The Feilding Star. THURSDAY, JAN. 7, 1886. Free Trade

Feilding Star, Volume VII, Issue 89, 7 January 1886, Page 2

The Feilding Star. THURSDAY, JAN. 7, 1886. Free Trade

We make the following extract from an article published by the Christchurch Press on Free Trade v Protection. At the present time this subject is very interesting, and will become doubly so during the next general election which will be in a very few months : — At present these islands of New Zealand happily form one nation. We have one Governor, one Parliament, one set of Ministers, and one Civil Service. Nobody disputes that, under present circumstances j it is wise and proper that there should be complete freedom of trade between the two islands. The fiercest rivalry may exist between Auckland and Dunedin, or between Christchurch and Wellington, and nobody proposes that the Government should interfere. The traders of the respective cities must fight it out amongst themselves. But if by any chance the colony should be divided into two colonies, then, according to the protectionist, there would immediately arise the necessity for high protective tariffs, or else Christchurch might be crushed by Wellington or Auckland... Yet what difference to trade would the splitting up of New Zealand into two nations make which would justify such a change in the commercial relations of the one Island with the Other? We should still be the same people. We should probably be subject to very much the same laws for all practical purposes. The only difference would be that there would be two gentlemen to sign Crown grants and summon and prorogue Parliaments on behalf of Her Majesty, one for each island. There would be two sets of estimates on which they could job, two Tireai suries at which they could draw their little deserved honorarium ; two Hansards in which the mane and imbecile talk which is the

staple of the utterances of most members: of Parliament would he reported, and two Civil Services into which they would endeavor to shove their needy Relatives. There would undoubtedly be two Statute Books each year,

lull of slovenly made and unintelli-

gible laws, probably to much the same effect in each colony. But for all the purposes of commerce we should be in much the same position as we are in now. Yet as we are now, even protectionists admit that it is right and proper that we should have free trade between the two islands. Under the circumstances we have supposed, the protectionists would demand to have a straight jacket, in the shape of a protective tariff, put upon the commerce of the colonies. Surely ut is evident, from this illustration, what a silly policy that of the protectionists is.