The Feilding Star. Oroua & Kiwitea Counties Gazette. Published Daily. THURSDAY, JANUARY 01, 1895. AN IMPROVEMENT.

Feilding Star, Volume XVI, Issue 164, 10 January 1895, Page 2

The Feilding Star. Oroua & Kiwitea Counties Gazette. Published Daily. THURSDAY, JANUARY 01, 1895. AN IMPROVEMENT.

As yet it is but a slight one, perhaps, but as it marks a change for the bet. ter we are only pleased in these days of gloomy pessimism to chronicle anything that gives hope for the future. The improvement referred to is in the commercial outlook. The frozen meat market at Home, according to latest advices, has a hardening tone, with an almost certainty of remunerative prices for the nest few months, and there is | a prospect also of some rise in wheat owing principally to a large decrease in the surplus available for export from the Argentine. That country <s the competitor above all others which in late years through her enormous production has brought down the prices of our frozen meat, wool, and wheat. A tremendous development in these lines of export has taken place in this colossal South America Kepublie, m the midst of whose vast and fertile expanse New Zealand would be but a mere speck. However, there is good reason to believe that much of her present productive enterprise is of a more speculative than permanent character, and a few seasons like the ; resent will go a long way to settle the question in many instances Be that as it may, suffice it that the present season is a very bad one in Argentina, and what is her los3 is New Zealand's gain. Concerning another of our competitors, the ynited States, it is interesting to note what Mr J. Mattes, special agent of tho United States department of Agriculture, has to say about the comparative prospects of trade in American and Australian meats in Germany, where he has been sent to open up trade still further. He reports that considerable prejudice exists among the German consumers against American salted bacon and other meat products in cans, while on the other hand in many of the German cities " fresh meat from Australia is offered for sale, and the dealers claim that it gives satisfaction, the quality being first-class." It is only quite recently that our meat haa been introduced into Germany by Messrs Weddel and Co., and the above tribute, com ing: from such a source, is the best possible testimony to the success that has attended this effort to find a new market. There is no reason why this extension may not continue, and to other countries.