| Summary: | Great Britain: Optimism Returns. Great Britain Optimism returns. Trade talks with Japan break down. Cabinet reorganization next fall. London (Cable)—Optimism which failed the City for several weeks has returned with a boom on the industrial share market this week following the best bank clearances in 4 years, record railway traffic, and bullish speeches by railroad chairmen. Unemployment dropped 71,000 in February, placing the total number of jobless 539,000 below the figure a year ago. Even the governmental tension eased this week. Pending cabinet reorganization in the fall, and on the promise that a separate Ministry will be formed to deal with the slum clearance and housing problems, press criticism is called off. Trade talks with the Japanese have virtually ended due to the inability to agree with Japan on the area to be considered in the negotiations. Britain insists that world markets must be allocated; Japan that only Empire markets enter the picture. Meanwhile, attention has focused on President Roosevelt's evident readiness to negotiate new bilateral trade pacts. Britain is divided on the probable effects. One group feels that advantages are to be gained; but another large group feels that British competitors are likely to reap the greatest advantages. Interest was aroused recently in the announcement from Lancashire of a new process which will produce a gallon of ice cream in one minute. This beats the record, previously held in America, of 15 minutes. The machinery used in the new process is being manufactured by the Iceland Freezer Co. in part of what was formerly a cotton mill near Accrington. An export demand has sprung up on all sides, but Germans, so far, have purchased the largest volume of the new speed-freezing machines.
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