DIRECT TRADE BETWEEN INDIA AND AUSTRALIA.

Timaru Herald, Volume XL, Issue 2944, 29 February 1884, Page 3

DIRECT TRADE BETWEEN INDIA AND AUSTRALIA.

(Melbourne Paper.) The Calcutta Exhibition is already bearing fruit, m the way of developing a direct commerce between these colonies and India. Tha statement has gone abroad that a well-known firm m this city (Messrs James Service and Co.) havo given orders for the construction of alarge stenmship which is intended to trade between Melbourne and Calcutta. In Sydney, the Committee for the Exhibition havo taken up the subject, and have passed unanimously the following resolutions : — (1) Thai; the Executive Commissioners be asked to furnish reports showing the Indian market value of our products, and to obtain opinions as tn the most likely kind of merchandise ; (2) that the colonies ought to 00-operate m extonding our Indian trade and m developing the means of communication ; and (3) that the establishment of a monthly steam service by the ronto already mentionod would bo of invaluable assistance. A deputation from the Committee waited upon the Premier with these resolutions, and with a request that he would com- '• municate to the Indian Government i the general desire of the mercantile community here to establish close commercial relations with that country. Mr Stuart, of course, readily complied with this request ; but ho i refused to promise that a subsidy '. should be yiven to the first company that i should start a direct steam service i between Inda and Australia. The Coin- 1 mittue, nevertheless, sent circulars to i the Chambers of Commerce m the I other colonies, asking for their co- i operation m respect of a joint subsidy ; ' but the proposal lias not been favorably i received. In truth, we are bound Io ex- ( preas our belief at once that the idea of t granting a nubaidy, whether special or t general, muet bo abandoned. If a large t and mutually profitable trade is to be c established between the two countries, it i must spring up nnd grow spontaneously. I No amount of Government nursing and c fostering will force it into existence, or i keep it m existence, if the essential con- < dition of commerce — mutual profit—be i wanting ; and wherever this condition is i present, commerce will always support i itself. . | As respects the advantages to be gained < by both countries from a direct inter- > change of products there can hardly be ] any exaggeration. The English popula- j tion m India (including the army) m very i considerable, and its wants m many , necessary articles cau be well supplied i from this country. It ia chiefly to ( Australia, for example, that tho Indian | Government is bound to look for | a continuous supply of horses for its • cavalry ; and this article alono would i form no inconsiderable item m the list of i exports for a company possessed of suitable ( ships. Our wine and our frozen meat i are articles which the English community ( would also highly appreciate ; the former j being a primary necessary exactly adapted i to their olimute. Even now the winu given ( to the sick liiitiuh soldiers m the Indian < hospitals is, for the most part, if not ex- | clusively, Australian. It is, as the , doctors well know, the pure juice of the i grap<3, not a manufactured chemioal com- , pound of very doubtful value to the ' health of an invalid. The excellent ' quality of our lighter growths of winb | mako them admirably suitable for i consumption m a tropical climate, , both as dinner beverages ani as | restoratives. Our frozen mutton would i be heartily welcomed aa a staplo urtiele | of diet by tho Indian soldiers. Tho native population, almost illimitable m numbers, areao very primitive m their habils and ' poor m purse, that neither winu nor ' mutton comes within their very iiimple ! miiM ; but Hour is even to them a necessity of life, especially when the rice crop fails, and Australia could send thorn ! abundant supplies of flour. There aro many minor articles of utility that wo could similarly supply, and for which n ! demand would doubtless m time iprinj; up. But, per contra, India could send ' the Australians its tea and its rice, for ' both of which articled tho dornund io ' constant and increasing. This con- ' timiiil interchange of commodities would ' draw the two countries more closely together m the bonds of v com- ' mwi nationality. They are near ] neighbors, moreover, and the practice of mutually viriiting one another for purposes of health and recreation would co mo much into favor among tho AngloIndian and Australian communities. Tho whola subject will, no doubt, be taken into consideration by tho Chnmbera of Commerce, with a view to sonm practical result. It has been approved, as wo are glad to learn, by tha Chumbor of Commerce of Calcutta. The Grand International Exhibitions recently hold here and at Calcutta have .lorvod aa ft mutual introduction of tho two nations to eaoh other's acquaintance. The next ntep will be to cultivate such oloso comtnuroial relations with one another oh shall make tho interests of India and Australia— England's noble dependencuui m the east and tho south - reciprocal and identical.