— 11 — 



superficial acquaintance with the means of judging the value of goods in 

 our branch of industry. To this must be added the unsound practice by 

 which indents from India to European export-houses are almost invariably 

 placed on the basis of price alone, that is to say, unless special sources 

 of supply are indicated, the export-firm concerned simply sends round a 

 request for "lowest quotations'* to a dozen or so of manufacturers, and 

 he who quotes least obtains the order. It is evident that under such con- 

 ditions British India is bound to become the staple-place for rubbish of 

 all descriptions, and European firms in that country have already denoun- 

 ced this state of things in the press without stint. But even here daylight 

 is breaking, and we are glad to be able to state that the better elements 

 among the traders and consumers have become much more appreciative 

 of first-class, pure qualities than was the case a few years ago. But a 

 great deal of pioneering-work still needs to be done to bring consumers 

 at large to a sense of the importance of pure wares. 



The Coronation-Durbar, which was celebrated with enormous pomp 

 and a truly Oriental gorgeousness, has passed off without untoward inci- 

 dents. The elevation of Delhi to the rank of the Capital of India was the 

 most important episode of these festive days. This step, the sequel of 

 conditions of which the discussion lies outside our scope, was entirely 

 unexpected, and naturally created an unpleasant impression in Calcutta, 

 the present Capital. But it would appear that city has quickly accomo- 

 dated itself to the new order of things, for although it may be loath to 

 be deprived henceforth of the splendour of the Vice-Regal Court, that 

 removal cannot depose it from its place as the chief commercial centre 

 of British India. 



The craze for cheapness, to which we referred above, also remains 

 an unfavourable factor in business-relations with Australia. It is true that 

 things are not quite so bad here as they are in the Indian trade, but it 

 needs continuous exertion on the part of respectable firms successfully 

 to combat this deep-seated evil, especially because an inevitable result 

 of such traffic is that the goods supplied are invariably of low quality, 

 and bound sooner or later to disappoint the buyer bitterly. This fact, 

 although it should be self-evident, cannot too often be brought to the 

 notice of those buyers whose one and only guide is lowness of price, who 

 regard the test of quality as a matter of subordinate concern, and who, 

 in fact, consider it almost their duty invariably to prefer the lowest quo- 

 jution. For the rest there is nothing new to report concerning Australian 

 trade, the turnover being steadily although slowly on the increase. The 

 economic conditions upon which we commented in our last Report appa- 

 rently continue to hamper the normal development of the entire Continent; 

 a fact which is readily understood by those who known Australian con- 

 ditions from personal observation. The disinclination of large capitalists 

 to invest money in new industrial undertakings in that country while these 



