THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. FRIDAY, JUNE 25, 1897.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 10478, 25 June 1897, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. FRIDAY, JUNE 25, 1897.

It is too early, perhaps, to attempt to gauge the results arise from! the reeent extraordinury tionP'thTQUgliPUt the empire, Pome of: thP)«W§Pil!» eiMiyen<>m?l> fiw»w*w4 u in the »enie of unity of interest which ha.B. been ftncl in the revival of the universal feeling of affec-, tion "fop 1 Heii Majesty; These of them- i ;WJyw:Wi pM;' fP»«Hip,«»4 frpmtiip: bearing which they must have on the future course of events, yrpukl be, ample, justjjipat|on'fpV the interest that has been taken,i|». j[iyjn|{ etlfit te t|>e Diamond Jubilee,' But apai'fc from these, the world will look for a epecKlu and practical outcome of the whole event which may take the nature of , ,flra ( 4icaj i<&\ot\ iji CQnsoHd»,= ting and promoting ! til" common interests of the wl|ole ergpire. Wβ hive' had some ' intimations of the direction in which an effort will be made to give a, and political; turn to' the proceedings, in the sketched 911(1 by Mr. (Jljambedain, as; those tn yvjuqlihe will invite the attention of the cofbnial Premiere in conference assembled. i; ' ,j t : ' j

' But apart from those weighty »nd : momentous eubjwU, there {ire obvious mUto -wfekh toS r»Wi -wvested with no -lees interest- Never before has themiud'of the great public gf, til? M9th«F fQPPtry:.fWvtoNMM bo closely in Jijucli i with tlieje poloniep, their interests »nd capabilities." The inclusion of the colonial Premiere and the'colonial iiroope in the proceedings was n 9 t merely but it Jia| iJgen"nYaJ§ the. fpffst etri|!Ref !f°mM tbeunityqUlieepipir* »M :JW. MtmmM tin «fow« j "»sf «nd ft etriklßg light to the grwt-puWic .

of -the British fslsmk to baa in M performed to a startling degree the, function which is known to us as "advertising the colonies." The colonies indeed have been boomed as they never were before, Mid the, public mind of England, l, from being touched by the grandeur s«i|;iffle«t of the occasion, must have, been in a rare, condition of receptivity, .Now this is a practical fact of the utmost moment. There has been a vast , amount of ignorance about the colonies in the mass of the English people, and this ignorance lias been accompanied by a CQrre.spQnd.in!! amount of stolid ,an.d seemingly irremovable prejudice which has been one of the most potent) of -influences operating againit the sucoess of flur. effort* , tQ. mnln » footing in the KugjUh markets.. Qur nmtton for example has bjen. equal to the best home grown, but almost wholly in consequence the masses looking askance on it as a foreign and suspicious thing, it has nqt usually b.ro,pg|it more th'&u' Imlf .{rice, As stupid sentiment has been its foe hi the past, so intelligent and eyropa-thetUc;. sentiwent i* likely HOW to l>§ its friend, and ; the hearts of t|ie people, having been drawn ,out in sympathy and loyal .brotherhood \o the troops aμd Ministers: that have come from' afar to march in: escort of Her Majesty's carriage, , it will be entirely consonant with human nature if the palate undergoes a corresponding revolutionary change, and if colonial mutton |twu}d. teQQtn.6, the vogue. Chops and r sentiment may seem an incongruous blend, but human! nature is itself a curious compound, and: there seems to be very little doubt that the essential part which the colonial representation has had in impressively symbolising the. oneness of the empire, will prove the "open sesame" to the universal British market, and that it may bo found that the touch of a common sentiment, like the touch of nature, will nwjr.e, the whole worja - km. This may seem a very prosaio »nd |Bsr<WJ[ vje\v to take of \\\% I)iamond Jubilee, after soaring so in. the higher and nobler flights in the spheres of national glory. Still it is a very substantial and practical view, and if the Di4nio,nd Jubilee' have, the eft??t P.f killing ignorant prejudice and implanting in it* place., and colonial products cease to be viewed with suspicion., and attain to the status, of being wtaed <» the. products of frien,ds 'mid. brother B,rit(ms whose fa,tes a,nd fortunes are linked irrevocably together, lie would be a far-seeing man that could tell the full extent to which the change would affect the interests of every producer t»n.ct every resident in the colonies, it j§ net, el SB«r§si \q ¥ thought for a moment that if our products are not kept up to the standard in quality, and made as favourable in price, this sentiment would ever induce reasonable people to give the preference to ue as against the stranger. But , everything else being equal, the mere cliaqe* from prejudice to prepossession! would work like a charm on the trade in colonial products. -That the colonies' are able to place in the English market, articles of produce equal to that of any country in, Europe or anywhere else does not admit of a doubt; but if ever it was a duty to take care and present the best appearance in the Home market, it is , now when the sentiment of the people of the Mother Country must be awake : to the claims of kinship, and when there is presented to them the possibility of the. British Islands being wholly fed by their own people across the seas, and of. their being thus rendered independent of supplies drawn from ferpign. and possibly lipase la,#. It is, in fact, the psy.chplogic.al rqpment, and if we only know how to strike the iron when it is hot, the bonds of industrial and commercial interests may be welded, between Great Britain, and the colonies as never before. The' world has been most struck in this magnificent imperial ceremonial by the bringing together of the representatives of the authority and the governing oitcles in the, various part*of the empire, and it talks mqs.t of their sayings and doings and of their conferences and of their enterprises of imperial statesmanship. Hut we venture tq say .that in the two millions of populace, representing all classes and orders of the community that enthusiastically witnessed that august procession,, and jn the sympathetic Influences that will pass from them and from niind to mind throughout the whole people of the nation, there were the germs of a movement that will much more radically affect the concerns of the empire. Ignorance, inisundersUnding, and baseless prejudice, far more than sixteen thousand miles of ocean, have separated us from the mother country in the past. These. have' been slowly but steadily passing away. But the dramatic -incidents of the past few days in England will be, found to have effected more than many years, and in the removal of the mists, qf jn.iPflrence. and prejudices, a.nd suspicions, will have done a sound practical work for colonial industrial and commercial expansion, that was probably but dimly seen, in the blaze of gas jets and the flare of bonfires.