The Evening Star TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1870.

Evening Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2288, 6 September 1870, Page 2

The Evening Star TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1870.

It is really surprising how little the experience of one generation affects the thoughts and feelings of that which succeeds it. People tell us the Avorld becomes wiser now that books are multiplied, and fifty readers can be counted for one in times gone by. It is just possible, if all rubbish and false reasoning could have been shut out of circulation, there might have been advancement ; but since men who believe what is not true can write and publish their thoughts as well as those who believe what is true, and since that which is not true does not require much labor to sift and test, while that which is true is usually acquired and established by patient work and hard thinking, the broad road of error is the pleasanter and easier path to walk in—- “ One reels to this, another to that wall : ’Tis the same error that deludes them all.” “ Errors like straws upon the surface flow ; He who would search for pearls, must dive below.” On this ground only can we account for the reaction that has taken place in the

iColpnies trade. Scarcely a day passes but a*)l the old fallacies are reiterated, to which are added some new ones. The most favorite slipshod argument in the Colonies is, “ It is all * v#cy well for an old country like ** England, but it won’t do for a young “ one like New Zealand.” Another will tell you that Adam Smith’s doctrines are only adapted to the old world, but not at all to Colonics. A third with a very grave face will assert that there cannot be free trade where there are import duties. It would be very easy indeed not to meddle with these off-hand flippancies, for really they are nothing more. The misfortune is that special instances are brought forward as proofs of the success of monopoly, which satisfy superficial thinkers that what is good for one man must be good for a country. Now Aeam Smith, J, S. Mill, Richard Cobden, John Bright, Milner Gibson, Sir Robert Peel, Lord John Russell, Mr Gladstone, and all men who advocate free trade, do so on general, not on particular grounds. They know, as everybody else knows, that a particular interest may be created by the imposition of a restrictive policy : but there are better ways of doing it. Farmers, or graziers, or manufacturers may be bolstered up into riches by monopoly, but the condemnation is that the rest of the community is impoverished to the extent, or to a greater extent, than they arc enriched. It is necessary that this point should bo clearly understood. Legislation should not be for a class or classes, but for the country as a whole. But protection means neither more nor less than taxing the many for the benefit of the few. There are instances, such as brewing in Otago, where high duties have tended to the early development of a manufacture for which the country is specially adapted. Mr Birch, M.H.R., gave evidence on this subject before the Manufactures and Production Committee, and it is worth much more than a passing notice. It proves that the two objects of revenue and protection cannot be combined. Duties for revenue are useless if they operate as protective duties. Duties for protection are useless for that object if they produce revenue. All are aware that for revenue purposes a heavy import duty was laid on imported beers; but in consequence of the special adaptation of climate, and water for brewing purposes, the high price caused by the heavy duty induced the establishment of extensive breweries in Dunedin. We suppose this will be pointed to as a triumphant illustration of the advantages derivable from a system of protection. We freely give all the argumentative benefit derivable from it to our protectionist friends. Political economists never deny that industries may be raised up by a prohibitive system. All they affirm is that it is not conducive to national wealthy Mr Birch proves that the climate is the best in the world for making beer j that malt can be jiroduced 40 per cent, cheaper than it can be imported \ and that hops grown in the Colony are fresher, better, and nearly as cheap as those of English growth. With the help of a prohibitory duty, the public are thus supplied with a pleasant, wholesome beverage, at about the cost of imported beer’s, which are in consequence shut out of the market. u See,” say our protectionist friends, “ what protection has done —it has “ raised up a new manufacture ! True, but at what cost 1 The duty was intended to produce revenue but the revenue has ceased. It must, however, be raised from some source, and so as it is not obtainable from beer, it must be levied on some other article of food or clothing. The result is the consumer pays about the same price for his beer as he would have done had no such breweries been established, and a much higher price for something else, taxed heavily to make up the deficiency in the beer duty ; —that is, the country is a loser at least to the extent of the duty on beer. It is very pleasant to have one’s own beer to drink, and we should not care to i'Cvert back to English beers ; but it is something like growing one’s own cabbages—they are usually very fine and very well flavored, but very dear. A house maintained by ill-directed labor soon comes to poverty, and what is true of a house is true of a country ; if it is to become rich, the labor of its population must be profitably employed.