consignment of merchandise packed in an infinite variety of shape, weight, and size may be kept waiting until each packet can be paired. If this can not be done with one of the same consignment, the carriers will pair it with one of another consignment, for which they will patiently wait months if necessary, to the loss and annoyance of the consignee, who perhaps will ultimately have to pay exorbitant special rates to obtain his goods, which careful packing might have avoided. Again, the question of goods arriving in the dry or rainy season—some roads becoming almost impassable in the later period-makes a difference as to the method of packing and consequent economy in transport.

Shipments that are too heavy for mule transport are conveyed by bullock carts in the few parts where a suitable road exists, or are carried on men's shoulders at enormous expense.

PERU.

Callao. It has been mentioned that the mode of packing is a matter to which importance is attached. There can be no doubt whatever that tools and hardware imported into Peru from the United States and Germany are better packed than English goods. It would seem an easy matter to bestow more care upon such trifling details if it be true that the success or loss of a particular trade may often turn on an inmaterial circumstance.

The great bulk of importations of fabrics comes from England; but the importation of woolen cloth is principally from France, the style, quality, and price apparently suiting importers and consumers better than the English manufacture.

There is a considerable import trade in such articles as crockery and glassware, wire nails, and wood paper; but these goods come from Belgium and Germany, and it seems strange that English manufacturers do not adapt their make to the requirements of this market. Only a few months ago, I was shown a letter from a firm of Birmingham manufacturers stating that they could not compete with Belgium as regards price in the wire-nail trade.

Continental manufacturers put up their nails and tacks in small, neatly arranged packages, which very much facilitate the sale; but English manufacturers do not care to take this trouble.

Rails, of which the importation is small, have previously come from Belgium; but latterly a trial of United States rails has been made, which has turned out satisfactorily, although the price has been found to be slightly over the cost of those from Belgium.

CHINA.

Chefoo. In almost every German mercantile house there is at least one German partner or clerk who speaks Chinese; this is seldom found in English houses. We seem to rely on the Chinese learning our language, which they do when it is to their own advantage; but there must occasionally be times when it is a distinct disadvantage to have to carry on negotiations through an interpreter whose good faith is not above suspicion.

Ichang.-British manufacturers must now expect to find active competition in all directions. In piece goods, this is confined at present for the most part to America, though the import of Chinese-made gray shirtings to Sha Shih is noteworthy; but in fancy goods, which are fast developing into a large and important trade, our great competitors are Germany, Holland, and Japan. These three, and especially the first and last, watch the changing fashions of the China market in a sharp way, which doubtless finds its own reward, whilst our home manufacturers continue to follow the same old lines, or with very little change, that held good thirty or forty years ago.

JAPAN.

Tokyo. While the relative growth of Japan's imports from the United States shows a very large increase in recent years, the amount of exports from Great Britain has increased by a larger total value; but it must be borne in mind that the American invasion has only just commenced, that the ground has been prepared for large extensions in the future, and that unless some unforeseen changes take place, the tendency will be toward encroachment upon the trade hitherto belonging to Great Britain. A glance at the trade statistics will show how rapidly the import trade to Japan of the United States is growing, particularly in machinery, locomotives, and railway materials-articles for which the United Kingdom has hitherto held a monopoly.

This portion of the report can not be closed without a reference to the quick deliveries which can always be obtained from America. As an instance, English locomotive builders required two years for the delivery of an extensive order, while the Baldwin Locomotive Works turned them out at the rate of two a day and shipped the whole quantity within eight or ten weeks.

Another case recently occurred where the English time for shipment of five locomotives was ten months and the price about $12,000 gold delivered in Japan, and American makers offered to ship in fourteen weeks, at about $8,000 gold. The same specification was submitted to both countries. The time allowed for execution of orders by the Japanese buyer is always very short, and the tendency is to make it shorter still. Consequently, prompt shipments are a great advantage, and when in addition the shortness of the rail and sea route via the Pacific coast is taken into consideration, it is apparent that the British maker must, even on the same terms as to price, offer strong counter inducements to insure successful competition.

Nagaski.-In connection with this subject, reference may be made to the ideas which very many English producers seem to entertain as to the enterprising methods of finding new outlets for their goods. At other ports in Japan, English producers, who have written stating that they are anxious to find a sale for their goods and sent elaborate and expensive catalogues, have frequently been brought into communication with the most experienced and most energetic English commission merchants in Japan, firms which might be relied upon to sell to the native dealer any article which could ever be sold in Japan at all. But after the merchant in Japan has taken much trouble, and has, at considerable expense of time, given full particulars of what is likely to be most acceptable here, he finds that the idea of the English producer is that he (the commission merchant) should take not only all the trouble, but also all the risk, with the prospect before him that, if his efforts are successful, if he brings any particular article into extensive demand, his share in the profit will be limited to a trade commission cut down to the very finest point. The United States manufacturer will not only take any reasonable risk, but he will even face an immediate and certain loss, in the hope of being recouped by large and continued profits by and by. This is not the sole reason why United States manufacturers are now slowly but surely eating into the British metal trade. But their enterprise in this respect is an important factor in their success; it makes the commission merchant in Japan their firm ally, and it is one which is well worthy of greater imitation on the part of the British manufacturer.

TONGA.

France, Germany, and Austria still continue to supply this market with llamas, muslins, alpacas, merinos, rugs, and umbrellas, and some smaller lines; Sweden with safety matches; the United States with red wood. This wood goes by the name

of Californian redwood, is very light and easily worked, and when fastened with galvanized nails, it withstands the climate better than any other and lasts longer when exposed to the weather.

Quantity and not quality is what the people of these islands want, and British manufacturers must, if they wish to retain this or any other market, make things of the quality their customers wish to have, instead of sending goods which they consider their clients should, if they are sensible, require. No one doubts that in the lines in which British manufacturers are being gradually supplanted by their German and French competitors in this and other markets, the British article is better than theirs and lasts much longer; but, as it has already been explained, it is not considered the thing, for instance, to go two Sundays running to church in the same garments. On Tongan gala days-such, for example, as the King's birthday, constitution day, the King's coronation, and such like-sports of all sorts are organized, which nearly the whole population attends. It is at these that the lads and lassies like to look well and newly dressed, and if they are able to appear in a good outfit for the day they do not in the least care if it tumbles to pieces next morning, as its work is done. That is why nothing but the cheapest things find acceptance here, and why the French and German goods find favor. It can easily be conceived, therefore, that well-made, lasting British goods do not fulfill the required conditions either in quality or price; they last too long, and it is in this way that, especially in drapery, British manufacturers must alter their tactics and manufacture showy rubbish for those who wish to buy it, if they do not want to let their foreign competitors oust them from this market.

Then, again, in ironmongery, the Tongan does not believe in working harder than necessary, and there are very few trees here which require a man to swing a full-sized ax to get through; they prefer a three-quarter ax, and all those in the market are American, retailed here at from 3s. 6d. to 5s. (85 cents to $1.21). Surely it is not beyond the capacity of the British manufacturer to make an ax that can be sold at the same price; but, of course, if they never take the trouble to send a traveler to see what is required in each market, they can not be expected to know.

Again, every householder possesses a dray. An ideal cart for this country would be a light cart, up to half a ton with broad-tired wheels, for the roads are soft. Hitherto, nothing but the heavy colonial dray has made its appearance, which is far too heavy for the average Tongan horse. Again, almost every man and boy has a 12 or 14 inch so-called butcher's knife, which is hardly ever used for "cutting," but always for "chopping" saplings and light timber and for turning the meat out of the cocoanut shells. These knives are flattened at the hand end, and two pieces of wood, one on each side, are either screwed or riveted through corresponding holes in the iron. This constitutes the handle, which would, no doubt, last for a long time if the knife were only used for cutting; but, as it is, after sometimes an hour's work, the handle splits or the screws come out and nothing remains to take hold of but the flat iron, which soon induces a sore hand. Could not the makers devise some plan by which the handle would be homogeneous with the knife, which must not have a sharp point but a rounded one, as otherwise the point sticks in the shell of the cocoanut when turning out the meat?

I have gone a good deal into detail in these matters, but otherwise how can the manufacturer know what is required; for, although the consulate is inundated with price lists, etc., no traveler from Great Britain has been to Tonga in the last eleven years.

BRITISH VS. AMERICAN SHIPPING RATES: HINDRANCES TO AMERICAN EXPORTS.

It is seldom one can pick up anything indicating that there are phases in the scheme of ocean freight rates so favorable to the United States as to offset, in a measure, the disadvantage of nonownership of a merchant marine.

The Birmingham Post gives to the public to-day some recent correspondence between a firm of British merchants and the Britishowned Tyser Line, steaming from New York to Australia and New. Zealand. It shows that this British steamship company gives American merchandise nearly half-rate preference in freight rates, notwithstanding the shorter distance. The claim is also made that English-manufactured goods are not accepted at the low American rate, even when offered in New York City; but in one communication, the Tyser people expressed their willingness to give the same rate to British merchants.

I inclose an editorial from the Birmingham Post reviewing the correspondence, and also commenting on a paper on "Shipping rings," read by Mr. John R. Galloway before the economic section. of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, which is now holding an annual meeting at Bristol. It is my understanding that what we would call the "freight trust" includes, for operation within Great Britain, nearly all the shipping and railroad organizations in the United Kingdom, and that its power and influence is greater than anything of the kind we know of—a heavier burden upon industry and it is an undisputed fact that goods have been shipped at times from London to New York and reshipped to Glasgow at cheaper rates than British coastwise steamers or British railroads would have carried them. While the existence of this "freight trust" is, in the main, an advantage to the United States, it must be remembered that Americans exporting goods to interior points in Great Britain find the high inland freight rate at this end of the shipment a factor they must contend against, in common with the British manufacturer and merchant.

MARSHAL HALSTEAD,

BIRMINGHAM, September 13, 1898.

Consul.

[Editorial from the Birmingham Post, September 13, 1898.]

Questions of deep interest for our merchants and manufacturers, and especially those who trade with Australia, New Zealand, India, the Straits, and the Far East, are raised in two papers of kindred character, which will be found to-day in another

part of our issue. One of these is an abstract of a paper read yesterday by Mr. John R. Galloway, of Manchester, in the economic section of the British Association at Bristol, on shipping rings in especial relation to the cotton trade; and the other is a précis of a remarkable correspondence which has newly taken place between Messrs. T. W. & J. Walker, the well-known merchants of Wolverhampton, and certain shipping owners concerned in the Australian and New Zealand trade, with reference to the enormous disparity in the rates charged for the transport of similar goods from this country and from New York. Messrs. Walker complain that while the rate charged for the carriage of English iron to Australia and New Zealand is 18s. 9d. ($4.56) per ton, the same shipowners are carrying American iron from New York to the same colony-a much longer distance-for 10s. ($2.43). That is, of course, a preference or bonus for our competitors of just 8s. 9d. ($2.13) per ton, or, say, 87 per cent. Messrs. Tyser & Co., the shipowners in question, do not deny the soft impeachment. They only plead that this preferential treatment of our competitors is forced on them by competition, and that it really entails upon them a considerable loss. To reduce their English freights to the same low level, they argue, would increase their loss, which they are not prepared to do, and they do not see their way at present to level up their American rates. The only comfort they have for English traders is that the low American rates will probably not be of long duration. In the meantime, unfortunately, as Messrs. Walker point out, these preferential rates are killing our trade, more particularly in barbed and fencing wire, wire nails, iron, etc., and it is certainly difficult to fathom the policy of killing a trade that admittedly pays, in order to foster a rival commerce that entails upon the shippers "a considerable loss." This very obvious criticism, however, seems to have touched Messrs. Tyser in a tender place, for its effect is to provoke a retort which throws a curious light upon the temper and commercial ethics of the writer. Messrs. Walker indulgently dismiss it as facetious," though the strain is evidently intended to be one of withering sarcasm, but less lenient critics would probably describe it as truculent. It is a labored attempt to cast ridicule upon Messrs. Walker's complaint by ironically assuming that they ought to have put patriotism before self-interest, whereas the point of Messrs. Walker's argument in this case was that the two went hand in hand. Then follows a mock proposal, in the very worst taste, for "concerted action" with Messrs. Walker in the direction they are supposed to favor of their sharing in certain proportions any loss that may result from the levelling up of American rates; and Messrs. Tyser conclude by suggesting that they shall publish the proposal as emanating from Messrs. Walker.

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This, of course, is simply adding insult to injury; and we think Messrs. Walker are entitled to great credit for the reserve and self-control shown under strong provocation. They simply observe that they consider the matter too serious to be treated in a facetious manner, and reiterate their complaint that in canvassing for American iron at 10s. ($2.43) per ton while they are charging 18s. 9d. ($4.56) for the carriage of English iron, they are promoting their trade in the former, which is said to be a losing one, at the expense of the latter, which is admittedly a paying one; and here, so far as Messrs. Walker are concerned, the matter rests. We shall be much surprised, however, if it is not promptly taken up through our chambers of commerce by other merchants and manufacturers interested in the Australian shipping trade, with a view to "concerted action" of a different kind from that suggested in Messrs. Tyser's sarcastic epistle; and, with a view to their guidance, we would direct attention to the remedy against oppressive shipping rings advocated in Mr. Galloway's paper at the British Association yesterday. The magnitude and influence of these combinations on most of our principal lines of sea transport, we suspect, are but inadequately realized by the general public, though their effect is