PRICE LEVELS

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIII, Issue 75, 10 March 1933, Page 7

PRICE LEVELS

DEBATE IN COMMONS

MR. CHAMBERLAIN’S STATEMENT NO QUICK RETURN TO GOLD British Official Wireless.) (Received 10, 12.30 p.m.) Rugby, Nov. 9. A motion asking for the creation of a policy whereby to raise wholesale prices was debated in the House of Commons. Mr. Chamberlain, Chancellor of the Exchequer, again asserted that there would be no precipitate retan to the gold standard. Replying to a criticism that, the Government had missed a great opportunity at Ottawa to establish an Imperial monetary system, Mr. Chamberlain said that tho immediate difficulty was that tho Dominions would have to grant the power of fixing the rate of sterling, which they -would have' to accept without having any control over it. It was conceivable that what suited Britain at this particular moment would not necessarily suit the Dominions. Referring to the fall’ in whale.side prices, he said that they had diminished since October, 1920, by one-third, and in tho case of raw materials by 50 or 60 per cent. This had practically destroyed the purchasing power of a number»of countries. The fall in primary products was much greater than the fall in manufactured articles, and the fall in -wholesale prices was much greater than the fall in retail prices. The effect of this was that some countries had been unable to purchase the goods which Britain produced. Wholesale sterling prices had remained remarkably steady, particularly when compared with those in countries on the gold standard This showed that we were in the presence of world forces, and that by some means—largely.by the monetary policy pursued in Britain —we had countered the effect of these world forces so far as sterling prices were concerned. MONETARY ACTION NOT ENOUGH. He did not believe that it would bo possible to raise sterling prices by monetary action alone, so long as the world was in a disturbed condition. When no one knew what political changes were likely, or what financial difficulties other countries might find themselves involved in, they could not expect international trade to resume its former volume. He did not believe that any artificial stimulus could restore the volume of international trade, which must depend upon improving world conditions. ’ On behalf of the Boar! of Trade it was stated that the total value of merchandise imported into the United Kingdom in 1932 from Denmark was 40,556,327. United Kingdom exports to Denmark for the same year amounted to £9,860,499. The Government is conducting trade negotiations with Denmark to correct the balance.