TRADE-CURVE UPWARD

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 95, 19 October 1931, Page 6

TRADE-CURVE UPWARD

Have industry and trade in the United Kingdom taken a definite turn for the better, and will the present renewed activity last? This question will naturally be asked by the great body of producer-exporters of New Zealand, no less than by those directing" the vast industrial and trading undertakings in Great Britain. Prophets, however, appear to be exceedingly non-committal, and rightly so. As described in the London cablegrams published today, "conditions at the moment are abnormal." They are; for the British gold suspension at the end of the third week in September last was in itself abnormal, and the step was taken not from design but under pressure of circumstances. It had no reference to bringing about a revival in trade, although that appears to be the temporary result. As such it should be regarded^ But the urgency to "meet the market" remains. The first signs of improvement in trade in Great Britain were discernible quite early in this month, and unemployment figures immediately dropped by 21,000 in a fortnight, and the number is diminishing. But the improvement is yet to be tested by time—the true test. Therefore, it would seem to be a mistake to retard it by placing such prices on produce or manufactures as may check demand. There is always a tendency to do .this when trade shows signs of revival. The present improvement is a gratifying indication of the upward curve in British industry, but there is no indication of duration—a point of which thinking producers, manufacturers, traders, and financiers will, no doubt, need no reminder.