TRADE AND FINANCE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21859, 23 July 1934, Page 5

TRADE AND FINANCE

POSITION IN BRITAIN INDUSTRIAL RECOVERY UNEVENNESS OF SPREAD (Received July 22, 5.5 p.m.) LONDON, July 21 With the approach of the summer holiday season, the London Stock Exchange is getting into a somewhat lethargic condition, but prices generally arc well maintained in spite of lack of business. Gilt-edged stocks especially are showing firmness. Industrial shares also are mostly steady, but aircraft company shares, which recently were active, suffered a reaction following Mr. Baldwin's statement that the Royal Air Force would be increased by 492 machines. It had been hoped that orders would bo placed for three times that number. An article in the Westminster Bank Review dealing with the industrial recovery in Britain, describes how unevenly the recovery is spread over different areas and in different industries. Thus the South and tho Midlands of England have fared better than the North of England, Scotland and Wales. The / greater basic industries have been worse hit than tho newer industries, particularly those which cater principally for home consumption. Tho greater intensity of unemployment in the North of England and Scotland are partly a reflection of tho "southern drift" of British industry. There is a tendency for new industries to settle in tho Midlands and the South rather than hi tho North. Various causes account for this tendency, but it is reasonable to assume that high local rates which are inevitable in poverty-stricken areas have helped to divert new industries elsewhere, so that £he very intensity of unemployment in the most depressed areas has been an obstacle to its relief 'by natural methods. Tho article concludes: "In somo quarters it is questioned whether the recovery movement has not attained its zenith, and whether the limit of expansion of the homo' market has not been reached. Whatever the answer to the second question it seems to be inevitable that the time will come when that point will have been reached, and unless substantial enlargement and broadening of the export trado has been achieved in the meanwhile, somo reaction must be expected with tho adverse effect of the employment figures. It is only through increased export trade that the obstinate problem of unemployment will be solved." " , IRON AND STEEL BRITAIN'S DOMINION TRADE ULTIMATE LOSS PREDICTED

The prospect of the Australian market being closed entirely, and the South African market partially, to British iron and steel exports of, the heavier typo within a few years was envisaged by Mr. W. 11. Lysaght in his presidential address to the annual meeting of the Iron and Steel Institute in the hall of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Westminster, recently. Mr. Lysaght explained that he had recently returned from a five or six months' tour of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Steel works which he found at Broken Hill, Australia, were extraordinarily efficient, and amopg the finest he had ever seen. Oro was delivered at the furnace at 8s a ton, and pig iron made under £2 a ton, with an output of about 8000 tons a. week. Plates, rails, wire rods, sheet bars, girders, beams, and all sorts of constructional merchant iron were made there.

A new works, owned by the Australian Iron and Steel Company, was springing up. It had mado wipes and pig iron, had begun to make rails and sections, and ,was putting down sheet mills. He was afraid, therefore, that in two or threo years not an ounce of heavy steel would bo sent to Australia, and Great Britain would probably lose that market. In addition, Australian makers, aided by tho present advantage of the rato of exchange, were sending iron and steel products to New Zealand. In a reference to tho new works at Pretoria, Mr. Lysa£ht said that £4,000,000 had already been spent upon them, and he understood that another £1,000,000 was to bo spent. Tho works, he was told, were producing pig iron at not much over £2 a ton. Adjacent to them, mills for rolling wire rods and rails wcro to bo erected to supply not only tho Transvaal, but tho whole of South African Railways. In addition, Messrs. Stewart and Lloyds were putting up works there, and it was thought that in a very short time South Africa would be making the whole of tho heavy material needed for the Transvaal. It would tako some time longer to cover the market in the centre of South Africa, or near tluj ports, but he was afraid that British iron and steel exporters would have to wipe Australia entirelv, and South Africa partially, from their books within a few years.

COMPANY LIQUIDATION NATIONAL PORTLAND CEMENT Shareholders in the National Portland Cement Company, Westport, in liquidation, are shortly to receive a distribution of £2IOO, which amount is stated to bo available after making provision lor expenses and contingencies in tho termination of tho windingup. Holders of shares paid up „to £IOO will apparently receive about £lO. and, as tho shares were largely held in Westport, nearly £2OOO should bo in circulation among local business people at an early date. PEDIGREE JERSEYS GOOD PRICES AT TANEATUA [lU' TKLECEAI'It—OWN COIIHKSI'ONDEXX] WBAKATANE, Saturd.-c _ Wright, Stephenson and Company, Limited, in conjunction with the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company. Limited, report as follows on the third annual sale of pedigree Jerseys on account of Mr. •I. S. Rao, of Taneatua:—There was ii Rood attendance of buyers from all parts of tho Bay of Plenty. The prices realised throughout, particularly for bulla, wire will above expectations, and only a few small lots were passed in. Seven two-year hulls averaged the satisfactory price of 25gns onch. The top price bull, Raeburn Night Raid, went to Mr. L. MncMillan (Opotiki) for 'logns, while Unebtirn Sun Prince sold at 42sns to the bid of Mr. S. Lambert (Opotiki). Sixteen yearling bnllr. sold nt the average price of Isgns, the top-priced Raeburn Kioto going to Mr. J. McAllion (Opotiki) at 40gns. Riteburn Silver Prince was bought by Mr. J. McGregor (Opotiki) at 2Ssnci. while 27gns was paid for Raeburn Red Shadow by Messrs. Johnson Brothers (Opotiki). Nineteen two-year pedigree heifers were sold at an average of slightly over 9gns, lfigns being paid for Raeburn Nightingale by Mr. T. W. Wnrdiaw' (Waimanah Raeburn Koynl Silk sold for 15}gns to Mr. E. Hill (Taneatua). Other purchases were:—Two-year bulls, Raeburn Phar Lap, 2Ggns, Mrs. TL Tanner (To Puke), and Raeburn Carbine, lGgns, Mr. P. Thorn (Taneatua). Yearlings: Haeburn Masterful, Mr. E. Hill (Taneatua). lSgns: Raehufn King Carnival, Mr. S. Lambert (Opotiki), 17gns; Raeburn Sunbeams Monarch, Mr. D. Morrison, 17gns.