TRADE OUTLOOK.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 53, Issue 150, 6 April 1933, Page 6

TRADE OUTLOOK.

FAVOURABLE IN ENGLAND. VISITOR'S OPTIMISTIC VIEW. An optimistic view of the trade outlook for Britain in the near future was given to-day by Mr B. D. Martin, an English business man who arrived in Ashburton in the course of a tour of New Zealand which he is making as part of an extensive business trip. Mr Martin is director of Germ Lubricants, Ltd., of London and Manchester. He said that a wrong impression of the state of trade in England was held by many people in New Zealand and Australia. The conditions were not as bad as people in the Antipodes seemed to think.' In the course of his travels he found that in both these countries the general impression was that England was in a bad way. "That is not so," he said, "and although I am not a super-optimist, I believe that Great Britain is sound and that the. outlook at the moment is very favourable. "I have had it put to me, for instance, that the United States of America is in a better condition, economically, than Great Britain, but, relatively, trade conditions at Home are comparatively better than, in any other country." "Great Britain's biggest handicap was that many of the outlets for her exports had been closed as a result of the general depression of trade, but," he added, "when these markets are reopened we will be in a position to pay more for the produce which we get from the Dominions. I do not think, however, that there can be a general improvement until it is realised universally that the depression is an international problem, and that the recovery of international trade depends on the success of international co-operation. This is being realised more and more in England, and I hope that it is being realised in the Dominions. New Zealand should see the heed for this international co-operation particularly, for, dependent, on England to such an extent, how much better off would she be if England could secure better prices for her goods. And this can be brought about by that co-operation." Speaking of conditions in Victoria, where, he said, he had noticed a distinct move of optimism regarding the future of trade, Mr Martin said he could not see the reason for this optimism, and added: "Trade conditions in that State depend on the export of wool and meat, for these things can be any better until the purchasing power of the countries to which Victoria exports improves and unemployment is reduced."