WHY GOVERNMENT STOCKS ARE NOT HIGHER.
In this connexion, I observe that some of the daily journals during the past week have been rather inclined to force the pace with regard to British Funds, and to suggest that, although Government securities are no higher than they were five years ago, economic conditions in the country in the meantime have vastly improved, and that these favourable factors are not yet reflected in the price of Government securities.
It is quite true, of course, that during the past five years we have had some favourable factors, such as the one to which the Times directs special attention, namely, the restoration of the Gold Standard, but I cannot help thinking that there are a good many other factors which the Times leaves out of consideration but which may well explain the tardiness of British Government Stocks to advance. For example, the past five years have seen deplorable Trade Returns issued almost every month, with an ever-increasing visible adverse trade balance, while in last year's general strike and the prolonged coal stoppage we had factors scarcely making for an improve- ment in the general economic condition of the country, or for confidence in British Government Stocks, which, after all, must always be influenced by the financial and economic status of the country as a whole.
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