NOT FULFILLED

New Zealand Times, Volume LI, Issue 12023, 29 December 1924, Page 7

NOT FULFILLED

FERVID BRITISH HOPES NO TRADE REVIVAL DURING PAST YEAR, FOUNDATIONS LAID, By Telegraph.—Prase Assn.—Copyright. Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. LONDON, December 26. Observers, commenting on the international revival of trade in' 1924, point out that the fervent hopes of a large section of British industry have not been fulfilled, although the year has been productive of real progress in building a more solid foundation for a general improvement of the world’s economio conditions than any other since the Armistice. The adoption of the plan-the defeat of the Radicals at the polls in Britain and the United States, and the curbing of the Communist propaganda in France, have helped to restore confidence, the lack of which had previously retarded the pest-war recovery. This is indicated in the riee of sterling. There is a deep-rooted feeling that Britain is at last fairly on the way to a steady restoration of trade and of her economio position. * It is believed that the improvement in sterling will he consolidated by the real backing of an increased trade balance. The pound is expected to reach par value in dollars at a nearly date, and progress will be made towards a return to the gold standard. There are, however, “flies in the ointment.” The. financial position in France is viewed with some anxiety, because the measures taken to improve the value of the franc have not resulted as well as was hoped, and further French Government borrowing has given rise to apprehension. There are the rumblings, too, of the dissension ih the Balkans, and the Spanish Moroccan situation. The condition on the English markets generally is sound.