BRITAIN AND AMERICA

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 74, Issue 229, 28 September 1931, Page 7

BRITAIN AND AMERICA

CO-OPERATION NEEDED PRICE LEVEL RESTORATION CIVILISATION MENACED LORD D’ABERNON’S VIEWS [ British Official Wireless. ] RUGBY, Sept. 25. Speaking at the American Chamber of Commerce luncheon in Loudon today, Lord d’Abernon said that tn ere was never a time when the vigorous exercise of co-operation between the United States and Great Britain was more important than at present. Our civilisations were menaced by a very grave danger. Stability had been lost and we suffered to-day from violent world deflation which it was in dispensable to correct, not by rency measures, but by a widespread agreement to re-establish a price level enabling debtors to pay and potential buyers to resume their activity. It was far more by the restoration of trade activity that the commercial world could be saved than by any new restrictions. He maintained tlu/t the the clear objective for New York and London must bo the restoration of world prices to the level of 1929. This was a level to which wages, debts, and other contracts wore adjusted, and any violent departure from it, either upward or downward, involved the grave danger of serious social disturbance and conflict. WEAKER ABROAD CONTINENTAL BOURSES PRICES AGAIN TUMBLING. LONDON, Sept. 25. Activity again characterised the Stock Exchange and a further advance in industrials and mines. Heavy selling and tumbling prices are reported at Continental bourses and the failure of an important banking firm wita branches at Berlin and Amsterdam. British funds weakened further owing to a relapse of sterling. 'pic Stock Exchange Committee announces that from to-morrow all bargans must bo for cash and not continued from day to day. It is believed that this decision was made in order to check speculation. LITTLE SURPRISE MOVEMENT INEVITABLE EXPERT’S EXPLANATION. [ British Official Wireless. ] RUGBY, {Sept. 25. The trend of foreign exchanges was again adverse to London this morning. This occasioned little surprise and no excitement, as it had been generally anticipated that suca fluctuations were inevitable until conditions become stabilised. Explaining this development, Sir Walter Layton, the prominent international economist, says:— -■ There is no reason to be alarmed, and wide daily movements must be expected for a while. These are mainly due to the ebb and flow of large amounts of capital, and not to the purchase of the much smaller amounts of foreign exchange required to pay for imports of food and gods. So long as no one cither at Home or abroad knows what the future of the pound will be, these capital movements are likely to be erratic. Changes in the value of the pound will not all be downward, for at a certain point foreigners will think that its price is well below the level at which it is finally likely to be fixed, and they will then buy sterling, and so cause an upward movement. On the Stock Exchange to-day the home industrial section in particular continued to show strength, and there was a fair amount of share activity. RALLY OF STERLING FEATURE OF MARKET [ British Official Wireless. ] RUGBY, Sept. 25. The feature at the close-of the foreign exchange market was a strong raily in the pound which had weakened earlier in tho day. Tho New York rate, which was 3 dollars 49 cents to the £ t.iis morning, rose to 3 dollars 77| cents, while the Paris rate finished at 94£ francs to the £ after an adverse tendency. The fluctuations are followed witho.} excitement, as it is realised that for some days there will be considerable movements in exchange until opinion In other financial centres has had time to accustom itself to the new conditions. The stock market was again active, industrials leading. STERLING THE KEY PERTURBATION IN FRANCE. LONDON, Sept. 2?. The world-wide confusion, and nerves following Britain’s abandonment of the gold standard have eloquently demonstrated how sterling is tho key to the world’s business. The German Steel Trust is closing the Wisscn mills, employing lOOf) employees, 90 per cent, of whoso output was sold to foreigners on the sterling basis. The Chambers of Commerce throughout Franco are inundating the French Cabinet pleading for intercession to prevent a British tariff. The Roubaix and Tourcoing textile traders are very perturbed over the sterling slump, which has automatically placed an impost of 33 per cent, on their output. They point out that hitherto woollen yarns and fabrics have contributed one tenth of the French exports to Britain,