A COLONIAL OPPORTUNITY.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1249, 6 February 1896, Page 5

A COLONIAL OPPORTUNITY.

From Our Special Correspondent. London, December 21. " A Briton," writing- to the Times, endeavours to show that the very " ill wind " arising from hostilities between England and the United States might be made to blow good to the colonies. He points out that at the present moment the exports of the United Kingdom to the United States are .£18,799,485, whilst the imports from the United States to the United Kingdom total .£89,607,392, leaving a trade balance against the Old Country of .£70,807,907. Raw cotton accounts for 24 millions of the U.S. export to England, and the bulk of the remainder consists of food stuffs. In event of war, the Briton suggests that all goods coming directly or indirectly from the United States should be prohibited. He perceives that such a step would cause distress in this country, but the distress would be neither overwhelming nor lasting since the food stuffs now supplied by America can be easily obtained from our own colonies, and " will undoubtedly be supplied if we give the colonies a chance." "Let us," he remarks, "say to Canada, Australia, India and Africa: ' Here is your chance—take it. .£90,000,000 worth of trade between you, and the largest and most profitable market in the world reserved as a practical monopoly for you/" Apart from the " main advantage of transferring many millions' worth of trade from enemies to friends, there are," says the Briton, " others scarcely less important." Russia and Argentina will both profit, "and as we wish both these countries well, that is so much gam." The writer thinks that we cannot only protect the trade route between Canada and England, but that wo can almost certainly keep the road to the East open and safe, in which case Australasia, India and South Africa will coin money. As to cotton, he does not believe the Lancashire mills will be forced into idleness. We can declare the importation of cotton to be legal, and if necessary neutral ships would bring all we want. If the United States blockade their own ports they would only be making matters worse for themselves. In conclusion the "Briton" says—" All this will be a sorrowful, wasteful business . , . but if as a result we see our colonies become rich and prosperous; if we come out of the war no longer dependent for our daily bread on a people whom we believed to be our friends, but who have so rudely undeceived us, who can say that out of adversity some good will not have come? Let us go straight to our great colonies with this offer fair and square. Let us tell them that prosperity such as they never dreamt of lies within their grasp; let us tell them, in addition, that to every colony which closes its ports against the enemy's goods we will grant a subsidy equal to the loss of the trade forfeited; and powerful as the United States is, its people may yet have reason to regret their action if they force us into this wicked war, and may find that there is still life and courage and power in the 50,000,000 of English-speaking men and women who do not acknowledge President Cleveland a 3 a master." It is a fine programme, without

doubt, but one which could be carried out much easier if we had a couple of years 5 notice from America prior to hostilities. At present English interests in the United Sta.tes are so big that we should hardly like to carry cut the "Briton's" scheme even whilst the war was in progress.