The Evening Star SATURDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1875.

Evening Star, Issue 3933, 2 October 1875, Page 2

The Evening Star SATURDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1875.

The disposal of a wool without the necessity of sending it Horae is receiving consideration ; in Australia. One idea there is said to be to create a new market for raw uuv. ferial by educating a few Chinamen in \ ho art of manufacturing woollen goods, and sending them to their own country mi manufacturing missionaries, commisul omul to proclaim the superiority of vv 00l over cotton, and to establish faofo /vies to supply the manufactured art\cl e. This is certainly a novel idea to be seriously entertained or written aJs out; and is just about as feasible and 3 ikely to succeed us the mission stmt oiit to Turkey a year or two ago by a •certain religious sect for converting the Sultan to Christianity. 3iy tho time the Chinese acquired a taste for wooll en fabrics sufficient to justify iuvcstme ut of capital in woollen mills there, the’ necessity for relief from brokers’ chav* ys, and the restrictive regulations of tho maiket will have passed away. Tf relief is

wanted it is from pressure j the present generation of wool-growers need it, and may fairy say, “ although we are willing to relieve future generations from exorbitant charges by efforts that will benefit om'-elves, wo do not see the wisdom ofiniiating any system • hat may prove nsdorimental to future growers as the presort is to us.” Tire scheme is so extravagant and visionary that it would not hj worth a thought wore it not for its oiling attention to ihe reasons alleged for imagining it, and to the possible ilterior intentions ter which it is intituled to act as a blind to a population like that of Victoria. seeking to grov rich by excluding all imports, and ‘xpreting others to take their exports a. payable prices to themselves. Comphmfcis made that the London brokers hc*die the market in in such a way as to exclude competition of buyers ; that foreigiers arc discountenanced, and that coiseouentiy not only are the best pricei not realised, but that the account sdes are loaded with additional brokerage rates that reduce profits still further. "We have no doubt that a system might be framed by which those charges might be avoided. In fact, the present methods of disposing of Colonial produce are merely arrangements for mutual convenience which have grown up through circumstances. If the sworn brokers of London require all purchases to be made through brokers, the rule is not absolutely binding upon buyers, Wo have been present at sales where when a bidder was asked to name his broker he replied by presenting his cheque ; and as the sale was a public one, the selling broker, although aided by his brethren to compel payment of a purchasing brokerage, did not succeed. Every consumer of wool might go and do likewise, but he finds it more to his profit to employ a broker, who, for a small commission, attends to his interest throughout the continuance of the wool sales. We do not believe that foreign competition is discouraged, for we never

Rftw ft good bid refused because the bidder was a foreigner. The whole of the London commercial machinery is a means for bringing producer and consumer into communication at the least possible cost of time and money. Assuming that the system is an outgrowth of circumstances that are rapidly changing, and that a time may be approaching when it is possible, because of rapid means of travelling, for growers and manufacturers to trade directly with each other, or with only one intermediate agent, it will become a question how fur it is profitable for a squatter to be his own merchant. It might possibly bo found that the expense of travellers and risk of bad debts were in the end heavier than even the present costly and cumbrous system; but, at any rate, some similar plan or a modification of it, such as a New Zealand wool agency in the Colony, communicating directly with manufacturers, and shipping to them direct, would afford a present remedy somewhat more readily worked than the chimerical one of changing a national custom and substituting an expensive for a cheap product. The idea seems very like a plea for cheap Chinese labor, intended to supersede that of Europeans. If only the people can be persuaded of the benevolence of intention of the manufacturers of Victoria, they will look with complacency on the Chinese Hocking by hundreds to the factory to manufacture hose destined to convert the cotton-clad Chinese into wool-wearers. The scheme reminds one of Bam Slick’s dodge in selling his clocks. t: I’ll tell you what, Mrs Flint, Ell leave the clock in your cave till I return on my way to the States; I’ll set it agoin’, and put it to the right time.” . . . That, said the clockumker, ... I call ‘ human 'iadur'.’ . . . Wo trust to c sawder ’ to got them into the house, and to ‘ human ar.-kv” that they will never come out of it.” Once having gained a footing as the manufacturing population of Victoria, the Chinese will be felt to be a necessity.