The Daily News. FRIDAY. NOVEMBER 28, 1920. BRITISH TRADE DEPRESSION.

Taranaki Daily News, 26 November 1920, Page 4

The Daily News. FRIDAY. NOVEMBER 28, 1920. BRITISH TRADE DEPRESSION.

The latest review of B-ritish trade conditions indicates clearly that whether there is much or little demand for raw material and manufactured goods, there is no disposition to lower prices. Probably the most peculiar phase of the present situation is the demoralisation of Continental exchanges. It haß been stressed by financial experts that the nppreriation of currency would be a considerable factor in stabilising trade, yet the recent advances in the value of the franc and mark, though theoretically favorable to Britain, have merely served to reduce the buying power of the Continental peoples in the British market, thus severely hampering trade, a state of affairs which suggests that until the value of sterling currency approaches njore nearly to the ratio in winch the costs of goods has risen, or a considerable fall in the value of commodities takes place, an improvement in business is unlikely. For the moment the outlook as regards wool appears to be slightly blighter, yet this may be only a superficial aspect, as the Bradford top makers and spinners will not operate on the present basis of raw material. It should be noted that the boom in the drapery trade has given place to widespread'depression and unemployment, yet finished articles do not exhibit a relative reduction to the prices of raw materials, owing, it is said, to the advanced icost of production, rent, rates, transport, taxation, a- 1 other charges. On the contrary, out of seventy-five items in the drapery trade forty-one have advanced, only sixteen being reduepd. while eighteen i-emain unaltered. The obvious deduction from the circumstances set forth in the review is that a determined effort is being maintained to keep up high prices and profits, and that manaiactur-

era are disposed to reduce their outwit and create unemployment, sooner, than revert 'to larger business and smaller profits. The prospect of any relief to the consumers in the near future appears almost hopeless.

AFFORESTATION ACTIVITY. The growing scarcity of useful timber in the Dominion has aroused the Government to taking practical and organised action in the direction of conservation and reafforestation, The need for prompt and vigorous action in this matter has long been urgent, so it is gratifying to find thaat the Forestry Department is pursuing its work on the only-lines that can possibly attain the desired end. During the past two years five million acres) of land have been placed under the administration of the Commissioner of State Forests, who now has nearly seven million acres whereon to operate in building up the future timber supplies of the Dominion. Some of this land at present carries no forest, but there is a large area containing useful timber, and by the elimination of low value trees the space they occupy can be profitably made use of for planting marketable substitutes. The appointment of a thoroughly qualified forestry expert as director should be a guarantee that the work of the department is to be active and not merely supervisee. In Mr. L. Mcintosh Ellis the Government has a director of forests of the right stamp. His first work was to organise a staff that can be extended as the magnitude of the work requires, and to facilitate the operations of this staff the Dominion is to be divided into districts, each of which will be in charge of a ranger. The prevention of waste due to ignorance in cutting out timber is highly important, as may be' judged from the fact that it at present amounts to about 75 per cent., which it is hoped will be reduced to 35 per cent,, merely by using timber at present rejected for building and other purposes. The work of testing the economic qualities and rate of growth of our native timbers is considered to be of equal importance to that of re-planting, as more immediate benefit will be obtained by saving wastage and destruction than can be gained by planting. It will, of course, take many years to build up timber supplies to replace those that have either been milled or gone up in smoke, but it is reassuring to know that the work has at last been taken in hand and placed in charge of men who may be expected to make a success of their efforts to solve the timber problem. '