TIN RESTRICTION DEFENDED
There is no more able advocate of tin restriction than Captain Oliver Lyttelton and he seized the opportunity at the Southern Kinta Consolidated meeting to launch a broad- side into his critics. In doing so he concentrated on two problems—the buffer pool and " outside " production. The buffer pool, in his view, is working satisfactorily if it is judged on its real claims. He rejected the suggestion that the memorandum on the scheme circulated by the F.M.S. Chamber of Mines had held out any promise of the avoid- ance of quotas. As for " outside " production, Captain Lvttelton is a vigorous opponent of the view that tin restriction has encouraged such output to the general dis- advantage. According to his interpretation of the relevant statistics " the most that can be claimed as an increase in outside production as a result of restriction is 9,000 odd tons." How, then, he asks, can it be maintained that in order to prevent such an increase it would be worth while for the producers of upwards of 200,000 tons to accept from £80 to £90 a ton less for their output and decimate their ore reserves in doing so?
He views the outlook for the tin industry very hopefully. Consumption is showing the expected improvement, the fall in visible supplies seems likely to continue and higher releases may be expected in the fairly near future. Southern pinta itself appears to be in a recovery phase after last year's substantial setback. Indeed, it seems as if share- holders may look for an increased interim in respect of the current year.
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