7 NOVEMBER 1903, Page 32

GERMANY AND THE GLASS TRADE.

[TO THE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR.')

Si,—Can any one practically acquainted with the glass trade explain why glass chemical apparatus is so largely, if not exclusively, made in Germany ? I refer to such simple light things as flasks, test-tubes, retorts, &c. This is a trade which must be rapidly increasing owing to the development of practical science teaching in technical and other schools. The cost of packing and transit of such light and fragile goods must be equivalent to a pretty smart import-duty. Yet notwithstanding this handicap, and notwithstanding that we have the market at our doors and the raw materials at home, I am informed by a dealer in apparatus that nine-tenths of this light-blown glass comes from one district in Germany. Where

is the hindrancePt—I am, Sir, &c., W. E. B.