ijxoruTJinnjiJTJiruxruTJTrinruxruTJUTruTiviAJ^^ CANADIAN WEST INDIA TMdii)g JIssocmMot), (LittiiN.) HALIFAX, N. S. : PRINTED BY WILLIAM MACNAB, 3 PRINCE STREET. 1893. r ^, ""^ ^yfy^^./t^ M^z^ // CANA.D1AN -^ WEST INDIA Tradii)g JIssoeiaHoi), (LiiDiC^cI.) HALIFAX, X. S. : PRINTED BY WILLIAM MACNAB, 3 PRINCE STREET. 1893. Jamaica. Ikrbadoes. Trinidad. Cuba. Port Rico. Bahamas. Turks and Caicos. St. Lucia. St. Vincent. Grenada. Tobago. Virgin Islands. St. Christopher. Nevis. Antigua. Montserrat. Dominica. Hayti. San Domingo. Guadaloupe. St. Bartholomew Martinique. Curacoa. Bonair. Arulia. St. Eustatia. St. Martin and Saba. Santa Cruez. St. Thomas. St. John. Population as given by Encyclopaedia Britannica 5,070,038 British Guiana population 225,365 Bermuda, population 1871 11,121 .5,306,524 Canada 5,.o00,000 Ami We don't want you to treat these papers as you may do the rank and file of circular letters which come into your hands — by throwing tliem aside. We want you to read them carefully, consider the sub- ject matter, talk it over and discuss the subject with your friends and neighbors, write for further information if you require it before sub- scribing to the shares. If you are favourably disposed to take some shares yourself, interest your friends ; give them your reasons for joining the association and thus form clabs of small investors in every community to which these papers come. I- 8 o o te ^ W — 00 3$ 00 i •n3 • C . : a o, - " ^ « M) d- J a* " e ? c o a) S 4' S S-e o S « > ^ a ^'-1 ri C^ ^ ^ ^ » 4J 00 4) « «5 to 2 « g §» o St«; I s B 3 bo G a 00 o _ 1-3 cc ^ c« 8 -c si «i S 00 4j> ^ « a 2 >, o a ta C ■♦-* IS 4j »3 K< ^ lO cow ||SS 1 5 gS28 N t^ o >-. « -^ WM ^^ CO _ a i- « e8 aj S S « a 3 X tati •«Sla-S*^ 2 a'O H S5 00 ^^ i1 I"! " e? 13 -^ an3 cs a « a 5 a-„ » o - -2 a S .a a) -^ 60-43 JS O ° t6 "S' § S g .5 n ^-e " 2 is o is 8,>>a MM isObO a a 00 o c 2 t|l Oia s ^ VI S-o a (4 ■-a 11.2 .22 § 00 o to a « eJiS * O rt Canadian \A/'est India Trading Associa- tion, Limited. Tt iH i)roj)oso(l to form such an Association for the purpose of developing an exchange of trade bet ween Canada and the West Indies. The importance of such a trade hotli»to Canada and the West Indies cannot be over-estimated, when we consider the fact that the 1/est Indies purchase and consume of almost every article produced or manufactured in Canada, and that we, on the other hand, purchase and consume of almost every article exported by the West India Islands. True, there has been for many years past a considerable trade between Halifax and the West Indies, consisting on our part chiefly in fish and lumber, and on theirs in sugar and molasses, but at best it has been more or less a desultory and local trade ; so much so, indeed, that for several years past New York has been gradually grow- ing in upon that trade, and has been purchasing from Canada such commodities as fish, peas, lumber, hay, potatoes, etc.', required to make up assorted cargoes for the West Indies. Now, that wje have steam communication regularly established between Canada and the West Indies under Dominion subvention, it behooves us, the people of both countries, to make a co-operative effort for the better development of trade. The possibilities of such a trade ai'e very great. The results, with a competent and careful management should be satisfactory. The United Stixtes returns show an export trade to the West Indies of about $38,000,000 per annum, and an import trade of about $100,000,000 ppr annum. From the farm we should command the trade in hay, straw and oats, barley, potatoes, and vegetables of all kinds, horses, sheep and cattle, inhic conmiunication has been esttd)lished M'ith those island about 1869, the fluctuation in prices has been largely reduced, and the business is now conducted on a more even basis. t With the aid of telegraph and steam, the question with those islands to-day is, who will provide the most suitable article at the lowest price ? and I am sorry to say that Canadians and Nova Scotians have never competed for their market iis the Americans have done. Americans have manufactured, packed, and apparently in every way produced just what the West Indian required, while we have shipped the same artirlesin any way that suited us, without consulting their tastes. I know of no reason why Canadians should not be able to suitably cure hams and bacon, or why Canadian hogs will not euro as well as American. I know of no reason why milk produced in Canada will not make as good butter as the American, or why we can- not make proper packages to put it in. Yet it is not donfe. I do not know now why our land should not grow oats suitable for them, and compete with oats that I have seen shipped from Limerick, Ireland, grown on laud taxed on a yearly rental of <£3 sterling per acre. Our flour should be made to suit them, and 19 shipped in tlie kind of barreln they iTquire, viz., good *ound hoop barrels and if possibhi air tight. Our potatoes shoidd bo .selected cspeccially for their market, as thert; is a great difference in their keeping (jualities. My experience is, that the barrels shoidd not bo bored or chippctd but shouhl be as tight as |)0S8ible. There is also demand for mnall houses 20 feet sipiare, one-8tt)ry. I think they might be made ready to put together before being shipped. Our shingles are put up in such poor bundles that they often fall to pieces before they are stowed in the ship, and the handliiig of them in that condition, by the time they are lightered to the shore, p'.it in adrogha landeil at some out-port, and carted to the country increases the cost very matcu-ially.. Why can they not be packed in square bundles with sufhcient binders ? And so it is with about every article we export. We should be able to meet uU comers in agricultural tools and cheap furniture, competition in which F doubt if we have ever undertaken. As the lack hitherto of our Canadian shippers to supply the West India market with suitidjle gooils, packed in a suitable manner, is doubtless due largely to an insufficient acquaintance with what is actually needed l)y that market, the establishment of a trade bureau or some other practical agency whereby both countries might better understand the requirement of each other, cannot fail in my estima- tion, to bring about a largely increased reciprocal trade. In conclusion, I am confident that if we l)ut stepped aaide out of the old beaten track, to capture this trade, we would find we were able to do so, and lind also that we had a good market for our farmers, our manufacturers, and our miscellaneous production. In glancing over the statistics of the exports and imports of Canada and the West Indies, no one can fail to see how essential it is that these countries should trade with each other for their mutual benefit. Yours sincerely, S. 0. CROWELL. 20 • IIamkax, Jimy. IHth, 189:1 .1. A. CHIPMAN, KSQ. Dear Sir : — Uefcrriiig t<> jdur proposed ivHsociatioii for exteiuUiig trnde to tlio Went Indios/we aro of the opinion tliat it is a very j^ood Itliiii as that (jiiitf a hirj,'*- business in Canadian niainifa<'turP8 can bo done if tho proper means are adopted to secure it. We have done some business in tlie Islands and are so well satisfied with tlie result that we have now a traveller making a tliree or four months tour tloini,' the ditterent islands and finding out the different styles of goods required. We are convinced a large business can be done by sending a smart man to find nut the recpiirements of tlie different kinds of goods in use. Yours truly, R(JHT. T.AVLOR »t CO., ' Mnimfarfurf'rx of Jioofn atiff Shoen. Halifax, !N. 8., Jany., 1893. J. A. Chipman, Esq. Dear Sir :— In. a letter received to-day from Mr. (leo. W. Hensley,. who is travelling through tlie West Indies in the interests of the Canadian steamers and trade, he writes as follows : "The merchants of Demerara are very pleased with the service and they do all they can to help ; if Canadians Avill only move in the matter and send the riglit articles out there will be no trouble about a large trade with Canada. 1 wish some of our Canadian millers and other merchants would come out and look into the trade here ; there is a splendid business for them, but it wants working up. We have a Trinidad baker on the steamer with us to-day and he is very anxious for Canadian flour. " As far as I have gone there is but one feeling and that is a desire to deal more largely with Canada, but the people here desire to see Canadian travellers, tlie goods they have to offer, condition in which they are put up." Yours tnily, PICKFORD Si BLACK. 2» Hamkax, X. S,, J ail nary 17tli, 18U3. J. A. (-'iiU'MAN, Ewy. />ertr *StV. - (.)n a recont trip tliroiigli tin* West liidiii ImImiuIh, viz., .laiiiaica, HarlmtlocH, Trinitlad, the Leewanl Lslaiitls and UciiMMara <>ii the iiiuin laud, I made fiuiuiry ns to tlie prospectH and proimlnlitics i»f a duvelopiiiciit nf tniilc lictwocii tliosc Islands and Canada. < )n oveiy hand tlicre was a manifest dispositimi cxpiowsed for closer trade lolations with Canada and Canadians. The existence for some years jtast of rej,'ular steam eominunication between New York and those Ishmds, has centered this trade almost wholly with New Vurk ; not only largely depriving Canada of it, hnt drawing it from Portland and other American ports, which at one time traiLsacted a large West India huainess, Now that regular steam rommuuiV!atioii has been established from (Canada, the energy and pluck of Canadian merchants and manufac- turers will certainly capture more or l(;ss of the trade. Canada should «upply these Islaiuls very largely with flour, oats, peas, iM'aiis, cheese, butter, carriages, boots and shoes, ready-made clothing, potatoes, and other vegetables, biscuits, lior.ses, cattle, lumber, shingles, canned goods, spring mattrasses, etc., etc. The time and consequent exjtense of sending travellers to the Islands is a drawl)ack to individual firms, who might desire to bid for these markets ; but if an organization could be formed, which would undertake to supply all classes of goods, this expense would be very greatly^minimized, inasmuch as one man could do the w rk in the ♦South, which otherwise must fall upon a number. The business awaits Canadians, let them cultivate it. ' ' Yours truly, AY. A. BLACK. Note.— Just on the eve of going to press we received issues of the Georgetown, Demerara, Chronicle under dates 26th and 29th of No- vember. We transcribe the article of 26th in full, as it shows the interest taken by our fellow-colonists nearly 2,000 miles away, to cultivate trade with their fellow-colonists in Canada. The article of the 29th is somewhat lengthy, and to our minds unimportant in re suits, as an enquirj' from the Boaiti of Tmde committee of Georgetown 22 as to -the comparative qualities of American and Canadian flours. When they speak of our winter wheat flours containing less gluten than the American winter wheat flours, it shows a want of knowledge — for if there is one essential in wheats and flour of which we may boast over the American, it is that our winter wheats contain more gluten and less starch than American. However, the fact of the enquiry is commendable, inasmuch as it shows a desire on the part of that British colony, to trade with us in Canada. We also commend to the attention of our readers a letter from Mr. Robert Taylor, of boot and shoe manufactures, already referred to in our paper. J. A. C. "Anything that concerns the food supply ot the people is of neces- sity a matter of vital importance to our readers. We, therefore, view with a considerable amount of interest the evidence given to the Committee appointed to enquire into the merits of Canadian flour, at a recent meeting of the Royal Agricultural and Commercial Society. Xor can we, in approaching the consideration of this subject, ignore the fact that, in a British Colony, all other things being equal, there is, as there should be, a desire to deal with those who are bound to us by the ties of a common race. Therefore, whilst we are prepared very readily to acknowledge the great merits of the many well-known brands of flour that come from tlie United States, we are disposed, also, to see a good deal of possibility in the future development of our trade with the Dominion in this particular (iommodity. Of course there are, and there will be, many diflioulties to meet and to over- come when we find an article has estiiblished itself in the public favor ; for the public, however jjatriotic they may be in theory, are seldom disposed to adopt any tiling that is new, unless it can be demonstrated that, to do so, will redound to their immediate advantage, even though it be manufactured by their own kith and kin. In these days when men want that whicli is best — if they can get it from manufacturers of their own nationality so much the better, and if they cannot they are prepared to sacrifice their patriotism to tlieir pocket. As the world wags to-day the business man must, in the first place, be a man of business and buy the best article in the cheapest market if he hopes to command a ready sale in the dearest. And the con 23 sumcr is not so anxious regarding the source of that which he [^con- sumes as ho is solicitous to see that he gets full value for his money. It is, therefore, easy to arrive at the conclusion that, if Canadian flour is to hold its own in the West India markets, it must do so upon its merits. It is not the slightest use imagining in the West Indies, or any wliere else for the matter of that, people will furnish an inferior article because it is the product of Ilritish industry, where a superior one may be procured just as readily, and the only plea that can be urged against it is that it comes from an alien shore. Men may have been content to do this kind of thing in the past ; but the spirit of thfc present age is not favourable to a continuance of the practice. Therefore! when we are met with the query : " Is there any reason why Canadian flour should not b(! generally used in the British West Indies ?" we are inclined to meet the question with another, and to ask : " Is the Canadian flour as good as that imported from the United States?" Xow, any of our readers who have gone to the trouble of studying the evidence on the point published in our columns, that was taken liefore the Committee to which we have referred, is bound to come to the conclusion that, whatever may 1)e its merits be- fore it leaves Canadian ports, it does not arrive here in as good a con- dition as the flour that is sent to us from the United States. This is a fact the testimony given by competent authorities proves and proves most conclusively. But it has not been shown that the commodity is not equal to the best American flour before it leaves Canadian ports ; in fact the natural inference derived from the evidence is that it is quite as good if not better. Most, if not all, of the evils appear to be of a nature that may be remedied ; not, it is true, without some trouble, and certainly not all at once, but most assuredly in process of time. All of these difficulties appear to have their existence in the method of packing and the means of transit. And when the Can- adian dealers consider this fact there is little reason to doubt but they will entleavour, and endeavour in all probability very successfully indeed, to suit themselves to the Colonial market. " The hints and suggestions contained in the evidence to which we have previously alluded should prove of material assistance to them in any efforts which they may make towards furthering this end. Neither should they overlook the fact that in approaching the West I \ 24 ^^ Indian flour market %ey are in reality approaching one that is already very well supplied from the United States and they nnist, therefore, be prepared to ofl'er some advantage of a tangilde nature, if they desire to supplant those who are already in jjosseasion. In the course of time frequent consignments at their own risk, ])acked and forwarded in the maimer approved by West India dealers would, no doubt, secure for Canadian flour a large share of the patronage of those who as we have already stated are pre-disposed in favour of British produce, and, where all other conditions are equal, are jirepanul to give the preference to the article imported and manufactured by men of their own nationality. It is undoubtedly very bad policy on the part of our Canadian brethren to supply an inferior article to people who require the liest they can produce, es[)ecially when they are trying to make a market. It is worth while going to a good deal of trouble, and suff"ering a little loss in order to establish a good reputa- tion ; while on the other hand, it is impossible to calculate the evil results that may follow upon the possession of what is generally known as a bad name. The public are pretty good judges in these matters ; •and are quite prepared to accept the eating as the proof of the pudding whether it be made of flour from Halifax or New York. Of course, whilst it has been made quite plain that the method of packing, and the material in which the flour is packed, have a good deal to do with the nature of the reception it received, it is desirable, in every way, thi\t the hour should be of the kind that has been found peculiarly adapted to meet the requirements of the tropics. We notice that a merchant at Halifax, N. S , has stated that 'The class of wheat which should only be used for making flour for export to the West Indies, is the best grade of winter wheat. Spring wheat should on no account be mixed with winter, and no spring wheat flours are safe, not even in limited quantities, excepting our highest grades of Manitoba.' The gentleman who was instrumental in get- ting the committee appointed is certainly to lie congratulated upon the information that has been elicited ; and we trust that at no distant date his efforts may be productive of still more tangible results." — From Georgetoton, Demerara Chronicle. Nov. 26, '92.