Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit THURSDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1922. MAKING UP LEEWAY.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XLIII, Issue 9749, 14 December 1922, Page 4

Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit THURSDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1922. MAKING UP LEEWAY.

Though there Is a good deal of leeway to be made up before the industries of the United Kingdom get back to normal prosperity, the evidence available shows that a gradual improvement has Keen in'progress for some time past. And this general impression of a gradual but appreciable improvement.> in conditions in Britain is confirmed by the returns of overseas trade. During the first sis: months of the present year the excess of imports totalled '/roughly £BO,000,000 as a^ain^t r ,£153,000,000' for the' corresponding apgriod in 1921, and £260,000,000 for the first six months of 1920. Although the adverse balance reached its' point in TOYS, when Britain was borrowing abroad, 1920:Avas the record year on both 1 ' sides of the account, exports as well as imports running into ten figures. Last year’s trade was but little more than half that of 1920, and this year there will be a further contraction, but again with an advantage to Britain in the disproportionate curtailment of import values. For the first half of this year the adverse balance, £79,829,286, is only slightly more than half the corresponding figure for last year, and in comparison with the excess of imports in the first half of 1914, which was , £61,149,263, is a striking demonstration of the progress that has already been made. Although invisible exports have suffered severely from the depression, especially shipping earnings, (there is no doubt that the adverse balance in merchandise of eighty millions leaves a considerable real balance in favour of Britain.. This position is due chiefly to the fact that the decline in the prices of raw materials has been greater than that in manufactures, so that while the price level of imports in the second quarter of this year was 52 per cent, above the 1913 level, the value of exports maintained an increase of 96 per cent. This disparity in buying and selling prices was almost sufficient to offset the disproportion in the physical volume of imports over exports, but since the sources of

raw materials are also the markets for the finished goods, the advantage cannot' be definitely exploited. Calculations by the Board of Trade show that the normal relation is gradually being restored, and while export values are still substantially higher than both import values and domestic wholesale prices, the latter representing an intermediate scale, the gap is gradually being closed. The fall in the cost of living has permitted a substantial reduction in wages costs, and with the new spirit of industry pervading the country, the actual volume of production is steadily increasing. The most striking feature of the export returns is in the case of coal, in which industry, according to the cabled fortnightly review of British trade, published on Tuesday, there is a remarkable revival. Coal is usually regarded as a reliable barometer of international trade and any revival in general trade brings a quickened demand for coal, so that a large increase in the export of coal indicates a revival of international trade. Among other factors to be considered is the reduction in British taxation and the fairly substantial reductions in railway rates. A improvement in trade m the Homeland means a great deal to New Zealand. It strengthens the hopes of a continued increase m prices for coarse wool and provides Conditions favourable to the stabilisation at a satisfactory level of the prices of dairy produce, meat, and other classes of export produce. Such staunch Imperialists as Lord Long, Mr •Bonar and Mr L. C. M. S. Amery are leading an educational movement which cannot fail to stimulate Britain’s recovery .by its psychological influence. They are seizing every opportunity to- awaken British manufacturers and workmen to the predominant importance ol British Dominions/ 1 and thus to break down the popular beliei that British' trade cannot recover until Europe regains her prosperity. .