The Evening Star SATURDAY, OCTOBER 3, 1874.

Evening Star, Issue 3624, 3 October 1874, Page 2

The Evening Star SATURDAY, OCTOBER 3, 1874.

Whatever irHMr be entertained by the rest toP theC >GdHmies regarding protection, Victoria 'holds fast by its 'elccTu&iviSTystenT. ~Tnrthatr’ respect;' art least, experience has proved a badj No matter who goes into lower there, the result is the same. _lf ( me professedly a protectionist has the supreme direction of affairs, everyone cnows what to expect; monopoly sits m the throne, and gives to those who ;annot hold their own in the battle of ife, contfr!bvfti6n| byu liCwAjfroraß sh«s bockets of all the" rest of the population. |The Government takes itself |o; determine what trade shall be encouraged and bolstered up Jjv, money. Wrested in the nidst’ expensive from the proceeds of all other industries, and thps sets up, a few individuals in wealth' by ‘a system 1 diffdrmg r on?y in name and wastefulness from a poor-law. psessnpjent, . But when a Government professing 1 ffed ptifa r Oi^'es ,f ’ ‘is - utterly gnores them as to draw still more ightly the bonds of indnopbly, ' the lhionsistency is sp tj?aUt snrmsing even tlie. protectionists themlelveft should trust ifc ; ; from'

(experience, one could hardly believe, that men could be found 'who, profess-' Jng ; one r thing-, before , the , worlds Hvould commit themselves to a directly pppositei* course ; yet this' hfci beeh' the practice with Victories.politicians for the last twelve ortourteetuyeam < -Prior to. that timoo« moreliberal system prevailed. The leading Statesmen were to a''man seer traders'" [The retrogression began in jtural districts, and rapidly spread amongst the arfcizah .'classes/! whib T faS-I hied tlgßjr ,wouW heable, to ; {wages ami secure to themselves Constant work by putting a stop to assisted-. lii^itipg )r |b^e ; hours.., o£ uabor, and manufacturing all they ■wanted in the Colony. It was not to Ithe credit' of the, statesmen of'that day jthat, almost as if by magic, they discovered that a sptem proved,, by cepIturies ‘of experience to be - wrong, in' principle and ruinous in practice, was only applicable t6 old aiid Settled counjtries. As power and Influence threat-; ened to pass out of,.their iptothose of others—or at least they thought so—they sacrificed principle to self-seeking, and thus induced the* [very evils "protectionists ended- - vored to avoid. ' Sound knowledge fwould have pointed to the consequences that have followed. It would jhave shown that putting a stop to as-

pisted immigration was really stopping work.. Working-men ,said_it jthat they pages of men* who .came" into the country to compete wifeh/theth. This sounds very well, *nd has deceived jmany #hose : inyopyi*: ptfeVehts their seeing two steps in A. little Reflection will show, however, that this is a mistafeh'."Tfie artizari hWohly does not pay .towards, the 'passage* but gajuas by the constant demand for his labor paused the population p3s jNew Zealand diirinj jthe past four years proyea this.; , /Had' Ithere been no immigration, the revenue , 1 wages would have teen down to the works would not have? been needed, but wbuM-have been practically impossible,.. , instead,, of being a increasing centre. of have beep kV|ijrampe*qb, np Gityn : ly is not fields and docker that - criate the demand ''for- 1 laboir/ Ijitlle use t woulii ' they be; without’ human mouths to be fed and human wants to be supplied.- ; Herds of cattle |and flocks of sheep 1 might feed- on the;pdfetures of. Ne# Zealand .’arid provide jr^yr.material, bp/, wrought up,by 'distant populations,.who -.would, scarcely? feel the benefit. -It-is for those who comb to’ them to i'eklise the Advantages jof a fuff supply, MH/hpw, rproy fltable, ip is to haye p, ipai’ket fpr their labor. Hy closing the. dooi against immigrants, people, of Victoria condemned themselves to worktor populations,at a distance. They soon overtook jthe local demand for labor, and, donig that, had to compete- with cheap-da bor in Europe. The * hefees&ry result fol- ' jlowed—wages felt'- They trMtf thleep' | -them up by nlx)tecti6b Ar wjneb only 1 jmade'thbevil worse, 1 tor; m* addition | !lo ; yer H wiagyß*f4flgh ■pticosi.hHd -to/be j I paid for; i-goods-;r!that .were- wanted iThris the; kkrnings- v frig# 1 ,Whie at,, bpth 1 eh^^tbey : fian j dess money to “spends and got less for 1 : what they.spent.-T rYafitojiar should, by I .this time, have been far in advance of ! jother Australasian - Colonies. It had j jattraptions j the others net pqssess. ! It had no drawbacks in the shape of 1 /convict:/colonists; it j | had gold in abundance, and the making j | of » great'nation;'but its pMflbitory •' i syutenrlms; tferowiraway it£ i ‘New South Wales and New Zealand ! ;bidfair to take-the lea*-for they are rapidly, ’ while Victoria & I Tpp.Vto there I AWiU djfooyeritbe haye-com- ; emitted in adopting-a-' false 1 ‘ ebehfcmtc j {system, and entrusting conduct of I th sS«;■» one thing another, instead of

br&iring the fetters that cramp industry, Iriraroe present Executive, rivet them more firmly.