Financial Notes
.FAVOURABLE TENDENCIES.
THE occasions are few when optimism is lacking at the beginning of a year, and in that respect 1933 has proved to be no exception. Elsewhere I-deal more fully with some of the views concerning the prospect; for the New Year, but as regards the past week one of the conspicuous features has been the further rise in South African Gold shares, a movement due to the idea that as A meat of South Africa going off the gold standard and the mines getting an advantage from the premium in gold, the outlook for holders of South African Mining shares is a favour- able one. Most other sections of the Stock Exchange have been cheerful during the pest week and a further feature of late inmarkets has been the improvement in Home Industrial securities, while Gene= Bonds have appreciated considerably. The Returns of National Revenue for the first nine months of the current fiscal year may be regarded as satisfactory, though it is always premature to endeavour to determine from them what may be the result at the end of the year on March 81st owing to uncertainty as to the amount of Income and Surtax to be gathered in during the final quarter of the year. Moreover, on the present occasion there is only too much reason to fear that there must be a material shrinkage under these heads,'. as the assessments will cover a year of exceptional financial depression. Thanks, however, to the fact that already Customs and Excise have yielded an increase for the nine months of nearly £30,000,000, the Chancellor of the Exchequer has a fair margin in which to turn round, while as regards the total of Revenue the position at the end of the first nine months is that there is an increase of about £10,000,000 as compared with the Chancellor's estimated decline for the entire year of just over £4,000,000. Allowance has to be made for the inclusion in the Accounts at the end of the year of the Debt payment to America last month amounting to about £29,000,000. but as against that the Chancellor of the Exchequer has his new sinking fund of about £14,000,000.
Previous page