Correspondence

Feilding Star, Volume XIV, Issue 116, 30 May 1893, Page 2

Correspondence

"COLONC3T" IN BEPLY TO " EMIGRANT." TO THE EDITOR OF THE STAR. Sib,— To reply to "Emigrant" fully in his wanderings upon different subjects would mnke a letter too long, besides not being to tbe point. In his last letter however, " Emigrant " asks the question " How, after having Freetrade, colonial workmen could compete with European workmen in our local markets, otherwise than by dropping down to European workmen's condition." To which 1 reply : That our local market is as yet very limited, but such articles as blankets, tweeds, suits of clothing, the best quality of boots nnd shoes, etc., etc , could be manufactured in this colony and find a local demand, with a gradual increase as population became dense, without Protection. It was recorded that the managers of the first manufactory or two that started iv this colony, did not want Protection, because they foresaw that it would lead to over competition and a glutted local market, and so it turned out, as some of those manufactories have , stopped working at times, which shows < thnt too many of them have been started. I believe a hoafj duty is imposed upon some eoods ot a light material, which imposition only tends to increase the pov I crty of the poor in the Old Country, besides having the same efiect in this country by raising the price of those nei cessary articles. But some individuals > say thnt we must hare a certain amount of Protection to encourage local industry. Thia ia just as far from the r truth, as it is beneficial for a person in robust health to swallow a certain , amount of quack medicine as long as it does not kill him. The population of i London and its suburbs, I reckon, amounts i to about eight times wore than the . whole population of New Zealand, mii eluding Maories, so to think of competing ) in our local markets with such countries as England and Germany, as Emigrant! suggests, is ridiculous. The present ; Government's action in resrard to this > question is, to say the least, very delusive and inconsistant. The Liberals held a great banquet and rejoicing in Wellington t after they established Protection, which . some of them alleged was only a first , instalment, and yet they have the ' audacity to take credit in the attempt to . settle the working man on small farms, i and at the same time adopt a policy to cripple or kill the very source of a small , farmer's chance of a livelihood, namely, a free London market for surplus pro- , ducts. And to this market we owe the i greater part of what there is of prosperity , in this colony. As a solution of the unemployed difficulty, Protection is a I delusion and a snare and rather aggravates than otherwise, causing a falling off of labour, reduced wages in one part, and an , unnatural increase in another, the latter 5 being more than counteracted by a falling off of the numerous employments that trade gives rise to. Emigrant makes , some enquiry about color. Well, to ', contrast Freotrade against Protection, \ Freetrade is like tbe clear running river, I flowing onwards, until it mixes its waters , with the ocean, there to take part in conveying the noble ship, laden with products, to various ports ; whereas, so- , called Protection! is like the stagnant , backwater covered with green slime, and . the person that swallows it is just as ' green, in a sense, as the pool he attempts , to quench his thirst in. Emigrant did not answer my question aright, about the ancient Britons. The animals' skin was an exterior covering, substituted in war ! time with paint, his nether garments consisted in that which nature gave him. And it is strange, but not far from the I truth, that if he had survived under Protection, he would still be in a seminude condition. — I am, etc., A Colonist.