TRADE OF BRITAIN

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22059, 15 March 1935, Page 9

TRADE OF BRITAIN

OVERSEAS STATISTICS POSITION SATISFACTORY IMPROVEMENT IN BALANCE EXPORT GAIN MAINTAINED By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright ((Received March 14, 6.45 p.m.) LONDON. March 13 The Parliamentary Secretary to the Overseas Trade Department, Mr. D. J. Colville, stated in the House of Commons to-day that he was aware that British imports from countries with which trade agreements had been concluded had considerably exceeded British exports to those countries. As a result of agreements British trade with those countries was developing very satisfactorily in many respects, and the imports from them consisted, to a considerable extent, of raw materials and articles mainly unmanufactured. The preliminary figures of overseas trade for February, said Mr. Colville, showed a decrease of more than £1,000,000 in the- value of imports and an increase of more than £4,000,000 in that of exports as compared with the corresponding month of last year. The totals for last month were £56,302,000 and £34,098,000 respectively.-

Many of the newspapers feature the improved overseas trade revealed in the Board of Trade's figures for February and lay stress on the signs of returning confidence.

The Times alludes to the improvement in the unemployment returns and argues that the position of the Government has been strengthened as the result of the defence debate. It says that in spite of the increases in .the Estimates there is no threat whatever to the solvency of the Budget. There is even hope that the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Neville Chamberlain, will make progress toward the removal of the emergency burdens imposed in 1931.

Lastly, says the Times, the fall in the exchange value of sterling appears to have been checked by a natural recovery of confidence.

In January the increase in the value of exports from Britain totalled £3,871,617, compared with January, 1934, and of re-exports £960,919.