OUR ENGLISH LETTER.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5687, 5 October 1896, Page 2

OUR ENGLISH LETTER.

ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES. [From Our Correspondent.] LONDON, August 21. A VETERAN COLONIST. The veteran colonist John Charles Blackett, who died at Thorpe on August 8, must have loomed large in the early days of New Zealand, though lam afraid his name does no. convey much to the present generation. He was the third son of Sir William Blackett, and was born in. 1813. John Blackett entered the navy in 1827, and served in various vessels — including Nelson's Victory — for eleven years. Eetiring in 1838 he went out to the colonies and became one of the earliest settlers, arriving in Hobart Town, Tasmania, when Sir John Franklin was still Governor and two years before the first Governor was appointed to New Zealand. The twenty-two years he passed in the colonies were the most eventful in their history. On his first arrival in New Zealand he made a journey of exploration into the northern island, being the first white man to enter that part of the interior. It was on this occasion tliat he met and conversed with an old chief who had been present at the landing of Captain Cook in the Bay of Plenty, in 1769. FROZEN MEAT. The broadcast distribution of the pamphlet relating to the relative nutritive value of frozen and Home-killed mutton has resulted in the Agent-General receiving letters from secretaries of several Boards of Guardians both metropolitan and provincial, inquiring where New Zealand mutton can. be obtained in quantities atthe prices quoted by the AgentrGeneral. "To those inquirers within .the metropolitan area Mr Eeeves, is sending Mr Henry Gray to answer the questions and give whatever other information regarding New Zealand produce the Boards may require. To those at a greater distance, of course, the Agent-General can only reply by letter. There can, I think, be little doubt that tho use made of The Hospital article by Mr Eeeves and Messrs Weddel and' others will. result man increased demand for frozen mutton. Tlie result of the tests made knocks on the head a very widely held prejudice against the New Zealand article. TARANAKI HARBOUR BONDS. The Council •of Foreign ; '-Bondholders, mention in the appendix to their voluminous report for the year 1895 that the New Plymouth Harbour Board have made payment in full of the coupons for November 1895 and May 1896, but they remark that the question of the sinking fund is still in abeyance, and while that remains so they will take s'eps to oppose the quotation of any new loan of the colony on the London Stock Exchange. This is a very foolish threat even from so solid and influential a body as the Council of Foreign Bondholders. They might as well say right out, "We will prevent any New Zealand loan being subscribed," and thi-.t we know is entirely beyond their powers. MADE IN GERMANY. Members of the Article Club and others who persist in optimistically upholding the Knglish manufacturers' perfections and disregarding the "made in Germany " bogey will find it hard to explain away the figures wliich Mr Pittar, head statistician of H.M, Customs, has just published. I lmve not Space for onore than a shor^ table 'indicating hbw.Gernlan • imports have . in- . :'creased :_uring'. the last : decade,* ' but it .shows yery signiScantly-.he way ths .wind" blows. Imported. 1813. 1893. £ £ German ironwork 213,000 •.37,001 German china ... IM.OiK) 250,000 Germnu cotton mnnufacturcs 4t6',oo<> 587,0c0 German woollen Koods ... 680,000 1,028.000 tier-man glass manufactures... 44n',U0U 716,000 German oilseed cake .5,000 240,0 0 GUI-man oils and turpentine ... 348,000 475,000 Germttii toys ... J. 87,000 sOa.OOJ Mr Pittar offers two explanations of our retrogression. One is that we expect all our customers to know our language, and will not take the trouble to become linguists like our competitors. The other is that our merchants cannot be got to make out their price lists in the weights and measures and terms of currency of the ■country in which they are sold. There is a third for which the British trader can-: not be blamed. The German takes more risks of bad business than the Britisher. He will risk bad business and small business with a view to getting a foothold and establishing better business by-and-bye. There is further a want of small enterprise in the business as well as in the agricultural world. One has often asked the farmers why so much of our dairy produce should come from abroad. Mr Pitter asks why our importation of toys from Germany should increase from .£187,000 in 1883 to .£-59,944 in 1895, instead of the demand being supplied by our own workpeople. PERSONA... Dr Gosset, accompanied by Mrs Gosset and family, leave for New Zealand by the Gothic.