PRICE MOVEMENTS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 115, 18 May 1933, Page 6

PRICE MOVEMENTS.

Through four years the attention of the public has been focused on commodity prices, and everyone has been taught to look for a rise as a first sign of the approach of better times. Early last spring it was thought the long-awaited change was beginning, but later experience dissipated the hope. Nearly nine more months were to pass before anothei gleam of light which suggested real improvement was to be seen on the economic horizon, and now the world, cautious lost again it should be disappointed, waits for the stronger beams before it views with confidence another upward movement. The progress of the depression has reminded us of what many are apt to forget, that a turn of prices does not come like a clearly discernible swing of the pendulum or a rebound which shows that rock bottom has been touched, but is hidden in a period of doubtful flutterings when some prices are seen to be rising while others continue to fall. Thus Ave have had recent rallies in butter, wool and other produce prices, and the same has occurred in wheat, cotton, metals and industrial shares in Britain and America. The improvement in wool appears firmly based, and the rise in prices, if inadequate to restore prosperity in the industry, is more welcome in the long run than a sudden upward spurt which might prove to be merely transitory. To give greater ground for hope, it may be recalled that the Empire Marketing Board last year predicted an early recovery in wool as soon as conditions were favourable, and stated that surplus stocks were worked off. Production has fallen, and the sheep farmer, like all other primary producers, has had to adapt himself to a smaller market. It is the shrinkage in output of agricultural countries, combined with the revival of demand in Europe and America, under the influence of enlightened Government action, that should give momentum to the movement now begun. Trade must be allowed to flow more freely abroad, and to assist its expansion there should be wise spending by the people.