BRITISH TRADE

Hokitika Guardian, 18 November 1931, Page 3

BRITISH TRADE

FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW. MANUFACTURING CENTRES S' ' MORE ACTIVE. .. ' V './■ 'V_ [.United Presß Association- -By Electrv Telegraph—Copyrght. ] LONDON, November 14. .-'Reports from the ihanufacturing centres indicate, a further increase in activity/, notably in the wool, cotton and textile industries. The jute mills aC's stea'dilfeiilcreasing production and the 'iron. trades are doing steady -business, including a ce-naml ambunt 5 oi :^SxporU'trade. lOne of the most satisfactory features of the week has been the splendid amount of business done in the Motor Transportation Exhibition m London, where;/;, many firms have secured record - orders- for omnibuses, lorries and freight waggons. One firm reports, that its sales were 600 per cent, above those' for 1929, when the exhibition was 'last held in London. Overseas , orders ■ were especially encouraging; including./VvSuch widespread places ai , Australia and,--New Zealand,' Lithuania, the Gold -'Cdast'and Uganda. Hbtf great was. the. : t; need for trade is if illustrated in a table prepared - by- the /‘‘Economist,” showing the 'variation.;’of net profits disclosed;' in the lr Accounts iof 170 companies/ received in .’October. These include/’all classes of ..trade’ and the average'profits sbofo''a decline of 58.26 per cent;, compared Vwith October, 1930. .Shipping ah.d/textiles showed especially heavy-’declines/..chiefly owing to the loss of‘‘i'£s44i342 ; /by /Lamport and (Holt and the/. British; Colancse Company’s -d obit;: /balance/ of £27-4,626, " against a profit •of £385,091 in 1930. v 'SHIPRING SHARES RECOVER.

The Stock Exchange has been fairly steady, but gilt-edged® were affected by- the weakness of sterling and distrust; of/ the .international situation, with' the /result that British funds declined all, round. Tile' 5 ’ one bright spot on the" gilt-edged market has been Australians;' which have been in favour under the combined influence of ‘the prospects of lower 'exchange, good October trade returns and the improvement in the wool sales prices. Industrial -have /been steady, but..the revival has not yet brought out atiy grfeat /volume of business, except in one. shipping, which has’ witnessed a remarkable revival of afefiyity this . week, especially the shares of the companies/, engaged in the Eastprii tfade. . This is accounted for by mo re active trading , conditions followi"<? ‘tW rapid recovery in. the price .hardest -i’poß... Reports regardiihg the European vintages of 1931 in the “Wine -Trade Re-

view” show that for Germany and France the year has been disastrous. There will be no hocks., and moselles in 1931 that will in any way be comparable with those of 1921. The wine harvest in the celebrated valleys of the Rhine and Moselle .was fair in •quality. It is doubtful whether any will be fit for exportation. The situation in France is no better. At one time it was thought that no’ wine would be made in the Champagne district, but that was absurd. Several million bottles will be made, but not for exportation. . A firm of London wine merchants has issued a circular suggesting that if in this time of economy the people spend less with the wine merchants it will tend to increase unemployment and the loss of revenue, which must be made up some othei way. The firm points out that last year wine and tobacco made to the revenue the colossal . contribution of /11 0 000.000. almost 30 per cent, of the country’s -entire revenue. Regarding ,e patriotic desire not to purchase luxuries from abroad, the circular points out that there’fire at present in bond in England ’enormous „. stocks of wines, old brandies; and cigars, which have already been-'pin chased and paid for by British merchants, therefore their customers need not fear that by purchasing these’they 'Will, increase the adverse balance /of trade. If the public expenditure on twine and tobacco fell one-third there would be a decit of £64,000,030 in next year’s Budget, which would entail at least an extra shilling in income tax. ,