OUR EXPORT TRADE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11400, 18 April 1899, Page 6

OUR EXPORT TRADE.

TO THE EDITOR. ' ■ !, Sib, —The prices of agricultural produce, now just beginning'to come into the market, are not roseate. Tenders are invited' for supplies to the Admiralty of pork, beef, etc., which should excite the attention of farmers, producers, and curers, to secure so very desirable a customer. There is an almost .lllxiav table demand if quality and price suit. : A certain proportion of our cereal crops are not of choicest milling or feeding quality, and can be, as in America and the home countries, put to profitable use in fattening stock, pigs, poultry, etc., etc. Another very large market has existed, -and still exists, in the chaff trade in New Soiith Wales and • Queensland. . The number ot travelling steam threshing and chaff : eutting machines now employed in Victoria is marvellous, and there seems no reason why New Zealand should not have a cut in in the "supply. With coals at some 6s per ton f.o.b. Newcastle, surely there is a margin to import first-class bituminous coal, and take a full cargo back for large cargo steamers fortnightly to begin with. - If the anticipated yields thresh out New Zealand will have many thousand tons to export of grain and chaff, and no prospect' of an upward market here. To be of the use tlia Agricultural department was created ■ for immediate information as to actual yields should bo insisted on, or what uee are they to producer or buyer or shipper. Pressure should be brought to bear to see Hie information published forthwith. One reads of fanners and settlers in Victoria, Riverina, and New South Wales having commenced ploughing operations, and large areas already sown for next season's crops, undeterred by "the small yields and lowprice?." The acreage under crop promises to outvie 1898 season by many thousands of acres. I hope some move experienced a*Kl practical writer may enlarge on this subject. I am an advocate for seizing present opportunities and making tlie most of our-bounti-ful resources, and taking stops to secure reasonable freight accommodation by land juicl sea, and not let the market slip into .the hands of monopolists. : To guarantee full cargoes from one port of shipment seems the first step to secure moderate freight. The present current rate in Victoria is 26s 3d for sailers to British Channel. The intercolonial freights 'twixt Victoria and New South Wales are "very low. Steamers filling up with 6000 tons below hatches each trip of coal from Nowcastlc; and witness what a fleet are engaged in the trade, 4000 to 5000 lonncrs.— I am, etc., Dunedin, April 14. . J-.OOK AHEAD..' — Diamond cutlers arc divided into threft classes —tlie cleavers, who split the stone, in the rough into propel shape; tlie simpers, who, with mnchines and diamond dust, work the stone into the most beautiful shape they can; and the polishers, who give the gem the lustre thai dazzle?. — The first international exposition in Japan is planned for the year 1902. The Japanese Government is already getting ready to take the first preliminary steps, and a suitable site for the exhibition is being chosen. ■ - Tlie Queen is supplied with four dozen pairs of kid gloves per month, from a certain fund, and she insists on having them,