TRADE AND INDUSTRY

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19828, 30 April 1927, Page 9

TRADE AND INDUSTRY

NOTES FROM ABROAD. Want Duty Put on Margarine. The margarine manufacturers of the Irish Free State have applied for a duty of threepence per pound on imported margarin. This is the first application to be considered by the new tariff commission, set up under the cusloins act of 1926. Automatic Telephones in Brazil. A contract for the installation of automatic telephones in »Sao Paulo, Brazil, is expected to be granted in the early future. Canadian Grocery Chain. J Plans have been announced in Win- ' nipeg for the formation of the first grocery chain-store movement in Western Canada. Several hundred stores from Port Arthur to the Pacific Coast will be linked in the new project, which it is understood will be a co-operative organization for purposes of buying and merchandizing. Excise Tax on Playing Cards. The excise tax of 10 cents per pack on playing cards, included in the budget proposals introduced in the Canadian Parliament on April 15, 1926, but not approved by the Governor General, has been brought into force by the present session of Parliament, with effect from Feb. 18, 1927. The tax is 10 cents for every 54 cards or fraction thereof in each package. Penang Likes Gold-Plated Goods. The market in Penang, Straits Settlements, for gold-plated goods, including collar buttons and studs, coat buttons, wrist-watch chains, and other lines of plated jewellery, is rapidly expanding. It is estimated that on a price basis the American manufacturer does about 25 per cent, of the business, and on a volume basis about 15 per cent. Advertising in Constantinople. The municipality of Constantinople has announced its decision to monopolize, exclusively within the limits of the city, all advertising, bill posting, etc. Effective Jan. 1, .1927, private individuals or concerns are for bidden to engage in the advertising or publicity business. Advertising in the daily and weekly newspapers is excepted from the monopily. Rumania’s Oil Production.

Rumanian production of crude petroleum during the first eleven months of 1926 amounted to 2,964,960 metric tons, compared with 1,681,213 and 2,112,957 tons, respectively, in tTie corresponding periods of 1924 and 1925. Production for the whole of 1926 has been estimated at 3,250,000 tons, indicating a considerable increase over the 1925 production of 2,316,000 Tons. German Machinery Progress. The development of the German machinery industry was the most striking feature of the recent Leipsic fair. In series and mass-production machinery especially there was decided progress, as well as increased competitive capacity against American machinery. Important developments were to be noted in the many new applications of smallsize full Diesels, such as for road rollers, concrete mixers, and other machinery. Norway’s Labour Troubles. Wage negotiations are being carried on in many branches of Norwegian industry. Employers assert that wages must be reduced about 25 to 30 per cent, if production costs are to be lowered sufficiently to permit competition with articles of foreign manufacture. The unions have declared themselves unwilling to accept even a reduction of I 6.7 per cent., based on the general price index. The number of idle workers reI mains very high, and, in addition, a great number of those that are outplayed work only part time. New Harbour for the Black Sea. Two Danish engineering firms have concluded contracts with the Turkish Government to supervise and organize the'construction of a harbour on the Black Sea and 1,100 kilometers of railway line in Asia Minor. The object of this construction work is the exploitation of new coal and forest districts in this region. The total cost of these projects is estimated at about 200,000,000 Danish crowns. Yugoslav Loans. Recent statistics show that the total of foreign loans to Yugoslavian firms on June 30, 1926, included 2,780,000 American dollars, £774,000, from Britain, 5,080,000 Swiss francs, 1,380,000 Italian lire, 6,000,000 Czech crowns and 106,000 Dutch florins. Making Industrial Township. The Johannesburg Town Council has purchased a plot of 200 acres at Langlaagte, in the municipal area, with the express intention of turning it into an industrial township. Certain details have yet to be arranged, but it is announced that applications for sites have already been received, one or two from foreign firms. As an idueement it is proposed to offer cheap water, light and power and convenient railway facilities. Projecting Pictures on Sky.

Projecting pictures on the sky by searchlight by a process invented at Schenectady seems to hav e a counterpart in Germany Celestial advertisements are soon to appear at night above Berlin. They will be produced by a remarkable invention, recently completed by a well-known German optical firm, which has carried out a series of successful noctural tests in Jena. The inhabitants of this Saxon town have lately been entertained in the evenings with views of curious figures flung against the dark background of the sky by a powerful searchlight. Dense, low-hanging clouds offer the best conditions. Both pictures and images are presented with extra-

ordinary clearness by the new method, the details of which are a closely guarded secret. Fair average quality maize is now being imported from Java, via Sydney. The price at which it was bought had a slightly depressing effect upon the New Zealand grown grain, but latest advices are to the effect that the Java price has been advanced on that market is very firm. Furs From North-West Canada. For the first time in /50 years a tax is to be placed on furs from the Canadian North-west . A bill for this purpose is to be submitted to the Canadian Parliament. Hitherto, no revenue has come from the North-west terriI tories from the trading companies doing business in that vast area. The administration and maintenance of the area have cost considerable sums each year, and the tax is devised to meet this expense in some degree. The intention is to impose an export duty on furs, the estimated value of which, from, that part of the Dominion, is £500,000 a year.