Manawatu Herald. TUESDAY, JANUARY 29, 1889. PROTECTION.

Manawatu Herald, Volume VII, Issue 238, 29 January 1889, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. TUESDAY, JANUARY 29, 1889. PROTECTION.

In speaking on the Customs Duties Bill last session, one of the strongest Protectionists in the House stated; — "The duty of a Protectionist is this, he must first of all endeavor to find what article of commerce can be satisfactorily manufactured in the colony without causing the consumer an undue rise in the price ; and whenever he has, he must at once put on a prohibitive duty for the purpose of securing the market to the manufacturer?" If this is a fair representation of the Protectionist's policy, and we honestly believe it is, it will he at ! once seen how mischievous it can become. Trade is not to be allowed to find its own level, and a manufacture created by the laws of supply and demand, but a Protectionist is to wander about and if he thinks, not if he can prove, a new business can be started, he considers that he should be entitled to demand from the Grovernment a prohibitive duty on the imported article, if the same can be done without an undue rise in the price. It is not pointed out who is to be the party to calculate the necessary rise to make a new industry pay, but presumably it is to be left to the monopolists to fix. In favor of his contention he innocently instances the reform of a past Freetrader into a Protectionist because the profit he obtained on selling imported boots and shoes was from 25 to 30" per cent, whilst on colonial .manufactured goods he obtained only j 10 per cent profit. Purely there 1 could be no clearer evidence of the > inability of the boot manufactory i reaching any extent beyond the con- , fines of this colony, when the competition is so keen that they will not yield the seller the usual trade profits. If the industry was on a footing which it should be, to enable it to be of a corresponding value to the colony, as it costs in increased prioes

to the consumer, it should, he .objo to induce the retaileiptojfttyah t_.e tMui? hy tjhe, BAnie 'f Mucements as the I En_!iic_. manufacturer offers him, otherwise the consumption will not be encouraged outside of the colony. In this example as in all others, protected industries cannot live, ex» cept upon the pockets of the agricultural population, foi* the larger" ] production and the better" ajMianCea used in tho manufacturies of the old ; world, swamp all efforts td (iompete with them at the wages w6 .desire td see our operatives earn. The population, is so ridiculously small, that the encouragement of industries merely to supply them is similar to the creation of a mountain of debt to secure a molehill of benefit. Our land is so suitable for pastoral and agricultural occupations, and so much is yet left to be developed, that these frantic attempts to stimulate manufacturies, creating a poor and weakly town population, is the very worst form of adding to our popular tion, even if that Should be the only evil that resulted from these attempts. Unfortunately, however, the consumers of manufactured articles are the back bone of the colony, men who are developing its resources, and who take the brunt of the chances of profits such exports will bring in the English markets, and for whom nothing is done but to tax them in every conceivable manner for railways, roads, river improvements, the government of the country, the sick, and the idle. In what manner will these artisans contribute anything like the same proportion to all these objects that one small farmer will have to do ? and yet it is doubtful if he will make as much as some of them will earn. If the manufacturer is to be encouraged to roam around seeking some new attempt, the profit on which shall be guaranteed him, by a not undue rise in the price, fixed by himself, and a prohibitive import duty, it becomes only fair that the farmer should be entitled to claim a re-adjustment of the taxation, so that all should bear the burdens equally. It is not only by direct taxation and by increased duties that the farmers are called on to pay for this fad of protection, but they feel it by having to pay increased freights on the exports they raise. A very clear case is now before them in the statement made that the sheds at the wharves in Wellington are crowded with wool and flax, which cannot be got away. That only two sailing vessels are in port, and no others are offering, except the regular steamers. As we are not prepared to say that this has resulted from the decrease of imported gpojls, it only goes to show what will be the position when the prohibitive tariff is felt in full force. The accumulation of produce awaiting shipment means a loss to the producer both of markets and of money, and will have the tendency of considerably adding to the freight he will have to pay. It is time, if not past time, that the countryman rose to take steps that ari_£her Pai*liament shall better represent his interests than the present one does.