REMOVE THE BARRIERS.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 1943, 17 May 1880, Page 3

REMOVE THE BARRIERS.

Wo reprint the following admirable article in full from the Melbourne “ Weekly Times ”:

A paper which has justly earned itself the title of the “ Misleador ” has taken alarm at the spread of Freetrade principles among the farmers of this colony, and endeavors to throw dust in their eyes by representing to them that they require Protection. Against whom ? Not against corn grown by the " pauper labor ” of Europe, because that bit of stale claptrap has been effectually disposed of by the simple fact that Europe does not grow broadstuffs enough for its own consumption ; nor against the large ranohoros on the Pacific Slope of North and South America bocausoyo have ceased to be grain importers from Ohili and California, and have become competitors with those countries for the supply of the world with wheat. No ; our farmers are told that they ought to ask for protection against the " unfair competition ” to which they are exposed with the growers of oats in New Zealand, where labour is as dear as it is in Victoria, and whore all the elements in the cost of production are identical with those which prevail here. “The New Zealand farmer,” it is said, “has the advantage of growing his oats upon the seaboard, so that his transit expenses are reduced to that of watercarriage, which enables him to land his produce at Melbourne for Is per bag, as compared with the 3s per bag land carriage that the Victorian farmer’s distance from tho metropolis involves.” Therefore the np-country mt-grower should bo protected by an import luty upon New Zealand oats, to the extent, we presume, of 2s per bag ! But observe the sxquisite absurdity of this proposition. For )ats are grown upon our own seaboard also, whence the freight to Melbourne is of course nuch lower than it is from Now Zealand, [here are 605 acres under oats near Alborton, '33 near Belfast, 1166 near Portland, 1892 iear Rosodale, and 2354 near Warrnambool. lhall wo impose a protective duty upon all iats entering Hobson’s Bay from any of those daces P We must do so, in order to place he oatgrower in Kara Kara, or Rodney, or Dolatite upon an equal footing in tho Mellourne market with his competitors near the eaboard in this colony, if there be any force n the arguments of the misleader. But does any sane man imagine that the myers of oats would acquiesce in an arrangeuent by which the price of that grain would ie raised 2s per bag ? For every grower of iats there are at least a dozen consumers of hem, and it is one of the most striking haractoristics of protection that it completely gnores the interests of the latter class—that ; to say, of the whole community. Every lerson in the colony who keeps one or more torses; every drayman, carter, cabdriver, mtcher, baker, milkman, ooaoh proprietor, baise, buggy, or carriage owner, as also every armer, is interested in procuring provender or his stable at the cheapest rate attainable, ud to increase its price artificially by taxaion is to rob every one of these by Act of ’arliament. Now it so happens that tho oil and climate of New Zealand are peculiarly avorablo to the growth of oats, tho average ield per acre during a period of five ears haying been as under in the various olonies :

Bushels per acre. South Australia 13 79 Western Australia 15 69 New South Wales 18 97 Victoria ... ... ... ... 19T1 Tasmania 24 65 New Zealand ... ... 3252 Accordingly, there are raised from 190,344 acres under oat crop in the last-named country no less than 6,029,962 bushels, while the product of 105.234 acres in Victoria is only 2,040,486 bushels. The obvious moral of the position is that, instead of neutralising the bounty of Providence to those islands by deliberately taxing their surplus produce of this article when it reaches our own ports, we should apply ourselves to the cultivation of such crops as our soil and climate are specially propitious to; while as regards the general question of competition with other countries, we may depend upon it that the greatest success will attend those who engage in the conflict with the lightest possible equipment. Ereetrade should be the Victorian farmer’s watchword. He should bo free to buy his machinery, his implements, his harness and saddlery, his ropes, tarpaulins, bags, sacks, and dairy utensils, his household furniture, and his wearing apparel in the cheapest market. And those of whom ho buys will be eager to buy of him, while the mutually advantageous exchange thus established will have the effect of creating a regular and steady ocean traffic, and of thus reducing freights to a minimum. Quite recently one of the leading corn-merchants in Antwerp has called the attention of Victorian farmers to the fact that Belgium imports on an average 12,000,000 bushels of wheat per annum, and that last year she drew from other countries no less than 45,000,000 bushels of grain of all kinds, so that Antwerp has really become one of the largest corn-markets in Europe. Belgium is also a very large purchaser of Australian wools, and would no doubt become so of Australian wines and meats. She is quite willing to buy of us all, if wo will allow her to balance the account by selling us her manufactures. Her irrigating machinery, her agricultural implements, her sewing and knitting machines, her hardware, her mining tools, her corn-mills, her pottery, porcelain and glassware, her furniture, her broadcloths, felted goods and casaimercs, are all suited to our wants. Why should the exchange of these for our wheat, wool, wine, and meat be prevented or obstructed by Custom-house barriers ? What have our farmers got to gain by restrictions uponfreedom of commerce ? N.:thing. What have they got to lose by them ? Everything. Agriculture has reached that stage of development in this colony in which it must look abroad for markets. In order to compote with the people of other new countries in the corn marts of Europe, we must cheapen production as far as possible ; we must procure the best laboursaving machinery in the world at the lowest price at which it is attainable; and wo must also endeavour to export our surplus produce at the lowest rates of freight procurable. But to do this we must sweep away a host of Customs duties, and have a tariff for revenue only. The farmers’ unions can accomplish this with the greatest ease if they are so minded, and they can calculate with the utmost confidence upon the cordial sympathy and support of the mercantile and professional classes of the community in bringing about this great and beneficial reform. Why should the country pay tribute to the town ? Why should the agricultural interest,which is the very backbone of every State, be fleeced in order to build up a manufacturing aristocracy on the one hand, and to prevent the distribution of the population—now congested in the metropolis—over the surface of the country, where it is so much needed, on the other ?