South Canterbury Times. THURSDAY, APRIL 26, 1883.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 3140, 26 April 1883, Page 2

South Canterbury Times. THURSDAY, APRIL 26, 1883.

It i'm very satisfactory to find so much ipnllic attention in England is being drawn to the Colonies of Australasia, and that the most eminent literary, social, and political authorities are taking pains to acquire a thorough knowledge of the position, resources, and prospects of these dependencies. It is very evident that the astonishing ignorance which prevailed in England concerning the colonies has been dispersed—and any one who looks back, even less than twenty years, will find that the Ignorance that used to prevail was simply wonderful. This, however, l as been dispersed, a great number of successful colonists reside in England, numbers of leisured and cultured persons visit us and return home, our Agents-General are centres from which a knowledge of the colonies is spread abroad in the Home Countries, and the Eoyal Colonial Society has made every effort to place before the British public reliable information concerning these lands. We have all these agencies to acknowledge but it must be remembered also that the colonies have, so to speak, forced themselves into notice and importance by the actual trade which has grown up in connection with them. An eminent authority in England has lately reviewed the commercial growth of the colonies, and has found that one-fourth of the trade of Great Britain is now with ber colonies, and he urges upon the Mother Country the great importance of fostering her colonial trade, since for a long time to come that trade must be extremely profitable to Britain, consisting, as it must for the most part, of the exchange of the raw material of the colonies for the manufactured goods of British factories, and there are, besides, fresh fields

opening up, and the sphere of the colonial trade is an ever enlarging one. Such testimony to the reality of our progress as we get from English sources are highly valuable and convincing ; we find no lack of testimony from among ourselves in favor of ourselves, but it is not until we see from the English people themselves disinterested testimony come forth that we know how really sound and hopeful is our position. It should be the aim of every colonist in his own sphere, in communication with bis friends at home, to assist in enlarging the Home people’s knowledge of our state and resources.