The Southern Cross PUBLISHED WEEKLY,. Invercargill, Saturday, July 21. NEW MARKETS FOR OUR PRODUCTS.

Southern Cross, Volume 2, Issue 16, 21 July 1894, Page 8

The Southern Cross PUBLISHED WEEKLY,. Invercargill, Saturday, July 21. NEW MARKETS FOR OUR PRODUCTS.

The habit of looking at the bright side of things is an invaluable one — never more so than at a time when things are, as the man in the street would phrase it, “ dreadfully quiet.” That they are so, cannot be denied, but to go around button-holing eyerybody and impressing that melancholy fact upon them won’t tend to bring about a better state of things. The attitude proper to such circumstances is one of hopefulness, even though this be as difficult in practice as the cultivation of literature on a little oatmeal, the heroic policy for which certain famous litterateurs once claimed credit. These remarks have been suggested by the feeling entertained in certain quarters regarding the outlook for some of our leading products—frozen mutton, grain, &c. Even when prices were better than they have been of late, a bogie man in the shape of new competitors is too often trotted out, with the result that the prophets of evil torment themselves and others with needless fears. Admitting that in this era of rapid steam communication, the chances of monopolising any particular market are growing less and less, there is always the possibility of the same agency operating in the direction of securing new fields of consumption for our exportable productions. There have been several encouraging indications in this direction of late. Eor instance, our Colonial Treasurer has just received a getter from a leading firm in South Africa, who offer to represent New Zealand in that Colony, and who point out, inter alia , that there are great possibilities in the way of trade developments in that colony, with a market for flour, butter, jams, honey, and other commodities. The Hon. J. G. Ward has forwarded the communication to the Invercargill Chamber of Commerce, and it is to be hoped that that body will take some practical steps in the matter. Then there is the great wool question. Prices for this staple lately advanced somewhat in sympathy with tariff changes in America, and now we learn that there is a prospect of an extensive market being found ior colonial wools in parts of the world where cotton clothing has

hitherto been largely used. Sydney has for many years rejoiced in th& possession of an enlightened and educated Chinaman named Quong Tart. He is a shrewd business man, thoroughly identified with the interests of his adopted country, and w r e note fiom the Sydney Morning Herald that he is now on a visit to China. Referring to his mission, our contemporary makes these comments; “ The possibilities that open up in connection with the supply of wool tosuch densely-populated lands as China, India, arid Japan are almost illimitable. Japan has for years past been trying to encourage the wearing of weollens among the people, officials and the better class setting the example; and China at the present moment is being the subject of proselytism by Mr Quong Tart, who took with him various samples of New South Wales wool, with a view to interest and instruct his countrymen in the advantages derivable from the wearirig of woollen clothing. In such old and conservative countries, attached by immemorial custom to the use of the cheaper material, the innovation will no doubt be of of slow development, but the advantages once realised by the masses, a demand that it will be difficult to satisfy will result.” Tacts like the foregoing prove that there is some reason for taking a hopeful view of the future. The only thing to be guarded against is the Micawber-like spirit of waiting for ‘ something to turn up.” We must, as a colony, be on the alert to utilise every opening that presents itself, and be cosmopolitan enough even to wish success to the latest Chinese missionary, Mr Quong Tart, to writ. ,