Company News and Views

but he must make those that are necessary to preserve the house from
injury by rain and wind
A tenant is not required to make general repairs without an agreement,
but he must make those that are necessary to preserve the house from
injury by rain and wind. If the shingles are blown off or panes of
glass are broken others must be put in their places; and it is said
that he would be bound even for ornamental repairs, like paper and
painting, if he made an agreement to return the house in good order.

colonies, has only been recently settled, and its constitution as a
self-governing colony dates only from 1890
West Australia (population 162,394), the largest of all the Australian
colonies, has only been recently settled, and its constitution as a
self-governing colony dates only from 1890. A large part of its area
has never been explored, and a large part is known to be scrub desert.
But there is scarcely any part of it, even of its ’scrub’ areas, but
that will support sheep when once artesian wells have been sunk, and
large portions of the colony, especially along the coasts, are as
fertile as need be. And the climate, though very dry, is exceedingly
healthful. PERTH (43,000) is the capital. ALBANY is the principal
port.

U.S. Army Awards General Dynamics $80 Million Abrams Tank System Technical Support Contracts
U.S. Army Awards General Dynamics $80 Million Abrams Tank System Technical Support Contracts

commerce is COTTON
The one article of export that is of greatest importance in our
commerce is COTTON. The production of cotton in the United States is
enormous. It is not far short of 5,000,000,000 pounds per annum. This
is probably four times the amount produced upon the whole globe
elsewhere. Our export amounts annually to about 4,000,000,000 pounds,
with a total value of about $240,000,000. Our greatest competitors in
the world”s cotton markets are Egypt and India. The export of cotton
from Egypt amounts to $50,000,000 annually. The export of cotton from
India amounts to $45,000,000 annually. At least one half of our export
of cotton goes to Great Britain. Our next greatest customers are (in
order) Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and Russia. We send about
$7,500,000 worth annually to Japan, and $4,000,000 worth annually to
Canada. All our southeastern States produce cotton, but the States
that produce it most plentifully are (in order) Texas (about one third
of the whole), Georgia, Mississippi, and Alabama. The area under
cultivation in the whole country is about 21,000,000 acres, which is
about one sixth of the area devoted to corn, wheat, and oats, or one
half the area devoted to hay. The areas of greatest cotton production
are (1) the ‘Yazoo bottom,’ a strip on the left bank of the
Mississippi extending from Memphis to Vicksburg, and (2) the upper
part of the right bank of the Tombigbee. The productivity of cotton is
much higher in the United States than it is in India, averaging not
far short of 200 pounds per acre, as against less than 100 pounds in
India. In India, however, the cotton crop has been grown on the same
soil for ages, whereas in the United States the practice is to
substitute new soils for old ones as soon as crops begin to fail. On
the other hand, the United States cotton crop is much less per acre
than the crop in Egypt. There the yield per acre is from 300 pounds to
500 pounds. The remedy for this defect of productivity in our cotton
crop as compared with that of Egypt is manuring. Where the manuring is
properly attended to our cotton crop is comparable with Egypt”s. But
the cotton of Egypt is of better quality than the great mass of the
cotton crop of the United States (the ‘upland’ cotton crop). On the
other hand in the low, flat islands off the coast of Georgia and South
Carolina a species of cotton grows (’sea-island’ cotton) which is the
finest in the world, its fibres being the longest, finest, and
straightest, of all cotton fibres produced anywhere, and the most
beautiful in appearance in the mass. Of this ’sea-island’ cotton about
three to four million dollars” worth is exported annually at a price
averaging from two and one fourth to two and three fourth times the
value per pound of the ‘upland’ cotton. The great cotton ports of our
country are (in order of amount of exportation) NEW ORLEANS,
GALVESTON, SAVANNAH, NEW YORK, CHARLESTON, MOBILE, and WILMINGTON. New
Orleans” export is about a third of the whole, and Galveston”s about a
fifth.

Australia and the parent of both Victoria and Queensland
New South Wales (population 1,311,440) is the oldest colony of
Australia and the parent of both Victoria and Queensland. Of all the
colonies, it has, perhaps, the greatest range of productions. On the
low coast lands its soil is of extraordinary fertility, and even in
the dry interior, when irrigation is employed, the fertility is still
extraordinary. As yet, however, but one acre out of every two hundred
is under cultivation, the chief agricultural occupation being
pasturing. Over 50,000,000 SHEEP are kept, principally the MERINO.
Grass grows everywhere, and even the summits of the mountains are
covered. Drought, however, is a terrible drawback, and sometimes
tremendous losses occur. In 1877 over 8,000,000 sheep perished, and in
1884 over 12,000,000. The total WOOL PRODUCTION is very large,
averaging $50,000,000 a year. The export of hides, skins, leather, and
chilled meat, principally mutton, amounts to $10,000,000 annually.
Chilled mutton and beef are sent direct to London, though the passage
takes five or six weeks by steamer and twelve to sixteen weeks by
sailing-vessel. Scarcely less important than its agricultural products
are the mineral products of New South Wales. Its COAL-MINES are the
finest on the continent, and $4,500,000 worth of coal is exported
annually, besides what is consumed locally. Its gold production,
though not very large, is general throughout the whole colony. Its
SILVER-MINES in SILVERTON and BROKEN HILL are among the most famous in
the world, and its tin-bearing lands comprise over 5,500,000 acres.
The foregoing comprise the staple products–the production of
industries already well established. But fruit-growing, including all
fruits, from apples, pears, and peaches, to olives and oranges, is a
rapidly developing industry, no country in the world being better
suited to it. Wine-making, too, is quickly coming forward, the New
South Wales wines equalling in flavour those of France and Spain.
Wheat-growing, cotton-growing, and even rice-growing are also in their
several districts rapidly extending and prosperous pursuits. The
development of New South Wales has only just begun. SYDNEY (including
suburbs 410,000) is the capital and by far the largest city. Sydney,
like Melbourne, is a beautiful city, but its beauty is natural rather
than artificial, and it is well entitled to its name, ‘Queen of the
South.’ It is situated on Port Jackson, one of the finest and most
beautiful harbours on the globe. Sydney is the headquarters of all the
various lines of steamships–British, American, French, Italian,
etc.–that trade with Australia, and is indeed one of the great
seaports of the world.

banking house upon a London banking house and payable to the order of
the firm buying the draft
The second form shows a bill of exchange drawn by a Philadelphia
banking house upon a London banking house and payable to the order of
the firm buying the draft. C. H. Bannerman & Co. will send this bill
(the original) to pay an account in Europe. The first form bears the
same relation to a commercial draft that the second does to a
cashier”s cheque.

6. Each bank having a capital exceeding $150,000 must deposit in the
treasury of the United States registered interest-bearing bonds
to an amount not less than $50,000. Those having a capital of
$150,000 or less must deposit bonds equal to one fourth of their
capital stock. Each bank may issue circulating notes to the
amount of ninety per cent. of the market value of the bonds
deposited by it, but not exceeding ninety per cent. of the par
value of the same, and not exceeding ninety per cent. of the
paid-in capital of the bank; but no bank is compelled to issue
circulating notes. No bank-notes shall be issued smaller than $5.
The notes are receivable at par for all dues to the United States
except duties on imports, and are payable for all debts owing by
the United States within the United States except interest on the
public debt and in redemption of the national currency.

regard, and to-day in most States she can make almost any kind of a
contract
The law has been greatly changed in all civilised countries in this
regard, and to-day in most States she can make almost any kind of a
contract. In some States, however, it is even now said that she cannot
agree to pay the debt of another, but this is, perhaps, the only limit
on her power to contract. She can engage in business, buy and sell,
transfer notes, make contracts relating to the sale and leasing of her
real estate, insure it, build houses, and do a thousand other things
quite as freely as if there were no husband around. The most of these
changes widening her authority to make contracts have come within the
last fifty years. Of course, unmarried women can make contracts like
men, and many of them know it.

carried on only at certain ports, called ‘treaty ports,’ of which
there are nineteen, the principal being Yokohama, Osaka, Nagasaki,
Hakodate, Niigata, and Kobe
The foreign commerce of Japan, like that of China, is allowed to be
carried on only at certain ports, called ‘treaty ports,’ of which
there are nineteen, the principal being Yokohama, Osaka, Nagasaki,
Hakodate, Niigata, and Kobe. The two principal cities, not treaty
ports, are Tokio and Kioto. TOKIO (1,300,000) is the capital and chief
centre of the political, commercial, and literary activity of the
empire. In many respects Tokio is a ‘modern’ city. Its educational
features are excellent. Its sanitation also is good. KIOTO (340,000)
was formerly the capital, but after the revolution of 1868 it was
superseded in this respect by Tokio. YOKOHAMA (170,000), distant from
Tokio eighteen miles, is the chief place of the empire for foreign
trade. Its foreign trade, indeed, is more than half that of the whole
empire, being about $75,000,000 annually. OSAKA (487,000) is in
respect to population the second city of the empire, but its foreign
trade is not large and is carried on principally at HIOGO, a port near
it. NIIGATA (50,000) is the only treaty port on the west side of
Japan, the surf caused by the winter monsoon making the flat west
coast of the country very dangerous for shipping for half the year.
Other important ports are KOBE (161,000) and NAGASAKI (72,000). NAGOYA
(215,000) is an important inland town.