FINANCE & COMMERCE

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume XXIII, 23 July 1923, Page 6

FINANCE & COMMERCE

I’ER PRESS ASSOCIATION —COPYRIGHT LONDON, July 21. The Stock Exchange has recovered quickly from the depression which followed rhe advance of tne bank riue, and with the monetary conditions easy gilt-edged securities have shown considerable strength, and prices have improved all round. Outside the the giltedged market there has not been much activity, and as the holiday season approaches its height there is not much prospect of any increase in the volume of business, but the tone of the Stock Exchange generally is cheerful, and there is a distinct disposition to take a more hopeful view of the Ruhr and the reparations outlook, m anticipation that the British reply to the German Note will have satisfactory results. The dockers’ strike lias 11i in a J l-.

prevented Home railway stocks participation in the improvement, but it had singularly little effect on industrials

generally. The British Government s award of £3,750,000 sterling to the British Sonin Africa Company recalls one of the greatest Stock Exchange disappointments of thirty years ago. 'There was a great boom in Chartered shares, as they were popularly called. For a month or so they rose steadily daily, all classes of the public investing to Cecil Rhodes’s advice to “Buy them lor your grandchildren.” The price rose to £9 and suddenly the market collapsed and the price fell to £l. Recently these shares have been quoted at 9s. • he> have now recovered to 15s, 'u anticipation of a cash distribution out ol the Government’s award. 'The trade position in Great Britain is disappointing. A special report m the “Economist’’ says: —The volume of trade continues on a large scale, which is very much better than at this time last vear, and is near the peak point reached this spring, but unfoir tunately current orders are not being replaced, and the period ahead ioi which industry has assured orders is rapidly shortening. In some cases the end of the output is alarmingly near. Two features of special interest are, on the one hand the Bradford spinning industry. which has been particularly hard hit by the low prices and lack of Continental demand; on the other hand the electrical engineering trade which is full up of orders. Earl< in April, the Australian flour importers were greatly perturbed by the recommendation of the Agricultural Tribunal that imported flour must be accompanied by twenty-five per cent, offal. The proposal met with much opposition and finally the Government abandoned it. It was suggested then that the proposal emanated from the United Kingdom millers, and this suggestion was fully confirmed by the speech of the chairman at a meeting of the Associated London Hour Millers, a holding company deriving income mainly from shares in milling companies. The chairman said that the keenness of competition which the milling companies had to meet in the past year was unparalleled in the history of the milling trade. I’he unsatisfactory condition of the trade was largely due to two causes:—(l) The large quantity of imported flour ami (2) the large surplus capacity of the mills in this country. Our millers, particularly in the ports, always faced keen competition from foreign and colonial millers, who were well acquainted with the science of dumping. It is calculated that the mills in England and Wales, running normal hours, could manufacture at least twenty-five to thirty per cent, more flour than required, equivalent to some million sacks a year. This had resulted in much flour being sold below cost price. 'The situation was also affected by the decrease in consumption. which was estimated to be ten per cent below that of a decade ago. The abandonment of the wool sales is not regarded as unfavourable for the trade, the general impression being that a peariangement of the sales to commence on September 4 will make for strength in the market, as the opinion is pretty general that value*, should improve, especially in view of the large consumption on the Continent. Meanwhile Bradford shows slight indications of a recovery from the recent acute depression. No increase in the demand is noticeable, but the tone is rather better, and traders are inclined to take a more optimistic view of the future.