WAR EFFECT ON TRADE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20072, 19 October 1939, Page 8

WAR EFFECT ON TRADE

NEW RICH AND POOR BRITAIN’S EXPERIENCE STRIKING CONTRASTS LONDON, Oct. 1. The fortunes of war are creating new rich and new poor. The three mam factors determining the financial position of citizens are forethought, opportunism. and accident. Tiie first category includes armament and munition manufacturers and army clothing contractors. The second category includes a bookseller, who advertises, "Read while they raid,” and an optician who advertises, “Black-outs demand keen eyesight. When were your eves last tested.” Those in the third category are do. (ermine I to some extent bv the evacuation from (lie cities, which has rendered some metropolitan shopkeepers penniless because all their customers have gone. But. on the other hand, the evacuation has increased the turnover of country tradesmen. Doctors generally, apart from leading specialists, are not suffering greatly. Most doctors are finding Army posts.

Little Work for Lawyers Lawyers will soon be out of busi- , ness. The Law Courts will be al- i most idle except for a “bumper crop" of divorces. Registry offices are conducting a multitude of hasty ma rria,gos. Architects are completely unemployed. Shipbuilders, metal manufacturers, and farmers are flourishing, and are being assisted by Government subsidies. Retired .sea captains have been recalled to replace Naval Reserve officers in merchantmen. Engineers in all branches are finding the value of their services nearly i doubled. Coalminers are in lull employment under Government instructions to provide an increased output. There is little likelihood of industrial trouble in coal-mining districts. Retired policemen are returning it the beat and arc receiving pay, in addition t(> their pensions. Furniture, both new and secondhand. has increased to three times its pre-war value. Duplicator manufacturers have trebled their business because most members of office staffs have been called up and because of the expansion in Government clerical work. The printing trade iin.s suffered a setback. Bnoksc'lers and lending libraries report a boom. Makers of nuzzle® and indoor games are also doing good business. Phiiatelv . and <>mbr.- ! d •■■»••> work are increasing in popularity. Stamp dealers advertise that stamps |

are a safe investment, being comparable to gold and diamonds. Country Inns Benefit News cinemas in the West End will be permitted to remain open until 10 p.lll. But the general curtailment of theatrical, cinema, and other entertainments is benefiting country inns and suburban public-houses at the expense of the city hotels. Suburban residents are crowding the local pub-lic-house in the evenings, because they find the only bright spots for neighbourly gatherings. Moreover, the public-houses are usually near the family air raid shelters. Black-outs have caused- sharp rises in the prices of black and brown paper, black cloths, drawing pins, and torches. The Government is accumulating enormous premiums from compulsory insurance on retailers’ stocks, notably jewellers’ stocks, which represent 10 per cent of the total value. Brokers collecting premiums for the Government draw commission from the retailers, who are charged. 5 per cent extra to cover this war risk insurance, regardless of the fact that most retailers turn over their stocks live times a year. Motor Trailc Badly Hit The motor trade has been badly hit, but firms converting c 1 ' " the use of gas fuel will benefit, .''no latest idea is a light trailer, o'-ctma £lO5, which carries an anthracite gas fuel generator. This fuel i® 70 per cent cheaper than metro!. T'-o •’"' of it involves an adjustment of lb'' carburettor and the fitting of r special intake into the cylinders.

The old-time unsightly gas-bags on motor car roofs are not likely to reappear. Moreover, if the plentiful supplies of petrol are not seriously depleted by actual war consumption, it is probably that the Government will relax petrol restrictions on private and commercial car Owners, because £ 1(1,000.000 a year in revenue comes from motor car users. Petrol produced by the hydrogenation process, although widely used in Germany, is at present too costly for use in . Britain. | Bicycle manufacturers and owners of draught horses are benefiting j where motor firms are losing, but some bloodstock breeders cannot afford to hand-feed, and, as a result, many blood foals have already been destroyed. 1 Others who are benefiting are Air Raid Precaution workerps, who are averaging CO? a week. Stoke-on-Trent, with a population of 275.000. has a weekly wage-bill of £2520 for Air Raid Precaution workers. Many Iv’ve been indirectly hit by the war. For example, the abandonment of ceremonial wedding® in favour of simple, war-time '•••’ridings, is affecting florists and cat-vers. The shifting population caused through the evacuation oil cities, has made some hairdressers bankrupt, but lias helped others. Profiteering ®o far has not been extensive, despite the delay in introducing rigorous penalities. Town? in safety areas, which were previously urfimportant, are now becoming first-class theatrical touring circuits, and their vaudeville theatres are billing national “stars.”