HOMELAND HAPPENINGS

Greymouth Evening Star, 31 December 1937, Page 14

HOMELAND HAPPENINGS

INDUSTRIES FAIR. [BY CABLE —PRESS ASSN. —COPYRIGHT.] RUGBY, December 29. The British Industries Fair opens at Earl’s Court and Olympia, London, and at Castle Bromwich, Birmingham, on February 21. The area o£ the stands will be in excess of the last show’s record. For the fourth year in succession Holland will head the numerical list of trade buyers who intend to visit the fair. Belgium is second, Germany third, and France fourth. ' MILLIONS IN BETTING. LONDON, December 30. The Christian Social Council Committee on Gambling, in a survey of the year’s betting in Great Britain, estimates the annual turnover from it at between .£350,000,000 and £500,000,000. RETAIL TRADE. RUGBY, December 29. The value of retail trade in November was 7.1 pel’ cent, higher than it was a year ago. .Stocks are valued at 5.6 per cent. more. Employment is 3-1 per cent, greater. NATIONAL RECOVERY RUGBY, December 30. In a review of the past year in the domestic field, in a New Year message to the journal “Home and Empire,” the Prime Minister says that national recovery developed into national prosperity. The number of insured people at work increased by over 350,000. Unemployment in the special areas decreased by 25 per cent. Exports had risen by over £77,000,000 in the last eleven months of 1937, and wages had increased by £75,000,000 per annum in the two years to June last.

Wages, he states, are to-day distinctly higher than in 1929, whereas prices are substantially lower, a double gain. The country is in an infinitely better position to meet any temporary decline in world trade, than in 1931.

SLUM CLEARANCE. RUGBY. December 30. A return issued by the Minister of Labour shows that, during the year ended September .30 last, 58,439 houses were demolished or closed, under the Government's slum clearance campaign, compared with 45,148 during the previous year. To tho same date. 163,274 houses, with accommodation for 764,669 people, were provided for re-housing purposes. A total of 3,484,132 new houses have been built in England and Wales, since November, 1928. - EXCHANGE ACCOUNT. RUGBY, December 30. The Treasury announces that, on September 30, 1937, the gold held in the Exchange Equalisation Account was 39,854,000 tine ounces, and that held in the issue Department of the Bank of England was 76,843,000 fine ounces. The total amount, was 116,697.000 fine ounces, representing a value of £815,000,000.

At the same date, the 'account did not hold more than a trifling amount of foreign currency.