BRITISH FOREIGN TRADE

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 727, 29 July 1929, Page 10

BRITISH FOREIGN TRADE

ENCOURAGING RETURNS FOR HALF-YEAR FIGURES ANALYSED (Australian and N.Z. Press Association) (United P.A. —By Telegraph — Copyright) Reed. 9.5 a.m. LONDON, Saturday. “The Economist,” commenting on Britain’s foreign trade for the first half of 1929, says that apart from the setback in June, the returns can be considered encouraging. Exports showed a 1 per cent, increase over the first half of 1925, and the excess of imports over exports showed a 1.8 per cent, increase. These percentages may appear insignificant; but the important qualification must be borne in mind that during the past year wholesale prices have fallen by 9 per cent., and so if the trade figures were expressed hy volume instead of by value there is little doubt that the 1929 returns would reveal an appreciable increase over last year. An instance of this is furnished in re-exports. These showed a 10 per cent, decline, compared with 1928, but a substantial item in British reexports is rubber, which now is only half the price it was a year ago. MINING NEWS LUCKY SHOT.—The manager reports: “The low level crosscut has been, extended 12ft. for the week. The face at present is in quartz. It is showing nice minerals but no gold has been seen in it. It may prove to be a branch of the Reuben Parr. On the main reef over the winze we have got the timber, and pass in and started stoping on this block. Gold is still showing in the ore and several pieces of picked stone have been selected during the last couple of days.”