Manawatu Evening Standard. MONDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1926. THE TRADE OUTLOOK.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVII, Issue 7, 6 December 1926, Page 6

Manawatu Evening Standard. MONDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1926. THE TRADE OUTLOOK.

There is still need for caution and economy in the matter of both public and private expenditure. The banking returns for the quarter ended 60th September last, as was pointed out bj r Sir George Elliot, chairman of the Bank of New Zealand at the half-yearly meeting of the shareholders of that institution held in Wellington on Friday, show a further restriction in the resources of the six banks doing business in the country of close upon five millions. The deposits have decreased during the three months by £1,770,571, while the advances have increased by £3,127,275, so that there has been a shrinkage of £4,897,946 in the capital at the disposal of the banks. That, as Sir George Elliot pointed out, is due to the pxcess of the imports over exports. We have been buying too freely abroad and our exports have failed to meet the conseqmsit liability. As a result the reserves of capital har r e been drawn upon to meet the necessary payments. The banks, however, occupy a thoroughly sound position and the general finances of the country are sound enough. But it is evident that, in financing their customers, the banks will have to maintain a conservative policy towards borrowers, and that is likely to prove a big handicap in the matter of securing further advances. While Sir George Elliot very properly disclosed the true position, he evidently senses a brighter outlook for the marketing of our primary products upon which the wealth of the Dominion is so largely dependent. The wool sales have shown more active competition and values are rising, the London September-October sales closing very firm, values being about fd per lb better all round than in June last. Greater activity is apparent in the woollen industry on the Continent and German buyers bought freely. Now that the strike is at an end in England, greater activity can also be looked for in the woollen industry in the Homeland. That means that prices are more likely to rise than to fall. Both in New Zealand and in Australia the wool markets are steady and no stocks appear to have been carried over for later sales; so that, with an active demand for their staple product, the wool growers’ position would seem to be decidedly better. In the frozen meat trade prices are being steadily maintained. It is only in dairy produce that any serious fall in prices has taken place, but even here prices appear to be firming and on the up-grade. If industrial peace can only be maintained in the Mother Country it should be possible to recover some of the ground lost during the thirty weeks of the coal strike and the depressed markets resulting therefrom..