The sun., 1897-09-26

| ,houId huroor him By letting him have his
twenty-five package. Not BIT Of It. The British
| plan 10 TO havea hundred cartridges In packet,
and Il the Victorian does not like tho plan well.
| he ought to. Tho Britisher argues: what can
| itmatter SO long as give him good cartridger'
| In the meantime tho lovelheadcd American
! manufacturer steps in. gives tho coonist what
he wants. and takes the trade. In very many
cases the shape OF British articles is unsuitable
| to Victoria. Tho hammer, for instance Ia not,
In the opinion OF Victorian carpenters. nearly so
we'll shaped as the American hammer. but tho
British pattern seems unalterable." As tho
Hewfoun land re port phrases It, the English
move along in tho old rut." The Britisher prob
ably thinks he can get other customers but
this is unsatisfactory when ctmpettion begins
to outstrlp the growth OF tho markets Of tho
world. According TO the report from Trinidad,
tho Canadians as bad MS tho English in their
Indifference to customers demands.
Then, again, tn. British advertise much less
than their foreign competitors, and their illus
trated catalogues are inferior in appearance and
contents. A collection OF catalogues OF bicycles
was examined. Tho United States catalogues
were much the best. tho German the second best,
| and the British the worst. And what is OF con-
| siderable Importance, "as rule moro trust Is
given by foreigners than by the British" South
Australia takes the view that British mer-
chants are too often content to rest upon past
laurels, and to DO satisfied with continuing in
their manufactures and business old styles and
ntethods-in short, are too conservative" In
decd, the main fault alleged is sheer want Of en-.
terprise. Victorian merchants say that the
Germans hiring their goods to the buyers, while
the British wait for the buyers to como to them.
| And here is grave Indictment of the English
commercial traveller, and incidentally of our
own:
Large uumb,rs of German manufacturers
are represented hero by travelling agents. who
| display the grea test energy in transacting bus
| ness--an energy which amounts to pertinacity
| These agents live on less than the British, and
| they are not put to the expense Of large estab
| iishment or warehouse. Their only requirement
| for business is stmple room. They sell direct
to retailers. and content to take small orders
| and to offer special terms for the purpose Of
| making sales. As many houses buy ir London
| only the travelling agents make 1t their busi-
| ness to study the requirements Of these houses
| in Victoria and find out tho buyers in London
| in order that samples may be submitted there.
| They are constantly bringing forward close imi-
tations OF the salablo goods in the market a
little lower in quality and In price than tho
articles copied. In all this their methods are in
direct contrast to thosn of tho British. There
are travelling agents from Great Britain. the
United States and from other countries. but
they do not equal those from Germany in energy
| and pertinacity."
| This 10 also tho testimony from Canada and
| other colonies
| In many cases it would seem II tho British
manufacturers were pushing British trade from
| its place by sheer trickiness OF method. The
evidence brought out before the Merchandise
Marks Committee showed that the practice OF
| importing cheap German goods in a partially
| finished state and working them up in new
brand and selling them as English was no infre-
quent one. and there is much morr of the same
| kind in the present report We hear OF silver
mountings Of purses, or women's bags made in
Germany and Belgium and stamped with the
! British silversmiths' hallmark. which is taker
by the public indication that the goods
are OF British manufacture. That til:
sort OF thing tends to destroy British pres
tige is obvious. 1t is also worth noting thai
| London is the headquarters for the export o.
foreign goods, and in this way the Britisher Al
export dealer fiourishes at the expense Of tn,
Britisher as manufacturer. That patriotism II
| not the governing force in British trade is ovi
dent from the following extract:
Tho Victorian merchants do not Away
specify in their orders either British foreign
goods; they leave it to the discretion OF thei
= buyers in London to purchase whichever ma.
1 | be cheapest at the time. and further, they d,
; | not in all instances know whether the good
= they import OF British or foreign manufac
r ture. London is the emporium OF trade 70
0 foreign well as British goods, and the cata
logues of British factors and OF not n few manu-
}, tacturers. contain quotations for quantities O
l. foreign articles Foreign trade Is, In fact, fos
, tered in Great Britain"
e Finally, the main conclusions to be draw
l. from the returns are:
$ In the best classes OF goods and in the capact
put the best possible article ON market which rt
quires 10. the British manufa aud this seem
| generally to mean the III nutAturer from the Unite
T. KinEtoml Is still supreme.
in the cs!e Of machinery and tools of certain pa
paTtsaar liar ii lines the madam manufa"turer is often
successful competitor with those OF the United State
n not ss ma1t~, 'i Tor the class Of goods. and
Iroportion rs cheap and finished limitations OF sue
| gooIa m be put the market the trad will z
Sw ay the producers OF such limitations. This spr
lie l. There is some danger that the trade goe
r to foreign competitors In the cheap goods certai
eventually diverted.
VI In connection with the publication OF this r.
N port comes the meeting yesterday Of the ASS
ID citation OF Chambers of Commerce. held this yea
y. at Mitdlesborough. Our British cousins hay
"a undoubtedly been reading with interest an
a. profit tho accounts OF the South American Col
N gress held in Phiadelphia last June, for tn
nj proposition to send delegates from the ASS
Io | ciated Chambers to accompany the Board
~. Trade Commissioners to look up British trad
n, | interests in South America was unanimous
NJ adopted. They have also been studying Il
bs idea OF an industrial museum. As nucleus the
A. have received from the British Consul at AmG
m a collection numbering some 400 or 500 d
in, signs for trade marks which would, in his jun
cs ment, he popular with the Chinese. and by Il
rs. adoption OF which considerable development
oh British business with China might be hoped 70
nd An intelligence department and museum
llv samples, run by the Board OF Trade in cooper
tn tion with the Chambers OF Commerce. is to
NJ established forthwith.
II. Now that the British have discovered what v
can do and propose to match it, it behouves OF
National Association of Manufacturers to ou
do themselves In the admirable work they ha'
' begun. II the country which has practical
$50 held the world by the throat financially and
ny the power to supply the markets of the wor
with manufactures is beginning to awaken
'"' the necessity of finding out how best to devc
" aud increase its competing power, it is impo