The Feilding Star, Oroua & Kiwitea Counties Gazette. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 1896. A GOOD SUGGESTION.

Feilding Star, Volume XVIII, Issue 117, 16 November 1896, Page 2

The Feilding Star, Oroua & Kiwitea Counties Gazette. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 1896. A GOOD SUGGESTION.

Last week Mr J. Graham, one of the candidates for the Taieri seat, in an address delivered at Mosgiel, advocated the direct encouragement of local industries. He pointed out that we sent away a great quantity of wool to other lands to be washed and manufactured into cloth and made-up clothing, and returned to us in that form. We sent a great number of hides and skins away to be tanned, and returned to us in boots and shoes and in harness and belting. He would be in favour of granting a bonus of 5 per ceut. on the first £10,000 worth of clotbing exported from each island locally made, and also 5 per cent, on the first j£sooo worth of boots exported from the colony. He always wore Mosgiel tweed, and found it to his interest to do so, and he felt assured that our manufacturers only wanted a little assistance to place their goods on other markets, and so establish a large and growing industry. Thousands of pounds were annually sent away for cotton goods which should be manufactured in the colony. There were cotton-producing countries — Queensland and Fiji — in our neighbourhood, and it only required the manufacturers to be given some encouragement to establish a very large industry. He would advocate that a bonus of 10 per cent, should be given for the first £10,000 worth of cotton goods manufactured in each island, and if that was not sufficient he would increase the amouut of the bonus. Thousands of pounds were also beiug sent away annually for harvesting machinery which ought to be manufactured in the colony, and he would be iv favour of giving handsome Government prizes to local manufacturers wbo could beat the imported articles in open competition. In this way money would be kept in the colony, and employment would be found for the young people who were growing up. Let them look at the city schools with their 600 and 800 scholars each, and at the country schools with tbeir 200 and 300 scholars each, aud then say what was to become of these boys and girls unless our industries were fostered in this manner. Additions are made to-day to tbe entries for Messrs Abraham and Williams' Palmerston sale.