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Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 16, Issue 894, 16 December 1870, Page 2

Another raid has been made upon the imitators of British trade marks. There is reason to fear that the stupid and dishonest practice of imitating British trade marks will operate greatly to the prejudice of the Colonial manufacturer. It is tantamount to an admission that the goods of the latter are not equal to those which are imported, and cannot therefore be disposed of unless under fraudulent representation. Than this, however, nothing can be farther from the truth. As a rule, beer, pickles, jams, and a hundred other articles of daily consumption that might be enumerated, are purer and more wholesome of Colonial than of Engiisn manufacture, and it is siuaply the prejudice of the consumer that is consulted hi attaching a British brand to a Victorian made article. That the buyer enjoys what he purchases, in the belief that he has got what he has paid is prima facie evidence that the Colonial article is really equal to what it pretends to ; be. Far, better, therefore, would it be if our Colo* nial manufacturer at once abandoned the practice of employing English names to recommend his wares, put them on the market for what they really are, and left; the importer to stand if he could against bira. Apart altogether from tbe.'immorality of trading on another man's reputation, it cannot be profitable to stand convicted before the public of such practices, especially for the impression it conveys, that if the Colonial article were worth anything, it would not require to be,thus trickily manipulated.-—Melbourne "Leatler. The Timaru Herald announced a short time ago that blight had appeared among the oat crops in the Timaru district. Referring to this, the Herald in u late issue says: —We are sorry to hear that blight is making great ravages on the farms in the Temuka district. On one 'farm a field of barley, which looked most promising a short time siace, has besti com* pletely destroyed. We hear on good authority that the blight in that district —chiefly on oid ground (new land not being much affected]—-covers such a. large area that on many farms the yield cannot be estimated at more than ten bushels the acre. The march of civilization in Fiji continues. The correspondent of the Oamaru Times states that "at a large meetiog of chiefs held at Waireki Taviuui the other day, the question of costume was solemnly discussed, and a resolution was formally passed to the effect that in future * uo chief should be seen without a shirt on [' it was also resolved that their towns should in future be kept clear ef weeda tod rubbish,"