Where the Working Man Will Suffer.

Free Lance, Volume V, Issue 220, 17 September 1904, Page 16

Where the Working Man Will Suffer.

THE Trade Monopolies Bill, now before the House, is a measure designed to throttle the bold bad traders who suck the life blood out of the woiking man, and to give him another pudi along the path to perfect bliss. The Bill will, if it becomes law, give a court of three judges: the right to examine the books of any corporation which is accused 1 of being a tiust, and suspend the operations of it. It will, in fact, be able to lemove the person who is occupying the initiatory position of middleman. » * ♦ Let us see bow it is going to sow large areas of ioy. Take one alleged luxury — although it has become a necessity to the average man — tobacco. Dreadful monopoly. Last year the duties collected in New Zealand on tobacco products totalled £445 000, tobacco alone accounting for £330.000 of that amount. Here's your surplus in one lump, and surely one to be very proud of, considering that a Government which is anxicrasi to benefit the working man takes this very nice little sum out of his pockets. It is ascertained by a perusal of trade jouri aU ili.it t e ( us oms <lut\ on the in-bond price of seven leading brands of cigarettes, is 142^ per cent. Monopolies should be tiodden underfoot. The Trade Monopolies Bill will see to. it at once. The woiking man wants it to. Three of the low-grade, makes of cngai - ettes pay duties of 180, 185, and 2552 per cent. You wouldn't think of calling that monopoly, would, you? But it hurts the. -working man far more severely. * • * Then, to pursue the> tobaicco lllus^ tration. Any of the seven leading plug tobaccos you smoke pay an average duty' of 233| per cent Customs duty, and the humble "twist" tobacco—bought by working men because it is cheap' — pays 385 per cent. The smoker of twist will probably be a whole-souled supporter of the "down-with-monopoly" cry. Your palate is aristocratic, and you buy any of the five leading tobaccos put up in tins and packets. These only pay duty at the rate of 135 per cent., and surely you don't grudge this small profit to the Customs P You'll be able to whoop with joy if you see any private <c trust" Rouashed for making a bigger profit than TO or 15 per cent., because we've got to Put Down monopoly in this country. * * * The working man has already squealed at the price he pays for his smoke, and he has squealed at the wrong person — the manufacturer, the distributor (the middle-man, who must be Put Down), and the retailer. He doesn't seem to know that the Government is denying its surplus from his smoke», i aising an enormous sum of money out of it, and helping him along that path of bliss by putting down monopolies. Well, suppose the dreadful middleman goes. The manufacturers simply appoint agentsi in the colony, and the cost will be raised. Also, freights will be higher, and the charges all round stiff er on the small lots imported bv the retailei . Quite a lot of people want to get something out of trade a<? well as the Government, although they would be content with a very modest proportion. 385 per cent. ' Ye gods'