CO129-581-16 British propaganda in Hong Kong 18-4-1939 - 29-10-1939 — Page 110

F 403

British Finance and Commerce.

Business Conditions.

By Robert Mackay.

110

The latest published figures show that for the week ended on

the 17th of June last provincial bank clearings amounted to

£25,021,000, or an increase of 15.3 per cent over the total for

the corresponding week in 1938. International trading conditions

inevitably affect the volume of transactions passing through the

clearing banks, but the aggregate clearings of British provincial

banks from the 1st of January to the 17th of June amounted to over

£592,000,000, an amount which was only three per cent below that

for the corresponding period of last year. Thus the upward

tendency referred to above may be taken as confirming the reports

of steady increase in business activity, a movement which has been

particularly noticeable since lay last. Koreover, increased

imports of raw materials from abroad during the past two months

point to a further expansion of trade.

-

According to the lay index-figures of British trade on the

basis of 100 for the year 1935 - there has been a rise of 6 points

in the production of iron and steel for use in Great Britain.

Higher index numbers were also recorded for employment and for

commercial motors in use in this country, as well as for raw

cotton delivered to British mills. One of the largest increases

is in the figure relating to exports of British manufacture, the index for lay being 106%, compared with 100% in the preceding

month. oney continues to circulate freely, and the large amounts

of British capital available for investment are apparent in the

result of a recent municipal loan. The issue was for £3,000,000,

but applications received for subscription to the issue were for no

less than £45,000,000.

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