AUSTRALIAN CONDITIONS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18890, 16 December 1935, Page 10

AUSTRALIAN CONDITIONS

BRITISH OFFICIAL VIEW EFFECT of new loans LONDON, Nov. 27. Tlip Department ot Overseas Trade, in a report on economic and trade conditions in Australia, prepared by O’ l - A®' sistant British Trade Commissioner 111 Melbourne, .Mr. A. \V. Burton, unde! tile direction of the .Senior lra.de Commissioner. Mr. B. \V. Dalton, records a continued improvement, partly due to uglier wool prices and partly to the increase in local borrowing for public works and unemployment relief. Il says: “The local borrowing, however. is causing a lear that Australia is creating internallv a position similar to that reached in respect- ol oversea bor rowing in 1929. New internal loans are nullifying the benefits which tile tax layer should have received from con versions in London. “Imports must decline unless wool prices rise considerably. British manufacturers must face the tact that even in the most lavorahle circumstances they cannot hope to secure the Australian trade which was legardcd as normal liefoie the depression. Opportunities lor expansion, however, si ill exist, notably in respect of more specialised manufactures which Australia lormcrly imported Iroin America and tin- (.'ontilienl. It is noteworthy that while Brilaiii’s pereeolage share of the Australian trade is increasing, the American is declining. Japan is not so formidable a rival as she is generally believed to he. ( 'oinpel it ion is chiefly confined to textiles, china, earthenware, fancy .goods. 11 silk piece goods arc eliminated, Japan’s share of the remainder of Australian imports its only 5,2 per cent.“ flu- report considers tha-l. even in respect. of textiles, the notion of British inamil.'leturors in registering textile designs to prevent copying! should restore the position ami the trade lost, to Japan Turning to .'Australian exports, the report praises the skilful handling ol the wool dip. and emphasises that, despite Britain's increase in meat purchases, d is necessary to seek other export, outlets if (he industry is to continue to orosper, and adds: “A permanent solution of the hotter industry’s problems cannot lie in fixing high home market onecs to compensate for the inability to keep production costs below world oaritv.”