The Wanganui Chronicle WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 6. 1933. CONDITIONS IN ENGLAND

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 76, Issue 288, 6 December 1933, Page 6

The Wanganui Chronicle WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 6. 1933. CONDITIONS IN ENGLAND

QO.XDITIONS in England do not appear to be getting any better in so far as those conditions are reflected by the imports and exports, but the unemployment figures mark an improvement. It would appear, therefore, that England s internal economy is improving at the expense ot her external l ransactions. For the nine months ended September 30, imports were valued at £487,854,427, which represents a decline of £32,358,922 as compared with the same period of last year, and a decline of £69,942,272 as compared with the same period of 1913. Exports ot British produce and manufactures totalled £268,389,862 during the nine months ended September, 1933, which is £2,(17,614 less than the corresponding total for the period in 1932 and £122,372,039 less than as compared with 1913. Re-exports this year totalled £37,162,594. which represents a deerease as compared with 1932 of £1,865,526, and with 1913 of £4-5,201,546. This result must necessarily imply that if employment has increased it is because domestic supplies are displacing imported items. In so far as the employment of insured persons is an index, there has been a fairly consistent improvement throughout the year, for in January the percentage of insured persons who are registered as unemployed was 23.1, whereas in August it had fallen to 19.2 per cent. This.calculation, it should be borne in mind, is not an arithmetical one, but an estimate, because the estimated number of insured persons was put down at 12,808,000 in June of last year, and has not been altered since. This estimate is not altogether acceptable because the year-end would add all those who have left schools and colleges to the labour force of the country. Nevertheless, there is satisfaction to be found in the faet that the number of insured persons unemployed had declined from 2,955,448 in January to 2,458,744 in August, a decline of half a million persons when compared with the beginning of the year, and also with August of last year. The table of sales compiled jointly by the Bank of England ami the Incorporated Association of Retail Distributors, reveals Ihat in August sales generally were ahead of the corresponding month of the previous year, and that stocks of merchandise declined by 3.5 per cent., and stocks of food and perishables by 5.9 per cent. That food and perishables should have so declined will appear, to New Zealand eyes, a strange phenomenon. Total stocks are estimated to have declined by 3.6 pci cent. When replacements arc made then there is every likelihood of employment increasing considerably for a time in excess of the flow of sales. This will undoubtedly add to the growing sense of confidence in the future.