THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1888.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9244, 22 December 1888, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1888.

Last week our columns contained a London cable message to the effect that the Customs authorities there require that, from the beginning of next year, sacks of grain, flour, and seeds imported from the colonies, shall be clearly and indelibly marked with the name of the country of origin and port of shipment. On Thursday we published the further cable message from London, saying that " the Chamber of Commerce to-day discussed the Marks Act, and urged the hardship of the mark on colonial grain and w*w» l »■

marking the bags disclosed the best markets; and a resolution, that th« divulgence of the port of oriSn was unnecessary, when no Eni mark or name resembled that from the colonies, was carried" \y cannot avoid being interested hi the extreme naivete" of the London Chamber of Commerce. The obiect of the Marks Act in question is obviourfv to prevent fraudulent representation, in the sale of goods; and it appears that the parties who are most interested in absolute freedom to represent op misrepresent as they please, take ex ception to interference with their free dom of trade. Now an inquiry ink the nature of the objections raised hv these British merchants is instructive They say that the marking of the bae\ say of grain, will disclose the best market, that is to say, will tell the public and the other grain merchants of the United Kingdom where' am the best markets for getting Train of such a quality It is known that colonial grain takes the highest rank in the grain markets at horna for its superior excellence, and the object _of these merchants, as Wo gating- it, is to keep the knowledge of the exact source of supply within tl>o little coterie engaged in the colonial grain trade ; and while possibly bene. fitting their own particular interests to deprive the colonies of the advantage of increased competition. They feel If a hardship to have to tell the source of their supplies, as it interferes with their freedom in manipulating the mar. kets. A piece of cooler assurance it is hardly possible to imagine ; or one more strikingly exhibiting the selfishness and we would almost say, the falsity of a class of men, whom some people are neve:- tired of describing to us as the model of honour and integrity. The manner in which cliques and coteries in London dealt with our frozen mutton in the earlier stages of tho development of that trade, and even almost up to the present time, is notorious. They sold it first under the guise of English mutton, then sold nferior English and South American mutton under the guise of a New Zealand origin ; and generally worked i with a duplicity and selfishness, not to I say dishonesty, that have left a ! very unsavoury recollection in the minds of colonists as to the ethics of British trading. Indeed our experiences of the frauds of English manufacturers and traders in transmitting to the colonies worthless articles made only to sell, until by the force of American and German competition they were compelled to be honest or driven from, the held, have been quite in accord with the impressions conveyed to us by their deceitful manipulations of our products sent to them ; and there is no man in the colonies who has been an honest observer of trade and its morals but has been forced to the conviction that a higher, more straightforward and manly I tone characterises the morals of colonial commerce than that which is commonly exhibited — least to the colonies by British traders as well as manufacturers ; and this last little naive admission of the London Chamber of Commerce, of a desire to be left unmolested in their secret methods of working colonial business, is eminently characteristic of the class.