Economic Outlook

ONE recent trend of Australian retail business has been the desertion of inner city areas for suburban shop ping centres. According to the prognostica tions of some sections of this trade, the city in a few years will become a veritable desert and a great many department stores are grasping time by the forelock and establishing bigger and better edifices in outer areas.

The city toiler has, so far, not noticed this blight on the inner area; it is just as difficult as ever to get a bun and a dish of tea at lunch time; or to get ser vice in a store. And there seems to be far too many women in Australian cities who have nothing better to do than “go into town”. Still, if retail business says that it is being strangled, it no doubt knows what it is talking about. The trend away from the city is due to the sprawl of Aus tralian cities in post-war years; the new attractiveness of suburban shopping centres; the discomfort and high cost of public transport: and the impossibility of getting parking space in the city, in spite of the installation of parking-meters in every conceivable place. The inner city traffic problem in Sydney is not likely to be helped by the latest brain-storm of Mayor Jensen who says that people who bring cars into the city should pay a road toll.

In Australia the thinking of all govern ment and semi-government thinking is conditioned by the belief that all motorists are plutocrats and that they use their cars for the sole purpose of creating a nuisance. Tolls on the road won’t help reduce congestion or help inner city busi ness men, although, like meters, they would boost revenue. Some big department

stores are already tackling their oo ing problems. Sydney’s and Sons, Ltd. (which recently its down-town cousin, Hordern BiS announced that it plans to proviv ing for customers in its Brickhi store.

Meantime, though city retail tt its troubles, business generally quin tinues to go on booming. Indejs ordinary shares reached an all-ti of 298.61 on October 8.

Sydney Sales Pricer

Sept. 8 Burns Phllp ... 99/9 Burns Phllp (SS) . . 63/6

C.S.R

£67/10/-* Dylup Plantations 26/- Hackshalls 57/- Kauri Timber ... 21/- Kerema Rubber . , . 7/6 Koitakl 22/- Lolorua 11/6 Mariboi 8/- Norfolk Is, Whaling 4/8 Queensland Insurance 78/6 Rubberlands ... 6/3 Sthn. Pac. Insurance 19/- Steamships Trading . 73/- W. R. Carpenter Hold. 24/- Timor Oil 6/2

Oil And Mining Sharh

Fiji

July 9. *58 Sept. 8 Emperor . b5/» s7/9 Loloma . . — b41/9

Papua-New Guinea

Bulolo . . . b35/s40/- N.G.G. Ltd. bl/9Va s2/3 Oil Search b2/6 S6/6 Ent. of N.O. b7d n.q.

Papuan Apln bed b3/5 do. opt. . bSVad bl/6 Placer Dev. b86/6

blOO/- §

Sandy Creek b4d n.q.