PROTECTION OF COLONIAL INDUSTRIES.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 16, Issue 848, 22 October 1870, Page 2

PROTECTION OF COLONIAL INDUSTRIES.

(Fisher & Holloway's Circular, October 31.) The Joint Committee on Colonial Industries has reported, They are of opinion that protective duties are desirable on certain descriptions ofnjauufactured articles—instancing tweeds, cloths, coarse woollen goods, ropes, and some other articles. We are prepared to ?igree. with them that protective duties would be calculated to promote or encourage the manufacture of those articles protected, if the duty is, only sufficiently high to be prohibitory. They say in their report that after a short time protective duties will be unnecessary. We are unable to follow them in this. It is, clear that so long as the price of labor stands at its presentjngh ra?e, we shall

be unable to compete successfully with the manufacturers of other countries, where labor is procurable in any quantities, at half the rate.

In considering this question we must remember that there is practically already a protective duty in force, in the shape of freight, shipping charges, commission, and the profits of all the different people through whose hands the goods pass before they come into our; shops for sale. This —what may be termed natural protection—rshould jbe sufficient; or at any rate all that any manufacturer who manufactures the raw material of. any country, in that country, can reasonably ask. Any protective duties beyond the natural ones above quoted, must prove injurious to the country. It must be remembered that if you increase the price of any article in general use (and it is only on those goods that it would be worth while to put a protective .duty) you increase the price of every other article manufactured or produced in the country, and consequently destroy the chance which other manufacturers or producers might have of competing successfully with foreign importers. This upsets the theory partially if not wholly, that protective duties on certain goods will keep money from leaving the country. If protective duties are to have this effect, they must be applied to every article now imported which it is possible could be made iu the country. , The consequence of this would be that we, should pay very high prices for those things which from being the natural products of the country should be the cheapest. Protection has long since been looked upon as an error by most of the able statesmen of Europe. It would truly be rather ludicrous for us to attempt in this country to perpetuate the acknowledged errors of our grandfathers. We are sorry that we have not space to follow this question through all its bearings; we have, however, given an outline of our reasons for thinking all duties not absolutely necessary in order to produce the revenue required to carry 'on the government of the country injurious, and trust that it will receive that attenii.--n from those whose duty it is to guide public opinion in the right direction, which the importance of the subject demands.