STOCK EXCHANGE.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 24 June 1924, Page 6

STOCK EXCHANGE.

GILT-EDGED FIRM. INDUSTRIAL PROSPECTS GOOD. TUG WOOL TRADE. -A cable—press association— copyright LONDON, June 22. The Stock Exchange has been very quiet during the week. The Ascot meeting was responsible for decreased attendances and some loss of public interest. but there has been an underlying feeling of increased confidence. This is reflected particularly in the firmness of gilt-edged stocks. The new French Ministry has been welcomed as a probable step towards a, reparations settlement, while the defeat of General Smuts (Premier of South Africa) has shown no appreciable influence. In fact, it has scarcely produced a riple in the Kaffirs market. Gilt-edges have felt- the benefit of relatively cheap money, and brokers report a steady absorption of high-class investments. The New South Wales loan percentage of which was left on the underwriters’ hands, has improved a little and is now quoted at 1) per cent, discount. The Spectator says the firmness of the investment markets in stronger in view of the large volume of capital creations in the .present year. , The hankers’ magazine shows the value of 805 representative stocks at the. end of May i's £T69,000,01X!( above the January lev-el. The Spectator points out that if the hopes of a restoration of European political confidence is realised and is followed by- increased activity in international trade, there may later lie a tendency for industrial stocks to benefit at the expenses of gilt edged. The Yorkshire Post points out that the unemployment in. the Bradford textile trade is heavier now than earlier in the year, and the position is made worse by the demands for increased wages, which employers have definitely refused. The recent decrease in the activity of the Bradford mills is chiefly due to the decline of the trade in crossbred yarns with Germany, owing to the inability of buyers to pay as a result of the German restrictions on the sales, of foreign currencies. An interesting summing up of the position in the wool trade was given bv Mr. Ernest Gate's at the annual meeting of Salts, Saltaire. Ltd,, whose mill Mr. S. M. Bruce (Premier of Australia), Mr. W. F. Massey (Premier of New Mr. H. S.- W. Lawson (ex Premier or Victoria), and others recently visited. Mr Gates said the wool trade had two sides. Britain’s position in the wool trade seemed to have widely increased at the expense of the manufacturing business. In other words, while Britain had maintained her supremacy as wool transporters, merchants and financiers, she vva s in danger of losing her manufacturing trade. Armchair economists advised that the solution was a reduction in the selling price, but these simply made up the cost of raw materials, labour, interest and taxation. British manufacturers, he added, were prepared to work for as little profit as foreigners. They paid the highest wages in tjjie world, except America, where there was high protection. Britain’s taxation was also the highest in the world. Britain could not obtain wool cheaper because competitors could obtain the sterling credit for wool purchases as easily and as’ cheaply as British manufacturers. The results had been reflected in the trade during the yeari Wool had been relatively dearer than tons, tops were dearer than yarn, and yarn was dearer than cloth. To all except those in the strongest financial position this was an extremely serious matter. Mr. Gates, examinging the prospects of oversea trade, pointed out the limited buying capacity of Europe and the difficulty of surmounting the United States tariff. He added: “The Dominions are buying increasing quantities of cloth, and we have reason to show our gratitude for the preference we enjoy in those markets.” Serious attempts were being made in Yorkshire to manufacture wool packs of woollen material owing to the serious damage caused to" jute packs through an admixture of jute fibre With wool, which defies eradication at every stage of manufacture, and entails heavy cost in hurling the cloth Various woollen materials are being made up into packs in an attempt to reach a baaweighing below four pounds which will stand hooks and not stretch unduly. A committee representing various sections ;of the Bradford trade is supervising the- experiments. The suggestion is that the wool buyer pay half the extra cost, and that the used hags be reshipned by the colonies for use again. By this means it .is expected that ultimately the cost to the grower will he no greater than the cost of the present jute pack. All brands and marks will he on a detachable square of linen sewn on the halo.