The Nelson Evening Mail. MONDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1868.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume III, Issue 242, 12 October 1868, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. MONDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1868.

Those of our readers who have perused the synopses of PaHiamemary proceedings which have appoa'-ed from time to time in our columns during the present session of the General Assembly, will not need to he informed that a Select Committee has beeu appointed hy the Legislative Council to consider the existing tariff of thiscolony, and to take ovideuce ou the subject. The Committee have now sent in their report, which practically recommends the adoption of a modified system of protection, and a return to tlie principle of ad valorem duties. However antagonistic to the general tent,!* of public opinion such a proposition may at first appear, viewing tho present ascendancy of free trade principles, there can be-no question that such a system would at all events be preferable to the present measurement duties, which are so obviously unjust and unequal in their operation. The question whether the extension of a temporary measure of projection, in the case of a young and rising colony, might not be advantageous, has already been ventilated in these columns, and it is hardly necessary to slate that some oi the most illustrious political economists of the day — and notably James Stuart Mill — may he quoted in its favor, but there can be no doubt that protective duties are regarded hy the community at large as desigued for ihe especial benefit of some small, aud perhaps insignificant, portion of it, aud are therefore generally obnoxious and distasteful. The Committee, 'whilst expressing the opinion that it is inexpedient, considering how admirably adapted New Zealand is for the establishment of manufactures, from its possession of abundance of coal, of water power, and some of the most important raw materials.of commerce, that its capital and labor should be confined merely to the production of those articles which oncourage and employ the skilled labor of ether countries, yet venture to assert thafc it is highly expedient that the energies of the people should be directed and encouraged, in such a manner as would not leave them depeudent for supplies from beyond their own shores.' The Committee thus evidently enunciates the opinion that industrial enterprises of a nature adaptable to the circumstances of the colony, and the prosecutiou of which afford a reasonable assurance of success, may wisely be fostered and protected, at all events in their earlier stages, by the State. . We are, however, somewhat surprised, after reading such au enunciation of the opinion of the Committee, to fiud embodied in this report a recommendation that an import duty should be imposed on malt, which cannot but be regarded as a blow levelled at a new and -flourish iug industry, in which the people of Nelsou have an especial interest, aud which may certainly most inconsistent with the avowed bia3 of the Committee in favor of the protection of such industries, wheu we remember that the duty paid on imported aie has lately diminished at the rate of £10,000 per annum, while there can be no question that the consumption has greatly increased. The recommendation of the Committee that a reduction should be made in the exorbitant duty at present paid on spirits, which, it appears, is two shillings per gallon more than is paid in almost all the Australian colonies, will hardly, we suspect, find favor in the eyes of the Government, seeing that, although the consumption of spirits per head in the same ratio as the increase of our population,, has sensibly diminished, whilst illicit distillation is going on in the colony to a surprisingly Urge ; exte,st-r~a revenue of upwards of

£351,000 per annum is derived from this source, a consideration of no slight importance to an impecunious Government. There is yet another recommendation made iv the report of the Committee which deserves especial notice. We allude to that which advocates the adoption of the English system of charging a duty on ■wine according to strength, instead of the uniform duty of four shillings per gallon at present imposed in this colony, to tbe manifest encouragement of the consumption of strong and often very bad alcoholic wines in preference to the lighter wines. The beneficial tendency of this suggestion is sufficiently obvious, and we believe that its adoption, by encouraging and fostering the introduction into the colony of the lijrlit Australiau wines, would prove beneficial in the highest degree to its best interests, by diminishing the amount of intoxication which prevails, aud of the fatal effects of which instances are daily brought under our notice. The majority of the population here are driven to purchase alcohol, too frequently in its xevy worst form, because after all it is the cheape-t ami most easily procurable, but we believe that if a che-ip aud refreshing beverage were offered to them, instead of the poison which they now swallow in such large quantities, especially in the country districts, they would cheerfully avail themselves of the opportunity of purchasing it. We ure glad to learn that the expediency of promoting the interchauge between this and the neighboring colonies of such commodities as are of colonial growth or manufacture, has eugaged the attention of the Committee, and we are informed that action has already beeu taken upon it. Should this result in facilitating our j acquaintance with the light and iufinitely more wholesome wines of Australia, we shall hope in a few years' time to see them soid throughout the colony at a cheaper rate than imported liquors of any description, and thus supersede the deleterious compouuds iv which the people are now too frequently compelled to indulge to their great detriment aud injury.