie New Zeaia ml Shipping Company was held toga V. Tim halama-slieet ehov.ed that Die net nrolit on the years working, niter deducting depreciation and all charges, had keen i.Tk.l! I Is 7d. The biihiuee hronght forward from the previous year was J 816.751 Iks till, making the total A!. r ,a,8!)l 17s !ld. The directors proposed » dividend of 5 per cent., to absurd .«!£),- Ii!)k. Uf the balance OkiMhi is to go lo the interest, account, leaving a balance U) ho curried forward of Tln.iUl) las bid. The company's fleet is valued at AIM.W 7 -Is Hid, investiiicnl.s amounted lo X'M.'JIL tin 2d, company's laud, building, aml plant to .iMWJ its lid. The company's fleet consists of 10 steamers «t 1M.383 tons; the distance covered during the your was miles, and the coal consumed 175,118 tons. Thu retiring directors and auditors woro ro-oloctccL Air Gt-orgo G. Stead Buid bo Dad often thought it qiu-BUonublo whoLher tlio public realised how* much Mic country’* prosperity was duo to the various steambliip cojnpuiiios trading between the Do* minion and Great Britain. Ho t-aw figures the other day giving tlio exports of the Dominion lor tho year up to Kuptomber 301 U lust, and, t roughly speaking, those exports amounted to £lol> per head of tho adult male population. Without an economical and fairly fast Htoam service it was obvious that so largo an export trade could not have been developed, lie thought ho was right In saying that then* was no other State with an equal population that exceeded, or equalled, tho exports per head of tho population of Now Zealand. It was of interest to the shareholders to realist* that, the Now Zealand Shipping Company initiated tho first regular Ktoam service to carry on 1 ratio, between Now Zealand and Great Britain. Ho had always hold that the settlers of Now Zealand . owed a debt ol gratitude to tho Now Zealand Shipping Company tor instituting a service which hail been ot ao great advantage to the country. national insurance company. £ EAR'S OPERATIONS REVIEWED. PItESS ASSOCIATION. DUNEDIN, November 10. Tho animal meeting of the National Insurance Company was held to-day. Tho chairman m directors (Mr a. M. Ritchie), in moving tho adoption of the report, said shareholders were to . (fA the same dividend this year as lust, bull they hud had a considerably poorer year, tho' losses being .£21,83(1 greater than they wore last year. That was about 50 per rent. more. This largo increase had occurred both in the fire and marine branches. There were serious conflngrntioiis in Now South Wales, while I hero had been unusual loss in ships. As against this loss, net premiums had increased by about £4009. That was ono the most satisfactory features of their business for some time past. They had also this year got about £OCO more from interest on investments, and they hoped to see this source of revenue greatly injroased. It was already more than euttiaicut to pay dividend, and in that rcjpcct loft them in an independent and comfortable position. Loans on mortgages had increased by £21.390. There had been a good deal of briskness during tho last few mouths for mortgage m<?noy on first mortgages of freeholds. They hail only carried £IO,OOO this year to the reserve fund, instead of £15,000. The Government tax was going on increasing, and ho was afraid it would bo still higher next year,* when levies for flro boards came to be taken into account. During tho year they had added £II,OOO to their funds generally, which gave a total for capital, reserves and undivided profits, of £319,389. This made them, in respect to amount, a long way ahead of any other company doing a purely colonial business, and if they compared them with tho amount of thoir annual premiums, their position was not equalled by any other colonial company. Tho report was adopted, and tho retir- \ ing directors (Sir Jas Mills and J. M. Ritchie) were re-elected. THE UNION COMPANY. REARRANGEMENT OF SHARES. PRESS ASSOCIATION. DUNEDIN, November 19. A circular lias beon issued to shareholders in the Union Steam Ship Company with reference to readjustment of certain reserve funds of the company. Tho directors propose to distribute among .shareholders a bonus of Cs 8d in the £l, payable in fully paid-up shares. TKiw will increase the capital to £BOO,OOO, and a dividend of 7-i per cent, on this sum will bo equal to tho combined dividend mid bonus of 10 per cent, paid for wmo years on tho present paid-up capital. Tho directors propose in order to carry the scheme out more effectually to subdivide tho present £lO shares into £1 shares, Tho Customs revenue received at Wellington yesterday totalled £2203. WELLINGTON STOCK EXCHANGE, YESTERDAY'S QUOTATIONS.

UD?Btl9« Seller#. Salib. Banks— National of N.Z., £ a. a. £ s . a. £ s. d> Ltd 5 0 0 Now Zealand FlWAHOtAL— N.Z. Loan & Mercan10 0 0 tile .. .. • ., 0 6 g N.Z. and R. Plato .. ' , Qas— 1 9 9 - Wellington, £10 Insubakob— “ ia n C National oINZ., cum I 7 n Now Zealand Mkat PbessrtjmoCh’stohnrch Meat U 10 0 4 0 0 — Company 10 10 0 □oar Meat, jSI ..2 9 RAILWAYS AMD 3HIPPI NO — 0 3 U 0 IV’gta-Manawatu Coal — 2 9 0 ~ _ ft’OBtpOtt ,, MHCECLARBODf— 7 10 0 — “ O.I.O. preference .. 1 3 0 Kauri Timber 16/- pd tioylnnd • p’Brlen Timber, ox 0 9 s 0 0 9 “ 2 0 0 3 6 0 N.Z. Paper Mills .. Taranaki Petroleum. 1 3 0 1 G 3 ill paid MutiJfO— 0 0 G ” ” ISnmnui 0 1 I Kuraaui-Cftledonlan 0 1 3 Tairaa Broken Hills Talisman Consoli0 5 0 0 6 3 “ dated .. 4. 9 0 0 2 10 0 '(VaiM G.U. CO .. 8 (1 6 S 9 0 S 7 0 Bfp Hirer ,, ,, 0 14 0 Champion .. — o a <> —