TRADE RECOVERY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21875, 10 August 1934, Page 8

TRADE RECOVERY

PROGRESS IN CANADA '# RAPID IMPROVEMENT MADE 'ABSORBING THE UNEMPLOYED A claim that Canada has progressed farther along the road to industrial and financial recovery than any other nation is made in the June number of the journal Canadian Trade Abroad, which gives as its authority the reports of the' Economic Committee of the of Nations. The recovery in Canada, states the journal, lias a meaning for the countries with which that Dominion" trades, as it means that Canada is now in a position to buy more from them and to produce more effectively and in greater quantities the goods she sells to them. By means of a chart prepared by the Financial Post, it is shown that a steady upward movement in the trend or general business has been maintained from the end of the first quarter of 1933 to the middle of May, 191'14, with the exception of a slight downward movement toward the end of last year. Since January this year the upward movement has been very pronounced. Large Increase In Business

The position as reflected in the chart is said to be fully supported by the index of the physical volume of business prepared by the Dominion Bureau of Statistics, which indicated that business was 40 per cent higher at the end of April—the latest for which statistics were then available—than in February, 1933. In other words, about 37 per cent of the drop which occurred from 1929 to 1933 had been regained in the 14-months period from February, 1933, to April, 1934.

Reference to later figures, quoted in the Vancouver Daily Province of June 23, shov;s that the upward trend continued during May. The index of the physical volume of business then showed a further advance of 7.6 per cent, reaching a new high point since the early months of 1931.

In examining the individual factors ■which lie behind the rise, states Canadian Trade Abroad, many striking improvements are evidenced. Comparing the month of April, 1934, with April, 1933, it is found that industrial production. has risen from 65.1 per cent of the 1926 monthly average to 91.4 per cent; mineral production has increased from 102.8 per cent to 160.2 per cent; and general manufacturing from 67 per cent to 87.7 per cent. /; Increase in Exports In the field of distribution, car-load-ings show an increase from 59.4 per cent to 76 per cent over the same period and on the same basis as the production figures quoted. Exports show an advance from 47.3 per cent to 69.6 per cent and imports an increase from 44.2 per cent to 69.3 per cent. The beneficial effect of the improvement on the absorption of labour is shown by figures compiled by the Bureau of Statistics. The latest report, based on returns made by employers 'as at June 1, 1934, shows 899,286 ■workers on the wages sheets on that date, compared with 856,548 on May 1, an increase in one month of 42,738, or 5 per cent. This is a greater increase than has been recorded in the MayJune period in any year since 1920, when statistics were first collected. Pronounced increases were reported in employment in manufacturing industries, the favourable movement extending to nearly all classes (if factory workers. In non-manufacturing industries all the major groups showed an improvement. Improvement Widespread! "The general "improvement has extended into practically every field in Canada," states the journal, "sind has been remarkably strong. The steady upward trend of the advance has been credited by observers to the fact that it is natural. ?vo artificial means comparable to those resorted to in many other countries have been adopted in Canada to stimulate recovery. Instead, matters have for the most part been allowed to work themselves out in their natural courses and necessary readjustments have been made spontaneously. "The decided improvement in the domestic situation is reflected in Canada's foreign trade. Total exports for the 12 months period ended April, 1934, were 597,389,331 dollars, compared with 473,618,342 dollars for the same period ended April, 1933. Import trade for these two periods amounted to 448,155,829 dollars and 397,046,742 dollars respectively. . "Empire countries are responsible for the major share in this increase in trade, both in imports and exports. For instance, Canadian imports from the United Kingdom in the period of 1933-34 under review totalled 106.264,542 dollars, compared with 86 ; 671,918 dollars in the same 12 months of 1932-33. Exports to the United Kingdom during the same two periods totalled 232,608,999 dollars and 183,814,781 dollars respectively."