COMMERCIAL.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19048, 19 December 1923, Page 6

COMMERCIAL.

LONDON MARKETS. The New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company have received the following cablegram from their London house under date, December 14: NEW ZEALAND FROZEN MEAT. Lamb; Quotations are unchanged. (Last quotations 16/11/23, IOJd per lb. average.) Beef: Quotations unchanged. (Last quotations 30/11/23—ox hinds lid per lb, fores 3fd lb; cOw hinds 3Jd per lb, fores 2jd per lb.) The market is quiet. Mutton: Wether and maiden owe —ligfit 7Jd per lb, heavy 7Jd per lb; ewe, light 6jjd per lb, heavy 6d per lb. The market is quiet. NEW ZEALAND DAIRY PRODUCE. Butter; Choicest, 210 sto 216 s per cwt. The market is dull with downward tendency. Cheese, 106 sto 110 s per cwt. The market is slow. PROPERTY SALE. A property comprising section 1, block XLV, St. Kilda, containing about 18.4 poles, was offered for public auction under the conduct of the Registrar of the Supreme Court by Messrs Alex. Harris and Co. yesterday. The property was sold tp Mr Anderson (as agent) for £205. ~ SYDNEY WOOL SALES. RECORD PRICES. PreM Association—By Telegraph—Copyright SYDNEY, December 18. The wool sales wore continued to-day. All grades sold readily at tho highest point of tho season, comebacks and crossbreds being in particular request. Greasy merinos sola to 38d. Comebacks created a fresh record (36fd). Crossbreds reached the record price

of 34id. GEAR MEAT COMPANY. ANNUAL MEETING., (Pbb United Pres* Association.) WELLINGTON, December 18. At the annual general meeting of the Gear Company the report stated that a balance of £61,964 was ’ available, and a dividend at the rate of Is 6d per share was recommended, absorbing.£23,ooo, and an appropriation towards taxes of £12,500, leaving £26,464 to carry forward. Owing to the satisfactory condition of the company’s insurance reserve tho directors recommended the payment of a bonus of 3d per share on that account. Tho Chairman (Mr Millward) said the season opened with keen competition and high prices, but heavy shipments from South America and Australia brought about a change in the high prices and also checsea consumption, and the accumulation of stocks in England led to meat selling below cost. Tho wet weather also affected the fattening of the lambs, resulting in a large proportion of second quality, which had to be dis-' posed of. The strides made by the dairying industry were against the interests of the freezing companies, though the prospects for the current season were good, as Australia was unlikely to be a serious competitor owing to the drought. The report and balance sheet were .adopted Sir Francis Bell and Mr A. d© B. Brandon were re-elected directors. WAIRARAPA FROZEN MEAT COMPANY. (Peb United Press Association.)

MASTERTON, December 18. A statutory meeting of the new Wairarapa Frozen Meat Company was held to-day, Mr W. D. Hunt presiding. It was stated that for the past 10 years the average output had been 330,000 carcases, and if they could maintain this average, the works would be profitable. Mr Hunt was elected chairman of the new Board of Directors. LONDON WOOL SALES. PRICES WELL MAINTAINED. Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright LONDON, December 17. (Received Dec. 18, at 5.5 p.m.) At the wool sales a miscellaneous selection, chiefly of crossbreds, met with animated competition. Prices are well maintained. The Wellington Meat Export Company’s wool brought 38d. The Bradford market is firmer, prices favouring sellers., There is considerable activity in all grades.—A. and N.Z. Cable. LONDON, December 17. (Received Dec. 18, at 9.80 p.m.) Bawra’s stocks of wool on November 30 amounted to 269,193 bales, of which 192,616 were Australian and 76,577 New Zealand.—A. and N.Z. Cable. EXPANDING INDUSTRY. NUGGET COMPANY’S PROGRESS.’ The foundation stone of the new factory and Offices of the Nugget Polish Company of New Zealand (Limited) was laid by Mr A. H. Hadwen, a director from the head, office in London. The building, which will bo the most up-to-date of its kind in the dominion, is being erected in Ferry road, Christchurch, opposite the Woolston Post Office. The building will be 200 ft in length by a width of 80ft. The factory itself will be composed of several large and woll-venti-latsd rooms, the largest being 138 ft by 39ft. The construction throughout will be of brick and concrete, supported by rolled steel joists, and the floor space will aggregate 25,000 square feet.

After the ceremony an informal lunch was held, and Mr Hadwen gave an outline of the company’s growth. He said that the concern was founded in 1894, and that in 1905 Mr William Eieon, who is the N6w Zealand manager, had started the New Zealand branch, which had gono steadily ahead over since. The laying of the foundation stone marked a great occasion in the company’s New Zealand history, and he was pleased to say that the loyalty of the staff was as great as that of the stuff in any other countries. There were four men present whose service aggregated 87 years. The company had always interested itself in welfare work, and, although the necessity for this was not so great in New Zealand' as it was in the Old Country, still a start would bo made with a tennis court at the new factory, and the employees would be able to get good athletic exercise. One thing that would bo of interest to all business people was the working of the new superannuation fund. It was difficult at first to devise a scheme which would give satisfaction to all the emnloyees, and the principal trouble was to satisfy the workers who had been in the employment of the company for a considerable number of years. The scheme finally decided upon was that the workers should make contributions to the fund, to which the company would add a similar amount, and pay interest as well. For those workers who were in the service of the company before the scheme was started the company paid the amount of money which they should have paid had the scheme been working in the years before—that is, the company found both the employees’ and its own funds for the past years. This meant the putting aside of some thousands of pounds. Mr Hadwen said that it was a fine thing for each worker to know that his wife and family were secured from want if anything happened to him.

CHEESE AND BUTTER. Messrs J. Nathan and Co. (Wellington) report as follows, under date December 11 : The Home market is quiet, although supplies are short. It is thought that lower prices will prevail for next arrivals, as buyers have mostly covered their Christmas requirements. At the moment, however, everything points to a strong market for the next three months. We think Is 7d f.o.b. could be obtained for shipments up to January, but understand many factories have ideas of Is Bd. This figure represents over 3s per lb retail, and experience shows that the British consumer does not pay that price for very long. Stocks. —The butter awaiting shipment on November 30 amounted to 77,429 cwt. The gradings for the month were 182,088 cwt, aginst 192,490 cwt .for November last year Stocks of New Zealand cheese in the United Kingdom have been cleaned up, but the market ie quiet. Buyers are still holding off, and it is practically impossible to obtain bids. The best we have heard is B|d, November-Docember output. It is reported that some factories are contemplating changing to butter. In our opinion this needs serious consideration, and it is very doubtful if factories would benefit by the change over. Although the market is very dull at the moment, it must be remembered that many factories sold early months’ make at lOd, and although prices may slump somewhat in the face of the heavy arrivals in January-February, it would not be safe to say that cheese wall not average 9d f.o.b. taken over the whole season. On this price most factories could pay out Is Bd. Stocks. —Stocks in New Zealand on November 30 were lll.OCOcwt. Gradings for the month were 223,026 cwt, against 161,760 cwt for November, 1922.