BRITAIN'S TRADE OUTLOOK.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19216, 4 January 1926, Page 6

BRITAIN'S TRADE OUTLOOK.

Expectation of better times in Britain is strengthened by 'the news 'published to-day. An optimistic spirit characterises almost all markets, and tho fact that it is quietly, rather than boisterously, assertive adds to its encouraging import. It is evidently :ix> mere rebound from the depression that has so long obtained. Britain is by no means out of the wood. The recent diminution in unemployment has done no more than cut down a fraction of the staggering total. Trade revival is far from complete. Tho coal crisis met by the subsidy has been postponed, not definitively averted. But the outlook has brightened, and that the improvement is general is proved by to-day's summary. Of particular value as an indication is the large increase of capital found in the London sharemarket for commercial enterprises in Britain. This betokens, more than anything else, a returning confidence. It is not the British way to magnify hopeful signs, but to scrutinise thein —a fact that lends weight to the belief that this returning confidence is well based. Given freedom from industrial strife at home and from international strife on the Continent, there should be some progress toward prosperity in Britain this year. Speedy recovery is impossible, but for an evident turning in what may still be a long lane there should be gladness as the New Year comes in. Britain's industrial and commercial recovery is of far-reaching importance. It will react, when experienced, throughout the Empire. But nothing will be gained by anticipating it with extravagant certainty. In Britain itself there is still obvious need for care, and from the Dominions, less handicapped than Britain by war's after-effects, the best help can be rendered by buying from Britain, not luxuries whose value is dissipated at one fell swoop, but necessaries capable of consumption in productive ways. Such buying does not subtract from purchasing-power: in the long run, it multiplies purchasing-power. Gladness at the signs of a British trade revival should not tempt any Britisher abroad to recklessness, but strengthen determination upon thrift and productive expenditure.