FINANCIAL JOTTINGS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14700, 7 December 1909, Page 3

FINANCIAL JOTTINGS.

(From Otm Own Correspondent.) LONDON, October 8. It is a long time since a new American railroad venture has appealed for support upon this side of the Atlantic, but the innovation has now been made bv the Pacific-Oregon Railway and Navigation Company, which hast been formed with a capital of 10,725,000 dollars, to construct a short line of 185 miles in Western Oregon, running from the town of Prospect through a portion of tho forest reserves of the Cascade Range, and thence down the fertilo valleys of tho Iloguo and Applcgalc Rivers io Crescent City on the Pacific. The routq crosses the main lino of the Southern

Pacific Railway at Medford, and is said to tap very valuable timber lands, and also to run through a country rich in coal and other minerals.

A CHINESE NATIVE RAILWAY.

Tho other day the new railway from Pekin to Kiilgan was formally opened bv a Cantonese educated in America.

['he [unction was a brilliant one, and it lad a special significance. A banquet

was given for a very large number of guests, ithe arrangements reflecting great credit, on the Ministry of Communication, under whose auspices the function took place. In tho speeches reference was made to the change in public opinion in China regarding railways during the past ten yeaiti, and emphasis laid on the fact that this particular line had been built entirely by Chinese and with Chines© capital, and had cost less than any other railway of the same length built in China, notwithstanding the engineering difficulties, which had, however, been successfully surmounted. Sir Newell Jordan, on behalf of the foreigners present, considered the occasion an epoch-making one in the history not only of China, but of the world. Ho pad a tribute to the skill of Jeme Tienyou, the engineer, and to the enlightened management of the Minister of Communication. The line has taken four years to construct, is 220 kilometres in length, has four tunnels, and a gradifnt of one in 30. C.C. AND D. CO. On the 12th inst. the meeting of the Colonial Consignment and Distributing Company will take place. The directors, in the report just isfflied, state that- the profit ana loss account, including £1661 Drought from tlio previous year's account-, Bhows earnings of £27,616, from which must be deducted depreciation and debenture interest, amounting to £13,059, leaving a balance of. £14,556, of which there has beon applied, in payment ol ono year's dividend on cumulative preference shapes at the rate of six per ccnt. per annum, £4500, leaving £10,056. The directors recommend a dividend of four per cent, free of incoinotax on the ordinary ehares, and to carry forward £1056. fhe decline in the profits is not due to any material diminution in the amount of business handled by the company. The supply of frozen meat received was only slightly less than that in the preceding twelve months, but some 40 per cent, of the aggregate camo to hand in the last qijarter of the financial year, with the result that nnprecedontedly heavy stocks were in store, and remained unsold at 30th June. The market throughout the spring and summer has been glutted with supplies, and the low prices have been disastrous to shippers. DIVIDEND ANNOUNCEMENT. It is notified ithat tho directors of the British and Australasian Trust and Loan Company have resolved to pay, on November 1, an interim dividend of Is 3d per share, free of income-tax, being at ihe rate of five per cent, per annum, for the half-year ended June 30. RUSSIAN WHEAT CROP. After several unsatisfactory harvests the results of the present year's crops have proved to be extraordinarily favourable, and the districts of the Volga and Kama and Central, South and West Russia, have fulfilled the hope awakened by the weather conditions during the summer. Nevertheless, the St. Petersburg correspondent of the Kolnieche Zeitung states that no cheerfulness prevails in interested circles and in the newspapers, but rather a daily growing concern. It is feared that a flooding of

the market with large quantities of corn will bring about such a great fall in prices that the exporters would take advantage of buying up at "slaughter prices "and deprive the Home market of its stocks without the agriculturists covering their expenses.

SUGGESTED NATIONALISATION. The possibility of such a situation arising has called forth Various proposals for its prevention. Thus the President of the Maintenance Commiß-

sion of the Duma has just presented to M. Stolypin, Minister-president, a detailed memorial, which suggests in principle the nationalisation of the corn trade. The State is, in ordinary times, already the largest purchaser in the corn market for the maintenance of the army and for meeting the lack of corn and seed, which always arises in tho unpro-

ductive north in the spring. What the • President of the Maintenance Commis- ] sion now proposes is that the State ; should not only como forward as the buyer for its actual requirements, but j also as a- speculator in corn. For this i purpose it is suggested that the amount of £10,000,000 (100,000,000 rubles) should be placed at the disposal of an organisation to be specially created for the accumulation of stocks throughout the Empire in order, to regulate supply and demand and keep priccs 011 a suitable level. MORE DIVIDENDS. The Eastern Telegraph Company announced tho payment of a dividend at the rate of per cent, per annum, lees income-tax, on the preference stock of the company for the quarter ending September 30, 1909, and the second quarterly interim dividend of 1-J pei' cent, on the ordinary stock, free of in-come-tax, in respect of the profits for the year ending December 31, 1909. The Directors of the National Bank of Australasia recommend a dividend 011 preference and ordinary shares for tho half year ended 30th n'lt. at tho rate of 6 >per cent, per annum. THE PROSPECTS OF AUSTRALASIA. In this month's Financial Review of Reviews there is an cxcellont article by Sir Westby I'erceval, making a few suggestions to the capitalists of England with regard to the prospects of the Australasian States for the investment of British money. In a plain, unvarnished tale, bristling with figures, he sets forth what the Australasian States (including, of course, New Zealand), have done in tho way of development, and what they offer for the future. If it is read this article ought to be a good corrective of the ideas that exist in some circles here as to the advantages of investing money in foreign concerns. "The present position and future prospects of Australasia," he concludes, "may justly claim the attention of the British investor." WHERE NEW ZEALAND COMES IN. Of New Zealand in particular, Sir Westby remarks : New Zealand being outside the Commonwealth, and having a separate tariff, cannot be regarded as a market for Australian manufactured goods, but rather as a future competitor for the markets of the East- In one respect New Zealand is in a superior position to Australia to become a inanufac- j turing country, for in the Dominion water power, which is so essential for cheap .production, is abundant, and available in nearly every part. . . In both countries there is ample scope for an increased output from existing factories." BRITISH CAPITAL ABROAD. In the course of a speech at Bristol the Right Hon. C. Hobhouse said that Tariff Reformers stated that the Liberal Government drove capital abroad. He said that at the end of 1907 £2,700,000,000 of English capital was invested abroad, of which £1,300,000,000 was invested in India and the colonies. Capital was not sent out through love of foreigners, but to gain interest from foreigners, on which many people in this country were maintained. Tlje interchange of capital was nationally bene-

ficial. English capital going abroad entailed goods being exported to those countries.