URING the first four months of 1939 oversea trade continued to shrink in value, a movement which had persisted throughout the previous year, and although there was a recovery between May and August (the last month before the war put an end to normal commerce) it had already become clear that the lack of confidence arising from the political tension in Europe was so widespread as to be an effective obstacle to business expansion, states "The Times."
In the first half of the year the the other hand, the value of the value of imports declined by £22,- shipments of cotton yarns and manu-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.