EMPIRE ENJOYS GREAT WAVE OF PROSPERITY

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23271, 5 June 1950, Page 5

EMPIRE ENJOYS GREAT WAVE OF PROSPERITY

LONDON, June 2. A (rreat wave of prosperity is sweeping through the Empire, says the Daily Express. All the world, and America in particular, is now scrambling to buy the Empire’s bounty—base metals, rubber, wool, cocoa, jute and the like, and paying record prices. Empire countries may earn an extra £300,000,000 this year if prices stay at the present boom levels. Here is how some prices have risen since the devaluation of sterling last September:— Copper by £62 10s to £l7O a ton. Cocoa by £lls to £255 a ton. Jute by £34 10s to £l2O a ton. Rubber by 15|d to 27d a lb. Wool by 55d to 145 d a lb. Every Empire country is sharing in the boom. Here is how some of the extra bounty will be divided if prices are maintained:—

Base metals.—Mainly Australia, Rhodesia. £50,000,000.

Gold. —Nearly all South Africa, £70,000,000. Wool, —Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, £50,000,000. Cocoa.—West Africa, £46,000,000. Jute.—Pakistan £40,000,000.

Rubber.—Malaya, £ 100,00,000. The rise is not only enriching the Empire nations but bolstering the whole sterling area’s economy and earning more dollars.

The British Empire now produces these percentages of the world’s totals: Gold, 74; rubber, 58; wool, 58; cocoa, 50; jute, 97.