The Press Saturday, January 10, 1920. British Trade Figures.

Press, Volume LVI, Issue 16728, 10 January 1920, Page 8

The Press Saturday, January 10, 1920. British Trade Figures.

Opinions upon the state of British trade differ so widely that tho official retnrns for the year 191!) will bo eagerly studied. Properly to understand what theso returns really signify, one must have more than tho bare totals that appeared in the eablo message we printed yesterday, hut even thnso totals aro interesting and significant. The imports are given as 1032 millions sterling, and the exports 70S millions. "We give the returns for tho various years back to 1913 (further than which year wo nerd not go, as the balance was for somo years about tho same as in 1913): —

Ercees of Imports Exports Imports in in in Year. millions millions millions sterling', sterling', sterling 1 . 191.1 .. 768 KM 131 1914 .. GOO 536 170 101,j .. 851 4&' l 368 1916 .. 9JB GO.T 345 1917 .. 1064 506 4GS 1018 .. 1319 529 790 1919 .. 16.12 798 934

A striking feafure of the figures for 1919 is the unexpectedly largo addition to the imports made by tho trading in tho last quarter of the year. The imports for tho first nine months amounted to 11 Of! millions sterling, and the exports to (iHfl millions. If this rate had boon maintained in tho last quarter the totals for the yenr would have been: —Imports, 1034 millions; exports, 852 millions. Actually the imports wero much greater than that, and the exports substantially less. Every month the expert rommentators upon the trade returns have sought for something that might mitigate the unnleasing significance of tho returns. They hnvo been consoling themsolves with tho fact, that at any rate practically the whole increase in tho imports was under the heads of food and raw materials. Bnt nono of them appears to have expected such an onormous balanco as 934 millions against exports. Tho trade position for 1919 was obviously much worse than in 1918, and, as we have pointed out. tho last quarter of the year 1919 showed an altogether extraordinary "adverso balance"—3o7 millions sterling for tho quarter.

It would bo a mistake to suppose that the trado position went another 800 millions to tho had in 1918, as compared with the pre-war position. The "adverse balancc" of 13-1 millions in 191-1 was not a real adverse balanco, for tho bare totals of exports and imports do not contain all the facts. Thoy say nothing of interest on foreign investments, freights, insurance, banking profits, commission, etc. Ono of tho publications of Barclay's Bank estimates that in 1913 theso items amounted to 3GO millions, making in reality a favourablo balance of 226 millions. The same publication estimates that theso " invisible exports" amount now to 580 millions :► year, made up ns follows: Interest on foreign investments, 1/50 millions (which was estimated at 200 millions in 1513); freights 400 millions; insurance, ctc., 30 millions. If theso figures aro correct the real a'dverso balance for 1919 would bo tho difference botween this sum of 58() millions and tho apparent adrtvrso balance. It would be 354 millions. So that, at any rate, on this basis of calculation, Britain's profit of 22G millions in 1913 was changed into a loss of 3->t millions for 1919 — a falling away of SSO millions. But there should bo deducted from this sum an amount which will allow for the fact that the Board of Trade's import totals include freight and insurance. "Whoro tho carrier is British, this amount should obviously be placed to tho credit siuo of Britain as a trading country.

Thero are great difficulties, however, in the way of accepting such calculations as correct. Before the war it was difficult enough to estimate tho valuo of "invisible exports." New factors introduced since 1914 make the task impossible. There havo been great changes in Britain's holding of foreign securities, enormous changes in freight, and a serious disturbance of that proportion of the shipping -profits of the woTld which comes to British owners. But no method of considering tho position can got rid of tho fact that Britain has an enormous amount of leeway to raako up. This she can do only through decreased consumption (wo do not mean consumption of food, but consumption of unnecessary articles of various kinds) and increased production. Moro than a year has passed sinco the war terminated. but the process of recuperation does not yet appear to have fairly begun.

Ypres To-day. Those who have trnrelled in Europe will have no difficulty in realising the attraction possessed by for the tourists who see in every historic place or monument only a field t' or l ho exercise of their crnzo for souvenir-htmtin£. Ypres, before the war. possessed the glorious architecture of the middle agos: its streets breathed the spirit of bygone centuriej?. The war came and left it little more than lioap of ruin>. its splendid Cloth Hall and Cathedral shattered beyond restoration. Hut it is not for the in jury it suffered that it be.-nme a .--acred place to Britain and France. Scores of thousands of the soldirrs of botli countries died to hold tho salient to which it gave its name, to {(reserve from the invader a fra lament of Belgium uneonquored. And now pence has come and converted it into a place of ignoble trading. '"The new Ypres,"

says a recent visitor, "is a place of " c-taminots. of mobs of picture-post- • card hawkers, of ehar-a-bancs and •' pleasure omnibusr-s, of souvenir- " hunters and noise.'' By October there were 13-j cafes and places of refreshment. in the battered town, and everywhere amonj the ruins others were built, to cater for the crowds of tourists -who visit it, in many eases, judging from their behaviour, from mere curiosity. Tho Belgians do not, it is said, regard Ypres with the reverence in which it is held by many British and French—to them it is only one of the ninny towns ruined by tho Germans, fltit thev respect tho feelings of their Allies, and tho Belgian Minister of tho Interior lately announced that in concert with the British authorities it had been decided to keep tho Cloth Market, Cathedral, and adjacent houses in their present state. Certain sites are also to ho allotted tow Canada, including tho emplacement whoro General Mercier fell, with the view to the

predion of a museum on the spot, and n site lias been promised for an English Church. These ruins, said the Minister, would constitute a place of pilgrimage whither tho Allies could come to cvoko the memory of their countrymen who had fallen while striving to keep inviolate a shred of Belgian soil. Tho Belgians have, too, triod to restrain tlio ghoulish activities of souvenirhunters and those who would commercialise Ypres. Tho Cloth Hnll bears a placard with tho words—"This is Holy "Ground, stone of this fabric may " bo taken away. It is a heritage for all ''civilised peoples." Tho citizens of Ypres have also published a handbill urging tho residents to devote greater attention to the preservation of tho ruins. "Ypros, 11 ifc says, "is for our " French and British Allies a holy "city, the defcnce of which cost them "a quarter of a million brave men's " lives. For them the ruins are a " poem in stones constituting a monu- " raenfc to their common suffering." Tho citizens are implored to respect this feeling. "More noble than thoso "of Borne or Pompeii, these ruins " should Ims allowed to rest as they "are, the most touching relics of tho "Great War. . . . Jtcspect tho Dead! "Bespect the ruins of our town, which, " thanks to tliera, belong for ever to "History!" "VVo may hope that this appeal will not bo disregarded, remembering that to many thousands at ITomo and in France, Ypres is as sacred as Gallipoli and Passchendalo are to us, and for the same sad reason.

The wheat question was so badly muddled by the National Government that farmers will bo glad to hear that tho Prime Minister is to visit Christchurch next week to discuss tho whole question with representative wheat-growers. It is high timo that a clear and definite policy was deeided upon. At the present timo it seems as though there would be just about sufficient wheat in tho Dominion to keep the population going till the next harvest, that is, with the balance of tho Government's Australian purchase; but it is exceedingly probable that in 1921 tho Dominion will havo to depend on its own efforts in producing breadstuffs. After the drought in Australia it is practically certain that there will bo littlo for export, and tho price of Canadian and American wheat, oven supposing it is available, will bo prohibitive. At present no definite pronouncement has been made regarding tho prico that tho Dominion growers will bo, likely to ask the Government to guarantee, but it will probably be about 7s Gd or 8s per bushel f.o.b. At this price, provided the prico of production remains steady, and tho crops are average ones, thero should be a reasonable margin of profit to the growers, sufficient to induce them to put in a quantity adequate to the country's needs.

A curious rase was hoard in tlio Magistrate's Court yesterday, and an interesting decision was given. A man who had rudely addressed a policeman, using an offensivo adjective ton commonly heard, was charged with using obsceno language. The Magistrate decided that this particular word, although it is offensive, is neither ol>scene nor indecent. Tf we have regard to the etymology of "obscene" and "indecent." the word complained of is both. But if we have regard to the generally accepted etymology of the word itself, it must bt\ accounted a very innocent oath indeed. Etymology, however, has little to do with the matter. Tt is difficult to find fault with the Magistrate's decision, and yet it Is difficult not to feel that the uso of the objectionable adjective ought to be penalised in some way. "We aro told to-day that the Bolsheviks have entered the hitherto neutral Eone of Bokhara, thereby securing direct railway communication between Transcaspia and European Russia via Tashkend and Samarkand. This littleknown State of Central Asia lies on the right bank of tho middle Oxua, and is bounded by tho Pamirs on the east, Afghanistan on the south, and Khiva on the west. Land suitable for cultivation is only found in the western districts in oases watered by irrigation canals. Two great rivers, one over 660 miles in length, lose themselves in tho vast sandy wastes. Tho middle portion of tho State is occupied by high plateaus intersected by numerous rivers

flowing towards tho Oxus. This region is very fertile in the valleys, and is densely populated. In other parts of Bokhara there are mountain ranges rising to 2-1.000 or 25.000 feet, on the northern slopes of which aro many huge glaciers.

Bokhara was known to the ancients under the name of Sogdiana. It was too far removed to the east ever to be 'Drought under the dominion of Rome, but it has shared deeply in all the many bloody revolutions of Central Asia. Islam was introduced shortly after the Arab conquest of Persia and speedily liecnme the dominant faith. In the early centuries of Matiommedan rule. Bokhara was one of the most celebrated and flourishing districts of Central Asia, but from the 11th century right down till the Russian annexation in IS<>S its is an almost unbroken record of invasion and conquest, and internal dissension and oppression by cruel despots. The Red Terror of the Bolsheviks, should the Bokharans prove intractable., would add merely another chapter to their book of troubles. 1 — ■ Tf they must make excuses for tho result of the licensing poll, the Prohibitionists ought to find moro reasonable ones than those with which tho Rev. 11. B. Hammond is consoling his Sydney frienda. His three excuses are all unsound. Tho first is that votes wero treated a.s informal which should not have been so treated. This, of course, may bo true, but Mr Hammond's opinion is not conclusive as to the limits of informality; and in any event tho gift of spoiling a ballot paper is eurely not, as Mr Hammond's oxcuse suggests, ono that can be acquired only by drinking tea. If only Prohibitionists blunder in the voting compartment, Prohibitionist inclinations cannot he conducive to clearness of head. His second excuse is that the liquor trado is so strong that it "clouded tho issue."' This, of course, is absurd: no clearer issue ever went to a vote. Tho third exciiso is that tho energy of the Prohibitionists had "somewhat lagged" in December, as they were suffering from "a sort of war weariness." If this refers to the Prohibition organisers and propagandists, it is very unjust; they never, not even in April, worked with so much skill and energy. If it refers to tho Prohibitionist rank and file, it is meaningless, for a Prohibitionist who, thirteen months after tho war has ended, is too war-weary to etrngglo with tho inferior load pencils provided in tho voting compartments, can hardly have been a real Prohibitionist at all.