TRADE DEPRESSION IS STILL SERIOUS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19109, 30 June 1930, Page 1

TRADE DEPRESSION IS STILL SERIOUS.

“ ECONOMIST ” REVIEWS BRITAIN’S POSITION. (United Press Assn.—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright.) (Received June 30, 8.5 a.m.) LONDON, June 2S. The Stock Exchange has safely passed the last settlement of the half year, about which some apprehension was felt, as it was generally known that some firms were in a rather ; difficult < position, but their stronger friends gave assistance and the settlement was carried out without any outward incident. Since then the tone has improved slightly and during the last few days firmness has developed in the gilt-edged market and the prices of most British funds have risen, largely as a result of the cheap money and the strength of the sterling exchange. In these conditions it is surprising that Australian Government stocks did not show an improvement. Many of them at the present prices give exceptionally high yields. For instance, the Commonwealth 5 per cents, 1945-85, can be bought at £B6, giving a return of well over 5:1 per cent. Others afford equally good opportunities for investors* but confidence seems lacking and until it is restored investors are likely to be few. High hopes are entertained that Sir Otto Niemeyer’s visit to Australia may result in an improvement, but in the meantime Australian stocks meet with only a small demand. Wool Mr Bernard Tripp, New Zealand delegate to the New Zealand Woolgrowers’ Conference at Bradford, in an interview said that he was highly gratified with the result, especially with the British Wool Federation’s agreement to cooperate in any form of advertising arranged between Australian and New Zealand growers. In vie\Xr of the increasing demand Mr Tripp emphasised the importance of the statement by Mr Andrews at the Conference that all the wool now being grown is being sold, and that if by advertising they created a greater demand there would not be enough wool available to satisfy the demand. Mr Andrews added that Bradford’s main difficulty was that while the wool consumption of the world was larger than ever it had been, the United Kingdom’s consumption was less. Mr Tripp was satisfied with the statistical position of wool, which was very good. Stocks of raw wool here are smaller than for many years past. State of Trade. “The review of the state of trade in “The Economist” is again far from cheerful reading. It says that no change for the better has taken place during the past month and it cannot be' said that athere are any signs of ishprqvement yet in sight. It must be remembered that in previous and more fortunate years, a setback in trade usually occurred about May and lasted until the end of the summer, thus it could hardly have been expected that the home trade would have begun to emerge from its depression during the early summer months. Rapid recovery is pretty clearly out of the question, as the harm done by the depression is too deep to be overcome in a few weeks, 1 but even a slight improvement of no more than the usual seasonal dimensions might suffice to raise the spirits of the industrial world and start the nation on the road to genuine recovery. BUSINESS STAGNANT OR DECIDEDLY WEAK. (Received June 30, 930 a.m.) SYDNEY, June 30. Business on the Stock Exchanges is either stagnant or decidedly- weak, for as the. balance-sheets come in, it becomes more evident how profits have been depressed by the unfavourable trading conditions in Australia during the past six months. Shareholders are being warned in two notable instances not to expect generous distributions in the coming year. Fear of increased taxation is the worst bugbear, but the response to the I new £10,000,000 loan for the Commonwealth has been most satisfactory.