The Patea Mail. (Published Wednesdays and Saturdays.) SATURDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1879.

Patea Mail, Volume V, Issue 464, 4 October 1879, Page 2

The Patea Mail. (Published Wednesdays and Saturdays.) SATURDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1879.

There is one very omenous passage in the Governor’s Speech, which appears to shadow forth dimly a new phase of Greyism. It may be only a bait to catch the support of the large towns, or it may be the price of the two seats that Sir George won in Christchurch ; but be it what it may, it is an asp in the basket of figs. We refer to the threat, or, as oomo -nro«u Uo promise, to adopt the protective policy. No dounc language used is studied and guarded, so that in case of need it can be explained away like tiiu uuun.. Richard 111. explained away to Anne his murdering her husband. But if it is not protectian pure and simple, what is it ? Here it is:—“ A very general desire appears to exist, that consideration should be given to the best means of promoting and encouraging manufactures and local industries in this colony. With a view to give effect to this desire, you may probably think it advisable to appoint a Select Committee to inquire into and report upon the subject.” What is this but the thin end of the wedge fathered upon the “ general desire,” which “general desire” was probably first discovered in some private room in Christchurch, or Dunedin. No doubt a few factory owners and speculators rejoice at the prospect of growing fat at public expense, and many deluded workmen will think the Golden Age, or at least the age of gold, is at hand. But it is for the whole people of New Zealand to stand up as one man against being made a prey to the selfishness and ignorance of a portion of the population of the towns, and against being saddled by a designing Government with an exploded and bat’s-eyed policy. It is one of the devices of the “ arch-Artful Dodger” to tell the colony that there is a “ general desire.” He knows that thousands will take his word for it, and be fooled into submitting to—they scarce know what. But, beyond question, “ promoting and encouraging manufactures and local industries,” means Victorian protection, and a Canadian Tariff. To encourage local indastry means that New Zealand timber, coal, and wheat, shall be relieved of the healthy opposition from other colonies, which is the life of trade, and which compels the country to advance with the rest of the world; and-to “.promote manufactories,” means that the whole colony shall pay ten, twenty, or fifty per cent, more for clothing, tools, and implements, than it would-pay if the outside world were allowed to compete in the market.

The bobble of Protection has been so often exploded, that we are almost ashamed to occupy space in pricking it once more; but as long as a delusion and a lie is repeated, so long must the opposed truth be reiterated, lest silence should seem to any to indicate aquiesence. In this, as in every other country, it is •necessary to impose a tax upon certain commodities in general use, for the purpose of raising revenue from the whole population. Thus in India, where very few articles in general use passes through the hands of the authorities, it is necessary to impose a tax of one thousand per cent, on salt, so that, as every one uses salt, every one shall pay a trifle to the revenue. In New Zealand there is a tax on tea for the same reason. In neither of these cases' is there any intention to promote the local production of the commodity; the revenue alone is

considered. But when, as in .Germany, enormous duties are levied on English ) ice, the object is different. There is no idea of collecting, the duty; it is simply intended to keep‘the lace out of the enable the German maker ■to sell'the product of his worse labour and worse . machinery, as cheaply/ and more cheaply, than the English article, when burdened with the.duty, could be sold. This is Protection. The people are protected from good and cheap articles. A few men niake fortunes, and a few thousand find employment, which they could have found in some other way. : All the streams and rivers of the world exist because of differences of level on the earth’s surface; all winds and storms because of difference of temperature; and all trade and commerce because of different capacities of production in different countries. As it is a law of nature that the warm Gulf Stream should flow to the frozen pole, and the cold polar stream flow to the tropics, so it is a law of nature and of reason that the old and highly developed country, should pour a stream of its products into the new and growing country, and receiv%in return a stream of the commodities it ernnot produce as cheaply itself. There are a few plausible arguments put forward in favour of Protection. The first, and usual oneisthatit increases the demand for labour, and makes the working man prosperous, by raising wages. Wo are of opinion that it does neither. There will be for years to come, scope for all our energies in developing the natural resources of the country, and any hands engaged in promoting exotic industries, are but diverted from their legitimate employment. As to raising wages, Protection, of course, enables the workmen in any protected industry to get higher wages than they would in the same industry if it were not protected ; foj Protection enables the industry to exist. But if there were no Protection, and the industry did not exist, the workman would earn just as much in an industry that did not require protection. But even supposing it to be granted that Protection in manufacturing clothing, say, is a good thing for those who are employed under it, how does it affect other workmen—the farm labourer, say ? It does not raise his wages; but it makes him pay, in extra price for his clothing, a tax to support the protected workmen. Another argument is that Protection favours an export trade in the very article protected; for it is cheaper to manufacture a large lot than a small lot, and if a large lot be manufactured, and there is a sure market at a good price for, say, two-thirds at home, then the manufacturer can afford to export the other third, and sell it to the outside world at <. low price. This is as though a shopkeeper should say to us, “ I have two of these articles; it von will dive me 70 per cent, extra fur one, i wif? oe able to sell the other cheap to a Maori.” Against Protection we would submit) in the first place, that it would injure our export trade. It the colony reducer, by prohibitive duties, its import trade from Europe, it must at the same time increase the cost of its export trade, by compelling ships to return comparatively empty. In the second place, if Now Zealand begins to protect, she will not be able to stop until she protects all round; and all-round Protection is the greatest political folly of the -age. Suppose that our iron works are protected first, and begin to flourish; incessant clamour will shortly bring about the protection of our coal trade; this raises the price of coal, and at the same time the cost of producing iron, whereupon there will be a clamour for farther protection for the iron trade; and so on. This is a single example of how one branch of trade cannot be protected without handicapping another, and of the rottenness of protectionist theories generally. But there is still another consideration, which will not be without its weight in the minds of those who love British greatness, and wish to see it perpetuated. It is that a tariff hostile to the Mother Country would weaken the bonds that bind us to theEmpire on which the sun never sets. Who can deny that the Canadian Tariff has had the effect of hastening the day when the Dominion shall either be independent, or a part of the United States ? We imagine that few of our readers desire that snch feelings of hostility and bitterness as have of late been engendered, both in Canada and in England, should exist between New Zealand and the source and centre of our race. If this colony is indeed to be the Britain of the South, let the foundation be well laid. Beware of the thin end of the wedge. It is easy to start on a career of Protection, but very hard to abandon it when huge industries have been bolstered up, to destroy which would be utter ruin.