Hawke's Bay Times. Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri. THURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 1870.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 16, Issue 814, 18 August 1870, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Times. Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri. THURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 1870.

| When writing our last leading article, we were undei the impression | that the recent public meeting held in the Auckland Mechanics' Institute was to be taken as giving ex pression to the opinions of the Auckland public. Later news, however, gives us good ground for a material

modification of that view. It serais that the meeting, called ostensibly " to take into consideration the proposed Reciprocity Bill," was, by a stroke of policy on the part of a small body of interested parties, turned into a protectionist meeting; and, under the guise of a resolution de siring that the Reciprocity Act may be " confined to articles which are not, and cannot, be produced in New Zealand," condemns reciprocity altogether ; for it is e\ident that that

exception would almost entirely exclude the whole list of articles of Australian production. AVhile we do not look upon the Bill in question as a satisfactory measure, we must !say that under the present Ministry, which has endeavored to introduce protection principles into its fiscal system, it must be regarded as a step in the right direction. If only a few articles of general consumption can, under the proposed system, be imported duty free, an example of the stimulus free trade always gives to commerce will be shown, and we cannot doubt that its benefits would he gradually extended until a free trade, pure and simple, be obtained. If this cannot be hoped for at present, it would at least be an answer to those who object to " free trade on one side" to have a reciprocity treaty, under which as many as possible of the articles of general con sumption might pass free between the colonies! of the southern hemisphere.