TRADE OUTLOOK IN BRITAIN

Press, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 26723, 6 May 1952, Page 7

TRADE OUTLOOK IN BRITAIN

SURVEY MADE OF CITIES

(Rec. 8 p.m.) LONDON, May 5. In an attempt to discover whether trade in Britain is picking up, a leading firm of London stockbrokers recently invited correspondents throughout the country to report on industrial conditions, says the “Manchester Guardian.”

The results, although they do not suggest an industrial slump, indicate "that there is admittedly a degree of fear regarding a longer-term outlook.” The correspondents were asked what order books were like in each district, how busy shops were, what firms were doing to revive trade, where orders were falling, how many people were out of work, and how much money workers had to spend.

The “Manchester Guardian” says that the most optimistic reports came from Sheffield, Newcastle, Cardiff, Bristol, and Birmingham, 'where a correspondent says simply that “prosperity still reigns.” But even in these cities it is not always a story of good business and full employment. In Newcastle and alongside the Tyneside there is “less money about” and it is reported that “shops are suffering a reduction in business even although the prices of furniture and clothing have fallen considerably.” Moreover, according to this northeastern correspondent, heavy industries there “cannot reasonably expect to become busier than they already are. On the contrary they must be prepared for some falling-off in new orders. We do not feel over-optimistic about the outlook."

Although Sheffield is expected to be kept busy on rearmament for the next year or two, and workers are still receiving “fairly large pay packets,” the cutlery trade is feeling the effects of the recent Australian import cuts.

Short-time working and unemployment are beginning to spread. In Birmingham “fresh orders are not coming in as rapidly as before." and there has been some sales resistance in retail trade.

In Cardiff, on the other hand, “workers are not apparently finding it difficult to make ends meet” and cinemas are well attended. In the “recession" towns of Leeds, Huddersfield, Wakefield. Brautord. Manchester, East Lancashire. Dundee and Belfast, one looks almost in vain for signs of a revival of trade. It seems, says the “Manchester Guardian.” that it is still too early to say whether the recession in consumer trades has yet reached the bottom.

Gold Secreted in Car.— Customs officers are searching for the owner of a motor-car which was found to contain 152,000 dollars of illicit gold when it was examined on a New York wharf. The petrol tank of the car had been carefully built up to conceal the gold. A man, whose identity has not been disclosed, had booked a passage in the liner Queen Mary, which sailed last Wednesday for England without him. Presumably he intended to take the car in the liner. The gold was found the day before the liner sailed. —New York, May 4.