48 

 present and former comparative prices of jute. 



n 



new things known and appreciated as articles of com- 

 merce arises chiefly from the habitual neglect of such 

 things when sent for inquiry from abroad, in order 

 to have their value ascertained at home ; for if sent 

 as specimens, I have seen many reports in which 

 they are pronounced to be of NO VALUE because they 

 are UNKNOWN IN THE MAEKET. The importer is some- 

 times advised to send the article in large quantities 

 to the market for a few years, as it will then have a 

 chance of being looked at, and its true value ascer- 

 tained. The planter is not often inclined to follow 

 this advice ; for if one more adventurous than his 

 neighbours does send a quantity sufficient even for 

 manufacturing purposes, it is not usually brought to 

 the notice of the more enquiring manufacturers. 

 The article being necessarily consigned by the planter 

 to his agents, is by them transferred to a broker, by 

 whom it is sold, with other colonial produce, with 

 little or no information respecting its properties or 

 the quantities in which, and the price at which, it 

 could be supplied, if it should be approved of. Indeed, 

 I am informed that the novelty of the appearance, or 

 the strangeness of the name, is more often the sub- 

 ject of jest, than the article is one of serious inquiry. 

 At all events, the result usually is, that the article is 

 sold at a price which does not pay its expenses, and 

 the planter is deterred from sending any fresh quan- 

 tities. Further progress is, in that quarter at least, 

 thus stopped even at its commencement." 



