At, £42,900,000, British exports in November were the highest for any month this year. This Is the more satisfactory because there]
usually a seasonal drop in exports from October to November. In the eleven months, january to November, the excess of imports over exports this year' was £358 millions. This £20% millions Tess than in the corresponding period of 1937, so that the adverse balance to be made good this year by invisible exporis—shipping, insurances, income from overseas Investments, commissions cte.—will be considerably less than last year, probably £40 millions less on the full year's trade, The ime Drovement. in export trade extends. to several Rroups, notably machinery. electrical apparatus and alveratt, exports of the last-named having, Increased by over £1% millions in November. These figures confirm the expert view th British export trade is kxndually reaching a mow nnd more stable basis, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer in a recent speech to. the National Union of Manufacturers said there were signs that the pendulum was preparing again 10 swing Inthe direction of recovery, "The figures for British industrial aetivity.* said Sir-John Simon, "are also showing sins that the Unitew Kingdom is. beginning Benet by an upward movement," while he 30 referred to" the encouragement 0 be drawn from the high level of retail trade. The President of the Board of Trade, to0, alluded recutly to the remarkable way in which British export trade had "slood up to a variety of diMeult- circumstances" which were "almost Unexampled. and he Mressed the significance fof the protest made in the past few months at time' when the tendency of world trade whole was inthe other direction, Price of Victory Although it savours. of reading the will before the subject ut Its disposition has hada decent time (o expire, speculations on the con-Sequences of Nationalist victory. in Spain are only natural in view of the imminent fall of Barcelona. Since General Franco, the protector of the church and its dignity, selected Christmas for the unleashing of his most. intensified offensive of the entire campaign, rapid progress has been made and Barcelona's defences so weakened that the Nationalist forees are in sight of the city. All Barcelona civilians have been mobilized, every ounce of strength has been flung into the line, foreign residents are preparing to evacuate and nothing short of i miracle can save the Catalan capital, If General Prance wins and establishes Fascist state, does it mean that he must Feward appropriately Germany. and Italy, who have liberally assisted him with men, aeroplanes and supplies? Gratitude is not the least marked of 'Spanish characteristics but as. the Spanish conflict, in its latter stages, has been obvious a part of a general political plan evolving from' totalitarian ideas Some sort. Advantayes must accrue. One of the myster-Jes of the Spanish conflict, which started nothing more than a civil war, has been the Amount of foreign assistance und the ¥eerultment of so-called volunteers who curiously fall Into well-aryanized and disciplined divis-fons which amateurs and adventurers donot quickly a "Then, of course, is the pect-Har theory of non-intervention which " was transformed into a series of restraints some well-meaning powers to prevent other members. of the committee from intervening too openly. When the volunteer withdrawal plan Was initiated it was devised to. withdraw anywhere from. 10,000 to 40,000 men oe each Side and there is no doubt that large numbers have been withdrawn, but that appears to Ihave caused no weakening of General Franco's strength. His foreign divisions and. his German and Ialian aeroplanes have been the backbone of the renewed offensive on Barcelona and he still appears to command large forces of foreign auxiliaries. An authoritative London opinion has it that General Franco's following essentially Nationalist and therefore many and Ialy are not Hikely to. gain any strategic footing in the country, but this does not preclude the creation of a situation which will emphasize Ialy's Tunisia and Djibouti claims against France, who will find an extremely pro-Italian regime along her western frontier. "The French attitude regarding 'Tunisia and Djibouti has been made perfectly clear in declarations following M, Daladier's tour, and Paris opinion inclines to' the belief that' France will take similar" measures. in Spanish Morocco and elsewhere if Mahan forces romain in Spain or Majorca in. the event of a Franco victory. Signor Mussolini has" made. certain assurances which are. a¢- cepted at face value and will be £0 accepted as long as they are valld, but foreign assistance has constituted such an integral part of General Franco's campaign that it is extremely unlikely that this influence' will evaporate if he wins, and the new problems envisaged regarding France, and also British interests inthe Mediterranean, must arise. No. civil war in decades has been fought with such an abandonment of the principles of neutrality by. powers awaiting the outcome as a lever for further political advancement.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.