COMMERCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL ITEMS.

Press, Volume LV, Issue 10012, 16 April 1898, Page 7

COMMERCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL ITEMS.

THE NEW AMERICAN-AUSTRALIAN

STEAMER BERVICE.

The announcement that two steamers have been engaged to sail from New York to Australia has excited attention, says the Melbourne Argus. That a steamer was likely to be put on in order to bring the first portion ot the steel rails for which an American tender was accepted by the Victorian Railway Department, we stated some four weeks ago. The necessity of observing the time clause of the contract made a steamer oharter a certainty. But apart from the exceptional conditions of the hour, there is little or no reason to anticipate that a regular line of steamers will be established between the eastern porta of the United States and Australia, simply because the great bulk of American goods coining here are of low cost, and will not stand the higher freight charge of steamers. Moreover, the Australian«Amerio»n (east coast) trade is too contracted in volume to warrant a regular succession of 2000 or 2(000 ton steamers. Of course everybody would be pleased to witness an expansion of that trade, but we have to take matters as they actually exist. If the employment of steamers would cheapen the laying-down cost of American merchandise, the trade would be promoted, but a higher freight charge will have the reverse effect. There is anpther practical consideration, applicable especially to Melbourne. A steamer would require to be discharged promptly, which would mean carting kerosene to the stores immediately, the expense of storage being incurred. But sailing vessels arriving from New York generally discharge the kindly office of a gratuitous warehouse for a few weeks, a very appreciable advantage. A DIFFERENT OPINION. The Sydney Daily Telegraph takes a different view of the matter, as will be seen by the following extract from a recent issue of that paper : —The recent excitement in competitive freights between the colonies and New York reached a climax when it became known that the opposition combination to the "ring" had arranged a monthly line of steamers between New York and the Australian colonies. The movement is regarded as one of the most important developments ever experienced in connection with our commercial relations with the western world, while it is one destined to number the days of sailing ships, and so promote closer and broader reciprocal relations between Australasian traders and American manufacturers. In many respects the social and commercial life of America is so closely identical with that of Australia that the combination of forces cannot be regarded otherwise than as one mutually satisfactory. A new field of enterprise is suggested to producers of our own staple products, while direct steam service at short intervals aud low freights cannot fail to give an impetus to our shipping trade, which will still further tend to make the port of Sydney the entrepot of Australasia. The movement is one which will indirectly benefit consumers throughout the length and breadth of the colonies, while merchants in all departments will be brought into immediate contact with markets which have hitherto been approached through circuitous routes at great cost and loss of time. .The fleet will comprise modern steamers of 4000 to 5000 tons, which will run to Australia in about fifty days, as against one hundred days by sailer. The first dispatch will be made at the end ot May. Freights will probably be about the same as those at present charged by the " ring" for sailing ships. The announcement was received with demonstrative appreciation by the leading import houses, and a number of congratulatory cable messages were exchanged with New lop: , , ,\,. __ , . GERMAN TRADE WITH AUSTRALIA. Messrs Kaye and Carter supply us with the following particulars about the Australasian goods imported direct into Germany during the year 1896 :—Ores and precious metals £219,900, hides and skins £75,800, oils and tallow £92,250, gums £37,500, wool £4,637,550, agricultural produce £7050, timber £23,300, copper ore £9050, colours and dyestufls £6000, stone and stoneware £6900, tin and tinware, £10,400, sundries £25,900; total £5,151,600. Oils and tallow are subject to a small duty ; all other articles enumerated are free.

The value of German goods exported direct to Australasia during 1896 was as follows-.—-Cotton goods £133,300, brushwaro £57,200, chemists? and druggists , goods £72,150, iron and ironware £343,650, timber and woodware £77,500, instruments and machinery £222,300, fancy goods £66,750, leather and leathernware £54,700, colours and dyei £114,500, earthenware £48,400, woollen goods £47,050, asbestos and asbestos ware £36,560, glass and glassware £18,250, hops £14,450, clothes ready made £30,750, onpperware £18,750, articles of art £18,750, paper and paperware £34,100, silks and silkware £16\450, coke £29,500, tin and zinc ware £11,350, sundries £42,750; total, £1,509,850. NEW ZEALAND EXPORTS.

The monthly return issued by the Department of Agriculture gives the following as the quantity and value of certain exports from this colony during March :—Butter, 11,561cwt, valued at" £44,992; cheese, 13,928cwt, valued at £26,646; frozen beef, 16,462cwt, valued at £17,498; frozen muttou, 222,513 carcases (124,856cwt), valued at £119,053; frozen lamb, 237,796 carcases (74,886cwt), valued at £105,677. From Lyttelton there were despatched 32,003 carcases of frozen mutton and 137,277 of lamb, while Timaru sent away 14,317 carcases of mutton and 30,304 of lamb. Wellington's export of mutton amounted to 101,588 carcases, and of lamb to 13,369 carcases. The butter shipped from New Plymouth amounted to 6375cwt and the cheese to 1892cwt, Waitara coming next with 1814 cwt of butter and 3186cwt of cheese. FROZEN MEAT FOR INDIA. Mr T. B. Lightfoot, managing director of the Linde British Refrigerating Company, recently arrived in Australia, one object of his visit being to attempt to arrange to get Australian meat into Calcutta and Bombay. For this purpose the Company intends to erect stores in Calcutta, after which it is hoped that a line of steamers running between Australia and India will be fitted with refrigerators. It is obvious that to fulfil this programme a certain demand for fresh meat must exist in India. The inquiry into this matter has been conducted tor some time past, and it has been ascertained that the annual military requirements for beef and mutton (in about equal' proportions) at the various Indian ports are as follows: -Calcutta, 150 tons; Madras 170 tons; Rangoon, 400 tons; Bombay, 365 tons ; Karachi, 320 tons ; Aden, 280 tons ; total, 1685 tons. The civilian (including the Eurasian) demand is unknown, but it is considerable, and grows. Moreover, caste prejudice, excepting, perhaps, among the Brahmins, ia imperceptibly being broken down. But the question of Australian meat for India muse necessarily be a mercantile one, and if a sufficient guarantee is forthcoming a regular line between Australia and Calcutta is prepared, and has long been prepared to fit up its steamers with refrigerating machinery. There is no doubt that Tommy Atkins will welcome Australian meat, for at present he abjures beef unless it be the hump of a buffalo, and as for mutton, when it is the product of a cross between a goat and » sheep, he simply abhors it.