Shares and Mining

Observer, Volume XXIX, Issue 46, 31 July 1909, Page 20

Shares and Mining

By Obadiau.

Qp-HE frozen meat market appears 1 to l>e going troni bad to worse, .^.most every week a iurtner decline nas been registered, and during tne past tour o-r nve weeks tne tan has been particularly heavy. Tne market is sunering trom a combination ot circumstances that is unusual, and which may not occur again lor many years. .birst we nave thje tact that ;the consumers nave their purchasing powers restricted, and secondiy there is an enormous excess ot supplies. This combination is enougli to wreck any market, and we can well understand that the wholesalers are in a desperate strait. The market is bound to recover, but it will not be through wasting the money or tne taxpayers ot JNew Zealand upon, advertising in Great Britain.

When supplies are reduced and made to conform to market requirements, the values will become steady, and the question to be considered is how to move off the excess supplies. Those who have expressed any opinion seem to think it is the duty ot the JSew Zealand Government to afford the necessary relief, which proposition cannot be entertained for a moment. A well-known pastoralist has written to the Minister of Industries and jUommerce suggesting that the Government should buy up 1,000,000 carcases of mutton and lamb, and present the same to the .charitable institutions of Great Britain and Ireland, recouping itself by an export tax on. the next wool clip — a really absurd proposal. Bad as the conditions axe at the moment, good will ultimately result. The crisis will oompel those interested in the trade to study the question of widening the markets, otherwise the present adverse conditions will be repeated.

To get clear of the excess now on the market is an urgent matter, because in the course of a few weeks the new season's supplies will be available, and as all the producing countries have enjoyed favourable climatic conditions the output is certain to be again, very large. If so we may look for a continuance of low prices. An improvement in the industrial situation in England would no doubt lead in increased consumption, but that improvement will be a long time in making itself felt.

According to cable advices, the net profits of the Union Bank of Australia for the half-year ended February 28th amounted to £135,556, aad with £37,444, the amount brought f orward, the total available for distri- . bution is approximately £173,000, as compared with £172,444 for the previous half-year, and £199,057 for the corresponding half of last year. The distribution of the balance available at the close of the last half-year is as follows : — Written off premises' account, £10,000 ; added to reserve, £20,000 ; dividend at the rate of 10 per cent, per annum, £75,000 ; bonus of 2 per cent., £30,000 ; carried for- . ward, £38,000. The reserve fund now stands at £1,270,000, as against a paid up capital of £1,500,000.

■• • • The- report of the- New Zealand Trust and Loan Company, Limited, for 1908 states that the balance of undivided profits shown after pay- ■ \ men/t' of all current expenses . .is .. r £22j010. Chit of this a dividend of ; 5 per cent, free of income tax has f] ■■_ '^.Xboen.'. declared, 'absorbing £2000, ; and

required to be set aside for the redemption of capital has now been collected, in addition to which tke directors have made distributions out of the funds in hand, amounting to 15s per share, in February and April of the current year, thus bringing the return of capital and other distributions to £6 15s per share to this date.

Another quiet week on 'Change as regards investment stocks.

No business at all is reported in either bank or insurance lines.

Outside mining, ooal interests have been, almost the only basis oi local speculation. Taupiris have been done at 20s 6d, .Northern paid-ups at 11s 3d, Hikurangis at 18s 6d, and Druries at prices tailing from lOd to 6d.

Auckland Gas, new issue, changed hands early in the week at 235.

There has been business in Northern Steam contributings at 6s, and D.S.C.'s at 3s 7d.

On the mining side business continues brisk. May Queens, Junctions and Old Alburnias have received most attention during the week.

The May Queen management, at the intermediate level, Have met with the junction of the Worth West lode and colours and dabs are reported as showing. Sales took place on Tuesday up to 6s 4d. Future developments should send shares higher at an early Jate.

Royal Oaks may prove the sensation of the coining week. .Everyone at Coromandei witli £10 to spare is buying shares and something extra good is talked of. Bales on Tuesday iAs 5d to 2s 8d for oontributings, and 2s 6d to 2s lOd for paids.

Old Alburnias are coming steadily. There have been sales in paid-ups to 3s 3d and contributing 2s yd. They may steady a bit or even come bacK a little, but are safe for higher money.

Grand Junctions saw 58 6d on Monday and 52s 9d on Tuesday morning. The reports from the Martha lode at No. 5 level,, after snowing a value of £4 7s 6d tor sixfeet in the middle of the reef, spoke of 10s for the next six. The .London quotation was about 535, hence the sudden drop in the local market. [Shares improved at the next call and are safe to go higher before they are through the Martha reef.

Waiotahis stand at about Bs. Holdens are looking for a haul of stone and a rise any day — or is it "some day ?" A rise is probable,, all the same.

Talismans at about 58s and Waihis at 180s are both, firm but q,uiet. • • •

There are free sales in Tairua Reefs at 6£d to 8d for cont. and 7d to 9d for paid up ; and in Tairua Broken Hills from 2s lid to 2s Bd. Both show indications of a rise before long.

' ' More than five thousand elephants a year ago go to make our ; piano-keys," remarked the studentboarder, who had been reading the- ■ scientific notes in a patent medicinealmanac. "My word 1" exclaimed i the landlady. " Ain't it wonderful. < what some animals can be trained to do 1 Ain't it now ?" For sheer simplicity of phrase andi conception few have surpassed that.delightful, old. lady, jwho, with a., shrewd twinkle in her eye, inquired whether " ei^afwater " should be>\. written as Itwo separate wordsi or if .

Two Scotsmen were recently on a visit to London. One morning after their arrival they discovered that the washstand in their bedroom was minus soap. They rang the bell, and an attendant appeared. The spokesman, who is habitually a fast speaker, said : ' ' Sen' up sape, quick." The attendant gazed open-mouth-ed at the two Soots, then slowly said : " Not French, nor German, nor yet Spanish. What can it mean ?" Becoming annoyed at the delay, the Scotsmen said : " Mon, can ye no understan' plain Scotch. ?" Grasping at the last word like a drowning man at a straw, the attendant fled, and promptly returned with— a bottle and two glasses.

While Mr Hawtrey and his company were playing ' ' Tine Grey Mare" to crowded houses in Edinburgh, the care of the thunderstorm — which was effected by the vigorous rattling of a few peas in a tin box — was entrusted to an old Scotsman known as " Mac," who had been employed about the Theatre Royal for many years, and was no longer as energetic as he used to be. On the first night the peas were not rattled with sufficient energy to please Mr Hawtrey, who, rushing over to the astonished " Mac," rattled him, box, and peas together, exclaiming : "Louder, man, louder 1 It's a storm we want, not a confounded Scotch mist."