BRITISH TRADE

Waikato Times, Volume 121, Issue 20264, 5 August 1937, Page 8

BRITISH TRADE

Many people jump to the conclusion that the revival of industry in Great Britain is solely due to the huge re-armament programme. They overlook the fact that the overseas trade figures are expanding steadily, and also the statements of British Ministers to the effect that the re-armament programme had not yet had time to affect the position to any great extent. The latest returns show that in the first five months of the current year British imports were £93,500,000 above the total for the corresponding period only two years ago, while exports moved up by £33,000,000 in the same time and re-exports by nearly £10,000,000. The adverse balance appears to be high, but it must be remembered that British shipping has been more active, the insurance of the freight carried will have been heavier and the many other invisible exports in the form of services will have done much to improve the position. And, in any case, no small portion of the imports is represented by raw materials necessary for the increased industrial activity. The special financial correspondent of Industrial Britain reported last month that trade and industry had been very active.

A country capable of absorbing nearly £400,000,000 worth of imports in five months must occupy a position of immense strength when matters concerning world trade are discussed. That market is vital to the welfare of many countries, including the Dominion, and the influence of the authorities is being used to stimulate trade generally. “It would seem," wrote a London financial house on June 21, “that events are beginning to move slowly in the direction of the stabilisation of currencies and greater international co-opera-tion in trade and finance." Many small countries, it is said, have only just begun to feel the effects of this recovery. “ There is an increasing belief," wrote the authority already quoted, “ particularly in Franco and America, that the key to political difficulties of Europe is to be found in economic measures."