PROTECTION IN VICTORIA.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1659, 10 September 1887, Page 3

PROTECTION IN VICTORIA.

tTHß revulsion of feeling from Freetrade to Protection which has, of late, taken place not only m Freetrade England, ; out also m: the colonies, has alarmed the Cobden school, while the articles which have recently appeared m the journals, not only of this colony but also those of Australia, contrasting tne progress of Victoria, where Protection rules supreme, with the stagnation, if not retrogression, of New South Wales, have sent them nearly frantic, They know they are playing a losing game, and they get angry. They ire conscious that the reaction which is. sweeping over the earth m favour of Protection comes to the front at a most inopportune time — on the eve of a general election, which, to them, is fraught with the most important consequences. There are many little matters to settle which would be settled more to their satisfaceion by a Freetrade Parliament than by a Protectionist one/ In fact they know full well that if the next Parliament be not a Freet&de one, the opportunity for securing the ends they have m view will be gone for ever, so irresistible m its might is the reaction m favour of Protection, and, like drowning men they catch at a Straw, and would fain make onlookers believe that they have got hold of a spar that will afford them the means of living themselves. The opponents of Protection are jubilant over, and are endeavouring to make political capital out of the manu facturers' demand for increased duties on woollen goods imported into Victoria. With that disiogenuousness, or rather, we should say with that political dishonesty which has characterised their conduct of the present campaign, they only state so much of the facts of the case as will suit their argument, Studiously suppressing the remainder, which, if brought to light, would tell against them. They keep m the dark that which has a most important bearing on the question — the reason that existed for the demand being made. This is clearly and tersely stated by the "Ufcnganui Herald." "The whole of the trouble," observes our contemporary, " arises out of the fact that the Home manufacturers are waging war on the Victorian woollen mills, and selling their goods at such prices as the latter, even with the amount of protection they now enjoy cannot compete against. The clothing manufacturers who are protected, are not patriotic enough to pass by the bargains offered them by the importers, who are combined to stamp out the woollen mills of the colony, which give employment to nearly a thousand hands, whilst the clothing factories have nearly six times as many m their employ. The tactics now being used to destory the Victorian woollen manufacturing industry, are not ne^r ; they Were tried m America when Protection was first inaugurated there, and for a time they seemed Ijkely to Succeed, as the American market was deluged with English and Continental manufactured goods, at prices which left a loss to their consignors, who were willing to lose something considerable, rather than be entirely shut out of a market which bad hitherto been a veritable gold mine to them, To combat these tactics, the United States Government put on prohibitive import duties, and saved their newly started local industries from ruin and destruction, the end aimed at by the English and Continental manufacturers. The Geelong Woollen Mills proprietors threaten reprisals on the Melbourne Clothing Factories which will not buy their goods, and it seems as though the quarrel would be long and bitter, if the Government does not follow the example of that of the United States, and put such a duty on the imported article as to drive it out of the market," These are the facts which have been so carefully suppressed by those who are seeking to make political capital out of Victoria's demand for increased import duties on woollen goods. What matters a few thousand pounds loss to a wealthy British or Continental manufacturing firm, m order to prevent ttieir being shut out of a iparket from which they have been annually drawing immense profits. But this is not their only plan for extinguishing colonial manufacturers. They have a more subtle, a more deadly method. They imitate the colonial makers to such a degree that m appearance they resemble the colonial goods so closely as to deceive all but experts. We are sorry to learn that some importers are not above selling the couterfeit as the genuine article, the qualities of which are well known and appreciated. The result be that polonia} manufactures will soon cease to hold that high repute which they have so justly earned, and the manufacturers' occupation gone. We Know not whether what has happened m Victoria has already happened here, but $ it has not it soon will, and our manufactures be stamped out, unless, the Government follow the example. of the United State?, and prevent such t catastrophe by imposing prohibitive importt duties.