The chairman of the Associated Chambers of Commerce, Sir W.
H. Holland, speaking at the annual meeting at Bristol on Tuesday, told the same tale as the statistics. There were industries, he declared, and important ones, which had been enjoying during the last year or two a degree of prosperity which had not been known perhaps for the last twenty-five years. Measured by every known test, he thought one might with confidence say that the trade of the country at the present time was prosperous. Railway returns were much better, bankers' returns were bigger, and the cargoes carried by our shipowners were heavier. For the eight months ending August 31st our imports showed an increase of thirty- three and a half millions over the corresponding period of last year, and an increase of forty-two and three-quarter millions over 1904. Exports, again, showed an increase of thirty-four and a half millions over last year, and fifty-two and a quarter millions over two years ago. Touching on the share- market, he pointed out that though the Stock Exchange might not be as active as it would like to be, there was no sbrinkage in the earnings of the various companies to justify the great shrinkage in their capital value, and that afforded the best ground for the hope of recovery. After all, the investor, as distinguished from the speculator, was much more interested in dividends than in the inflation of capital values.
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