MR JOHN HOLMES IN ENGLAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 2524, 30 July 1902, Page 11

MR JOHN HOLMES IN ENGLAND.

NEW MARKETS FOR PRODUCE. Ffom On: O^x CoBRESroxnENf ) LONDON. June 13. Mi John Holme---, m)>o in 1897 acted as New ZeaUud Trade Conami--=ioner, aimed in London last Saturday, ha \ ing travelled by the Orient steamer Oroya, on which,vessel, by the way, he was president and avgamier of the Passengers' Committee for amusements and sports. A day or so after he landed I had a. conversation with him with reference to any likely openings for trade which he had disco\ered during the \oyagfl.

"At Port Said,' 1 he said, "the Oroya landed 1000 carcases of Australian inuzton, and the agent of the Orient Company courteously informed me that it was expected that there would be a largo increase, of the trade there. The freight charges from Melbourne to Port Said are Id per ton, am! the cargo is taken at present subject to ihe condition that t must be landed concurrently with the loading of the steamer.. Wo far no difficulty has arisen. There le » prospect of a big trade, and I hope the day is not far distant when both the- Orient! and the P. and O. liners will call at Wellington, so that New Zealand may have a share in this e-xpansion of trade." The meat you saw landed came front Australia, I suppose? "Yos, entirely," was _ the reply. "But there is no reason why New Zealand should not enter in. The cold stores are in English hands— in fact, they belong to a, Liverpool firm. The meat is not only for local consumption, but I need hardly say that at Port Said there is a large shipping ' 1 ". "With the mail steamers calling thefctantly it means a big thing." And Port Said would be the k<. the ports of the northern litto'al of theMediterranean? "Of course," said Mr Holmes; "but tho trade is only beginning, and it has great potentialities. It is a greater thing than, appears at a cursory glance. Think r- c the many steamers calling at Port S.i. If they can rely unon getting their supplies of meat and provisions there, they will noc take them so much from London. And I need hardly s.iy that it should cost less to land New Zealand and Australian produce at l'oit Said thau at London. M Both at Sydney and Melbourne Mr Holmes ny t the political heads of the States, and tra\dlud to London with Mr C. C. Lance, the newly-appointed commercial am-nt for New 'South Wales, who comes with a big '•alary and five yeara 1 agreement to work up Kngliih trade. Mr Holmes looked upw this as a lesson to New Zealand. He told me that he intended trying to leturn to New Zealand before the beginning of iho butter-shipping season. Knowing that Mr Holmes considered hinise'f an authority on hemp, I asked him what were the pioipects for New Zealand m thi^ connection.

"I think." replied Mr Holme", "there is a continued favourable demand for New Zealand flax, fin,t. owing to the scarcity c£ supply from Manila, and, secondly, in con. sequence of the satiifactory way in which the fibie is now beiug manufactured in Now Zealand, due in a large measure to rhe rare and attention displayed by the grading department in the colony and the grading =y»teru."

Then what about the development of the trade here?

" There, is I think, a considerable amouafa of very heavy worfi to be done in England alone,'' was the reply. " Scotland and Ireland should also be further exploited ior Ihe benefit of producers. Mr Sinclair is here representing Victoria; Mr Lance has come to represent .New South .Wales. BuP New Zealand evidently thinks^three months sufficient to keep Mr Gow here."

In conclusion, Mr Holmes referred to tha amounts paid to the gentleman last-named.' by way of remuneration, as being in striking contrast to the amounts paid by N<:\7 South Wales for similar w«rk.