The Southland Times. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1872.

Southland Times, Issue 1680, 24 December 1872, Page 2

The Southland Times. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1872.

Protection has been defined as " a robbery of some one else," and like moat other foolish as well as dishonest practices, is sure in the long run to recoil upon the parties by whom the system is employed. The fiscal regulations of a community, in order to afford free scope to commerce, and to furnish the utmost facility for a mutual interchange, should be upon the simplest possible basis. Exaction in the shape of Customs duties should in all cases be confined to a sum accepted and defended solely on revenue grounds. Tb© restrictions connected i with entrance and egress to and from the ports of the world should be reduced to a minimum, recognising no other consideration than that of the public safety, and in short the nearer the approach can be made to what shall be in reality a mutual exchange, so much the Dearer will the community of indiyidual nations approach a material prosperity, Believing the foregoing to be the true principles on which either colonial or national prosperity depends, we are not by any means disposed to sanction any scheme by which the system of protection in any shape or form can be either maintained or encouraged, and considering the extent to which the principle of free trade has been carried in the home country, we are not likely to find the home Government regarding with favor any proposal which may carry along with it a tendency to support the principle of protection, and this may possibly account for its action in relation to the expressed desire of the Australian colonists to form a Zollvereiu. "We do not believe the danger to exist which is probably sought to be»guarded against, and the refusal of the Imperial Government to grant to the Australias what Las been already con ceded to the Canadian Dominion is difficult to be accounted for. It is not often the case that official documents assume much of an argumentative character, but as there are exceptions to all rules, an exception may be made in favor of the paper prepared by the Hon. the Colonial Treasurer in reply to the despatch of Earl Kimberlet on the subject of intercolonial reciprocity. This paper deals with the matter under all the aspects ("perhaps) in which the subject can be possibly presented, and assumes from the relative positions of the British colonies in this hemisphere, and the foreign possessions more or less near to them, to gether with the increasing trade between the two, that "the necessity must sooner or later arise of regulating the relations between these countries and their Australian neighbors, and it must be decided whether the colonies are to act for themselves, or whether the Imperial Government are to act for them." It will' be remembered or must be undfr^tood that the despatch of Lord Kimbeeley (to which the Colonial Treasurer's paper is intended to reply) is in itself a reply to the expression of a desire on the part of the Australasian colonies to form a Cus toms union. This idea, extended so far as to comprise the whole Empire, Lord KratBERLEY appears to ridicule, and argues its impossibility from the fact that adjacent communities have found it impracticable to find a basis of union, and apparently ignores the fact that the Australian communities have actually desired to enter into such a contract, but have been denied the opportunity by the Imperial Government. " The Australian Colonies Government Act" provides that in any tariff of import duties fixed by the of New South "Wales, Vic- ' toria, and Queensland, the duty payable on articles imported shall be the same irrespective of the country from which they may have been exported or of which they may be the produce, and as there is nothing in the Constitution Act to prevent their agreement among themselves to admit their own productions duty free,, it follows that if they were to do so, they could not charge duty on the same classes of goods arriving from elsewhere. New | Zealand seeks an extension of power by which she may enter into reciprocity ' treaties with other countries besides the colonies of Great Britain. Whether as between New Zealand and the home Go , vernment, or as between it and the aggregate of the Australian colonies, the real question at issue is the right of the colonies to establish reciprocity treaties. New Zealand having been original Ij left out of the provision in which tho colonies i of New i v outh "Wales, Victoria, and j Queensland were included, enabling them to make colonial impositions, has stepped in advance and sought the powers by which she shall be able to regulate her | Customs business with the whole world. Of course the question is open to argument from the standpoint either of protection or of free trade, and Mr Dv Cane, the Governor of Tasmania, appears to comprehend the matter and to come near the truth in asserting that in the absence of tbe recognition of such a right, the choice lies " between a system of protection pure and simple, maintained by each colony against its neighbor, and a system of protection modified by reciprocity convention, and which might ultimately result in the establishment of a commercial union of the Australias and New Zealand on the basis of a common tariff. "We hold to tins right (in the abstract) on tbe part of the colonies, and by the soundest of all arguments it is capable of proof, but at the same time it is desirable to avoid in its exercise as much as possible any cause of offence. Such cause of offence is however no more likely to arige in the carrying out of a principle of colonial reciprocity, than in the,exercise of that of colonial restriction, and is possibly less likely to occur. The

Secretary of State is evidently not disposed at present to concede the principle of allowing the colonies to fix their own terms, but it may be safely predicted that, the principle being sound, the time for itg concession cannot be very far distant. It requires no. great exercise of the reasoning faculties to demonstrate the great facility which a power to relax and modify our Customs arrangements to meet circumstances would afford to the extension of our business relations with" foreign countries^. It is no'i fair to an elaborate article like that of the Colonial Treasurer to dispose of it summarily, and what we have now written has been more in the way of introductory remark than with any intention of entering fully into the matter raised. We sball have to raise and discuss the whole question as between New Zealand and the Imperial Government which may be summarily put thus : — The Australian colonies desire to regulate their fiscal matters, to which the Imperial Government demurs, (having nevertheless conceded the right to Canada) and furnishes the ground of its objection. To this demurrer, Mr Yogel has replied, and whether it be that we are inclined to look at his arguments from a point of self-interest, or are convinced by their intrinsic excellence, certain it is that he appears to hate the best of it.