The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE, OCTOBER 14, 1901. THE FEDERAL TARIFF.

Gisborne Times, Volume VI, Issue 236, 14 October 1901, Page 2

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE, OCTOBER 14, 1901. THE FEDERAL TARIFF.

tjix< k the announcement regarding tin proposed l’oderal Larill was made on Wed uesday last the subject has been the cliie one of conversation in eomniercial circle.' throughout the colony, and there is even probability of the matter receiving tin early attention of Parliament. in the House on Friday the matter was referred to in the second reading of the Fisheries Encouragement Fill, and the line takes by the Premier was that the colony musi seek fresh markets to overcome any loss which it may sustain, air Seddon hinted at the prospect of si lengthened sessior being necessary to discuss proposals which he expects to submit. The epicslion of how the new duties will affect Xew Zealand, and Canterbury in particular, is thus referred to in the Christchurch Press Attention is first claimed by the impost ol twenty shillings a ton upon potatoes and onions. Our readers hardly need to be told that the export of potatoes from this district to Australia, almost entirely tc Sydney, which has hitherto been practically a free port, has been of considerable \alue. It has been subject to great iluctuations, for in laps the total export of potatoes from the colony was valued at Tib?,4lo, whereas last year it had fallen to <£21,018. Part of this fall may be attributable to the increase of potato-

growing in Australia ami growth in fuvo' o)' the Tasmanian article, but it is a!sc largely duo to more favorable seasons 01 the other side. Ttieir “ lean years ” are New Zealand’s opportunity, of whicl she has always been able to tain advantage, and in their years o fatness they can do without our help In onions, again, a considerable trade ha; been done locally with Australia, New South Wales again providing practically the only market. Last year the value oi onions exported from New Zealand was a little less than A'bUUO, but two years previously it amounted to over X'll,ooo. The colony’s trade with Australia in butter lias rapidly diminished of late, owing, no doubt, to the strides made by the butter industry in several of the States, and it might soon have been expected to disappear. The same remark would doubtless apply to choose, as the one industry to a large extent follows the other. Australia, however, has lately been buying a good deal more of our cheese than butter, and the trade last year was worth nearly X'.jO.OUO to this colony. Our grain, both raw and prepared, is knocked out of the Australian market by tiie new duties. Oats have figured very largely in the colony’s export trade to the other side during the last two or three years. Last year, for instance, the value of our exports of this cereal to Australia was idl'd,OuO, but the returns are misleading, as they do not show what percentage of the oats was transhipped to South Africa. Many Melbourne orders were filled by purchases of New Zealand oats, and the new tariff will not touch this trade, for the grain can still be transhipped in bond. It is to South Africa that we have to look fur our largest market for oats. Australians will in future have to go without New Zealand bacon and hams, which have attained wide favor, or they mu-t pay more for them. Tueie will assuredly come in the future, as there have come in the past, seasons when Australia lies in the grip of the drought, and w hen she must come to New Zealand for the produce she requires. Duties will not avail then, their only effect will be that the Australians will have to pay higher prices than they would have paid for articles of absolute necessity to them. The tariff must also have the

effect of driving Xew Zealand producers to seek new markets, and especially to make a great effort to secure a large share of the trade with South Africa, which must inevitably follow the close of the war. Australia has been a good customer to us for many years, but it was inevitable that as settlement progressed her people would learn to produce many of the a tides hitherto obtained from Xew Zealand, and thus become, subject, of course, to weather conditions, independent and self-supply-ing. We could have bought the continuance of our trade by federation, but that j would hi;ve been too high a price to pay for the loss of our linancial and legislative independence. i