The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1893-01-21
Our 0liu.
curiosities of Consular Reports

Curiosities of Consular Reports.
From cassell's saturday Journal
The prompt issue of consular reports on
British trade is an achievement for which
merchants and shippers should be grateful
to our Foreign Office Some Of them are,
if we accept the cynical definition that
gratitude is a lively sense of favors to come;
for in the latest batch of reports several
Consuls complain that euterprising trades
men have sent them patterns of cloth goods,
&c, with prices for prompt cash, and
asked them to obtain orders But these
annual returns from our representatives
abroad are of interest and value to others
besides those engaged in trade. They con-
tain Il lot of out-of- the-way facts on imports
and exports, the social condition of various
peoples. the curious industries of the world,
and thousand other subjects. Last year,
it seems, there was decrease in the I'M
portant of sandal-wood into Hankow, China.
The product is used in incense, burnt
mostly by women: and our Consul remarks
that "here' and, surely, elsewhere too
zone of the natural economies of the work
ing classes is a reduction of the religious
expenses Of the family.
Similarly, the statistics of imports and
exports bring to light many facts about
adulteration. Ladies, being great on pom
zee silk Just now, will be interested to know
that that material is weighted with size
made from bean -four, and that, when Il
bale of inferior pongee is opened, the
starch in it raises dust which fills the
room. On opium, We learn that 1t Is not
only faxed" in various ways, but largely
smuggled into Tainan, China, by being
squeezed into large bamboo pipes, In
Morocco it is customary to adulterate bees
wax with composite candles, considerable
quantities of which are imported for this
special purpose. We seem to do a little in
this way ourselves, or how is it that in
Madagascar they can tell Lancashire from
American calico by the smell?
From la Rochelle comes startling fact
about wine, of which no fewer than % ,S54
tons were imported seward last year from
Spain, Italy and Africa. This enormous
quantity, "after being mixed and blended
with natural or artificial French wine, is
consumed in this country France, or re-
exported as French wines to other coun-
tries Thus does art assist nature.
Which is the better-natural or artificial
''grape juice?' 1t seems hard to tell. Our
Consul at Cadiz relates that he aud a friend
visited one of the native sherry cellars, and
tested two samples which appeared to be
of the same wine. They were 50 much
alike that it was with difficulty they decid-
ed which they perferred. One OF the
partners in the firm then told them that
one wine was sold at $40 butt and the
other manufactured .'for one of the largest
mail steamship companies in the world at
the rate of AID, per bottle, and retailed to
their passengers at Is. Il bottle
Among the suggestions made for open
inc our trade is one from Dantzig with
- :. ,..f,,,,Il,ol 6Sb 3, ,rraat doal
of which, our Consul thinks, might be sold
in the inland towns. He thoughtfully
adds, however, that travellers would have
to be furnished with printed directions, in
the two languages German and Polish),
showing how the fish should be dressed for
table, or the people would eat it raw, as
they do herrings, and then they might not
like it. A hint is thrown out, too, that
some English houses might do business
with the ivory carvers of Dieppe, where
the handicraft of carving, established two
centuries ago, still fourishes. The best of
their work is said to be far superior to that
Of the Japanese, Chinese and Indians Ten
or twelve workmen do nothing all the year
round but carve cruci6xes, some of which
arc worth $50 or $40.
Quite new industry is that of Japan
csc floor mating, as made at Hiogo and
Osaka. The body of the fabric is kind
of native grass interviewer with fine
thread, sometimes 800 to the yard, and
the result of this combination is said to be
as soft and pliable as cloth. Prices for a
roll forty yards long by one yard wide are
from SO to SIS. An astonishing fact,
considering that the trade is in its infancy,
is that one firm has sent away more than
four thousands patterns
Firearm making, carried on at Liege, in
Belgium, is another industry touched on
Forty thousand men are employed in this
trade. Like the English nail and chain
makers, these work at home at their do
nestle FORCES The various pieces are put
+ fo.,afher At. tho faetaries The ontnuf NJ