FINANCE AND INVESTMENT
As the weeks go by it becomes clearer and clearer that if we avoid inflation we are not going to avoid a pretty sub- stantial rise in prices. Up to a point a higher price level is not only unavoidable in time of war but helps to ease the strain. It is all a question of degree and of control. So far, the rise has not shown any of the symptoms of a genuine inflationary trend, and the Government has made it plain enough that it will fight inflation with every weapon at its command. I see no reason, therefore, why this week's developments in the commodity markets, striking as they are, should be interpreted as the beginning of a really specta- cular and runaway movement in prices.
To take the tin market, where the rise has been steepest and which has provided the inspiration for speculative buying of other commodities, the circumstances need careful analysis. Tin has been completely freed from price control. Until the beginning of this week the price was fixed at a maximum of £230 a ton, and the only market seller here was the buffer pool which doled out 25 tons a day. Consumers in the United Kingdom went direct to the smelters and were able to satisfy their most urgent requirements at the same price. But there was a large unsatisfied demand in this country, and abroad consumers of tin have been paying much higher prices. Now the market has been set free from all price control the price immediately jumped £41 z os. to £271 los. and the quota has been raised to 120 per cent.
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