ECONOMIC FEARS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 189, 12 August 1938, Page 7

ECONOMIC FEARS

FLIGHT FROM FRANC ANXIETY IN FRANCE WITHDRAWALS FROM SAVINGS BANKS PREMIER’S ASSURANCE (By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright! PARIS, Aug. 10. M. Edouard Daladier, Prime Minister, in a statement to the press, declared that France’s financial position was satisfactory. Deposits were exceeding withdrawals from the savings banks, contrary to normal holiday expectation. M. Daladier denied an impending revision of the Triparte Agreement. The flight from the franc resumed, and control was hard pressed to prevent a drop to below 179. Operators were reported to be nervous because of labour unrest, and also the Czech situation. MILD RECESSION VIEWS OF SOUTH AFRICAN FINANCE MINISTER MUST HEED WARNINGS OF ECONOMISTS CAPETOWN, Aug. 10. Mr. N. C. Havenga, Minister of ’Finance in the Union of South Africa, in a Budget speech, announced a surplus for 1937-1938 of £4,352,000, which was £2,852,000 above the estimate. Imports for the first time exceeded £lOO,OOO The current year's revenue was estimated at £41,794,000, leaving a deficit of £1,052,000, which will be met from taxation adjustments, provision being made for large increases in defence expenditure. Mr. Havenga expressed the opinion I that the peak of the trade cycle had I passed, and various countries were I suffering either a mild recession or a ■ severe depression. ■ The turn of the tide in South Africa I had been so slight that she escaped ■and while there was no cause for alarm the warnings of economists i must be heeded, he said. BRITISH FINANCES BIG INCREASE IN FLOATING DEBT. LONDON, Aug. 10. | The Exchequer returns show that total ordinary revenue amounts to £213,111,329, compared with £215,627,473 at the corresponding date of last year. While the yield of income tax is still about £1,000,000 behind last year’s figures, the surtax has given £7,240,000 to date, against £5,950,000 a year ago. Revenue from stamps is £6,650,000, against £6,160,000 at this time last year. Customs receipts are nearly £1,000,000 down at £76,573,000, but excise is now running level with the figures of a year ago. Total expenditure, less self-balanc-ing items, is £340,655,138, compared with £301,504,958 at the corresponding date of 1937. The n<» increase in the floating debt since the beginning of the financial year is £82,600,000, the total being £924,355,000 against £893,945,000 a year ago. GOLD HOARDING MARKET SUFFERING FROM INDIGESTION. POLITICAL FEARS SPREADING TO STOCK EXCHANGE. LONDON, Aug. 10. Gold hoarding continues, but purchases are a similar scale. The evidence is that the market is suffering from indigestion. The effects of political fears are spreading to the stock markets, where most issues are marked down sharply. An earlier message stated that the scramble for gold was continuing unabated. French businessmen, alarmed at the sudden return of M. Edouard Daladier, French Prime Minister, from the Mediterranean, sold francs heavily, while many people in London are inclined to the view that it is not merely nasal catarrh that has caused Mr. Neville Chamberlain, British Prime Minister, to interrupt his holiday. The bulk or orders have come from the Continent, but a novel development is purchases on behalf of America, South America and the Far East. GERMAN APPREHENSION FEARS OF ONSLAUGHT OF DEPRESSION. LOW WAGES MAY DELAY BREAK. LONDON, Aug. 10. The Times’ Berlin correspondent reports that apprehension is spreading in Germany. Prices on the Berlin Stock Exchange declined an average of five points, on of the sharpest falls since the Nazis seized power. Company reports indicate the presence of all the classical accompaniments of the onslaught of a depression, and complain that because of rising costs the expansion of profits has not kept pace with the expansion of sales. Wages, however, keep low, unlike the cost of capital. The continuance of low wages may yet delay the break in German industrial activity.