TRADE REVIVING

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 17945, 24 November 1932, Page 9

TRADE REVIVING

BRITAIN’S SOUND FINANCE HAS GOOD RESULTS LONDON, Nov. 2. The superficial evidence of turmoil and trouble in Britain is not to be taken too seriously, for there are signs that economically, industrially, and financially the condition of the country is definitely on the up-grade. The National Government’s offer of a £3CO.OCO,CCO 3 per cent, conversion loan puts the coping-stone on the speetaculai financial edifice which it has built, during the past four months, and which will mean a net annual saving in interest of at least £30,000,000 after allowing for loss of income tax: t)iat is to say, approximately one-tenth will have been deducted from the annual interest bill previously ruling. If it did nothing else, tlie Government would more than justify its existence by this triumphal fulfilment, of the policy it was primarily elected to enact.

There are tokens to suggest that what President Hoover called the “gigantic forces of depression’’ arc in retreat, for the great iprovement in the. national financial position is accompanied by a healthy indication of recovery in trade and industry. More than 150 new factories, representing a wide variety of industries, have already been opened in Britain, and reports from many parts of the country show that, the tide ol omdnvment is rising, although for the present by slow degrees. INQUIRIES FOB FACTORIES

In London some 40 inquiries tor additional factory sites, from foreigners anxious to a void the tariffs, are now being dealt with by a special department of the London Chamber of Commerce. At Manchester, in the artificial silk industry. employment is more than 4CO per cent, higher than it was eight- years ago, and many of the mills are working overtime. hi Hie. electrical industries the number employed in Lancashire is 40 per cent, higher than in 1923, and the manufacturers of wireless sets and accessories are continually extending their operations. Coastal trade is also looking up, cargoes being more numerous and freights dearer by a shilling a (nil. Coal and coke shipments from the Tyne dock last week amounted to 56,416 tons, which is double the figure for the corresponding week last year, and 15.009 tons more than the previous week. In South Wales there is an increase in the, coal exports to France, Italy, Portugal, and the Argentine. At Liverpool work will shortly be found for 1000 operatives by the establishment of a large paper-mak-ing plant. ADMIRALTY WORK. Admiralty contracts worth more than £2.000,000 will soon provide a share of employment for the Clyde shipyards; and the Scottish canned fruit industry has doubled its production within 12 months. The estimated value of this industry’s production this year is £5,000,000. The jute trade of Dundee, which is being helped back to prosperity bv a campaign on the part of the manufacturers to find new markets, is showing signs of recovery. A number of important orders have been received, and many workers who had been either suspended or on restricted hours, are now being employed full time.. The motor industry throughout- Britain is most active, and orders received as the result of the recent show nt Olympia indicate that it will he unusually busy for some months. CAPITAL FOR INDUSTRY.

(amorally, therefore, the situation is much more promising than recent reports of secret disorders and strikes, actnal or impending, might suggest. Thanks to the Government's financial policy, industrial and trading companies are now able to raise fresh capita] more cheaply than at any time since tile wav, as well ns to repew old capital on appreciably better terms. This will give an impetus to enterprise and should lead to development in many directions. Taxation is still, of course, a burden To he reckoned with, and to a. large extent it negatives the benefit conferred by cheap money, but, ns the savings already effected by the ■Government expressed in terms of taxation are equal to nearly one shilling off the income tax, the taxpayer has every reason to hone that he will soon he granted some measure of relief. For that reason the next Budget will be awaited, not only with interest, but with optimism. Even sixpence off the income tax would put millions into the pockets of industry and increase the spending! power of the nation to a welcome and now necessary degree. Although the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Mr. Neville Chamberlain, lias given no hint as yet that he will be in a position to offer some concession, it is thought that he cannot avoid it in the altered circumstances.