NO SIGN OF SLUM?

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 248, 19 October 1937, Page 7

NO SIGN OF SLUM?

BRITISH INDUSTRIES RECOVERY NOT AT PEAK SPENDING POWER STRONG > (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, Oct. 17. By general consent, the past fortnight has been the most anxious on the Stock Exchange since 1929, but fortunately the worst seems to be over. City business men, all agree that, slump talk is fantastic. The Economist declares that the majority of industrialists endorse th? opinion of the Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer that recovery has not yet reached the peak. There is little real evidence in the British national economy to suggest that a real slump is ahead. On the contrary, many industries have spectacularly increased their rate of activity in the recovery years. There are no signs of a serious decline m the purchasing power of the public, and even the export trades are less vulnerable than in 1929, as the primary producing countries are no longer dependent on foreign loans. The economic defences are thus sounder than in 1929, and a repetition of such a slump is most unlikely. The Economist’s quarterly analysis of the industrial profits also make* the slump talk seem ridiculous. The rise in profits has been so generous, and shareholders have received increased dividends at a time when industry as a whole is financing capital growth from its own resources. The Economist’s index shows that business activity as a whole is running at record high levels, and therefore, it appears that prices in many industrial' are below reasonable levels.