Finance—Public & Private
New Year Prospects
IN commenting elsewhere upon market tendencies during the past week, I refer to the fact that the occasions are few when optimism is lacking at the commencement of a year. I must confess, however, that on. the present occasion, while -the optimism may be of a more subdued and sober character, it is also of a more intelligent kind than is usually displayed. Moreover, the financial and industrial depression has lasted for so long, and hopes have been damped so often that there is the greater dis- position to weigh very carefully any evidences in favour
of an early improvement. - - In some respects, perhaps, the past year has presented a record in industrial depression and iii the volume of unemployment both here and in all parts of the world, but, as I pointed out last week, there have been redeeming features such as the improvement in investment securities, the important War Debt conversions with their good effect upon the national credit, while, most important of all and, perhaps, the point on which hopes of the future are mainly based, has been the evidence afforded of a keener and more general realization by the vadous nations of the causes of financial depression and the need for international co-operation in the matter of applying
remedial measures. -
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