PROTECTION

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 602, 2 March 1929, Page 7

PROTECTION

oiat it Can Do to Help New Zealand SIMPLICITY OF SYSTEM protection is the application of Import duties varying in aceordnca with circumstances and largely confined to manufactured goods. It > s confidently believed that bv its aid only can the full industrial development of such a country as New Zealand be ! assured About the operation of the protective ; jj-stero much can be written but the j present ailTI is to introduce to the man ' 9 Uo has neither time nor inclination for economic study some of the most vital arguments in its favour. The j term "protection” has been a shuttlecock for the battledores of so many \ economists and politicians who bandy j abstruse argument back and forth that I tbe average man has long given up | trying to understand what it all means. I tjbo simplicity of the principle has been lost in a mass of theory and there are many who are content to dismiss the subject with a gesture and per- ' laps the comment that there is much to be said on both sides. There they are right; there has been and always will be "much said on both sides,” but it is time that the subject was I examined purely as a national issue j jn d its fundamental importance con- I -idered. Other countries are realising j this. Great Britain, champion of free j trade since the days of Cobden, is I safeguarding” her industries. In I other words, as pointed out by the j Manchester "Guardian.” she is adopttafi protection, the word safeguarding | being used as less obnoxious to up- | holders of the old order. INFANT INDUSTRIES Aa far as New Zealand is concerned Che age-old argument in favour of prelection rings truer than ever: "Protection is essential to the well-being of infant industries.” Advocates of me system have urged this since the middle of the last century when the advisability of State regulation of inouatry and commerce was first mooted, jn New Zealand all our industries are in their infant days or, at most, barely past them. They are in desperate need of what protection can be afforded them. It being obvious to industrialists that the barring of the door against foreign importations must set the country's manufacturing concerns on a solid foundation, the question arises: why is there any controversy over the desirability or otherwise of protection'.' Perhaps the taxpayer thinks that he would pay more for the luxuries of life should he consent to the imposition ot the duties referred to. It has not occurred to him that the security granted New Zealand industries under protection would result in the establishment of more factories and the creation of competition with a consequent decrease in prices. Even should the importer attempt to scale tne tariff wall there is the comforting reflection that taxes are being collected irom the foreigner svho, is helping perforce, in the development of the Dominion.

WORK FOR V/ORKLESS In the present economic condition of Xew Zealand the greatest argument in favour of protection and the consequent prosperity of industry is that it offers a solution o;.’ our unemployment problem. The opening of more factories would provide work for those who seek it, and scope for those at present compelled to stifle their capabilities under the cloak of uncongenial employment. It must not lie thought that the ndustrialists are Wind to the fact that New Zealand cannot be entirely self-supporting. They are fully aware that many classes of goods can be made only from the raw materials found across the sea. To the countries where those materials are used in the manufacture of goods the protectionist says: '’Bring your raw materials to the .Dominion. Build your factories here and avoid duties while employing New Zealand labour." , , Finally protection alone can help us fa maintain our standard of living. Fair rates of pay and a higher civilisation make it impossible for New Zealand to compete with countries that exploit native labour and take andvantage of sweating in an open market. There are two courses open: the imposition of tariffs and the fulfilment of sincere endeavours to give the New Zealand workman the opportunity of making for himself a healthy and happy environment; or the attempt to light foreign industrialists on their own ground with a P°° r out ' look for the working classes and in dustrial bankruptcy waiting round the corner as the penalty for inevitable Thus been urged that Protection is rot applicable to a.l co V l^ lt r ie „ r iti ca i X'ew Zealand is now at that critical stage when assistance to j ier I through tariffs is essential . j prosperity. The country is advancing from the stage of being apu divided cultural land to that of being divmea into three classes: agricult . ust facturins and commercial. Tenwork together, though there re _ dency at present to consider iJ e i v quirements of each division a different. A process of sra<iual en lightenment must sihow tha The terests of all are identical. in three classes are ir terdependen - all working for the prosperity of their country in different ways. Tne pro Kress of one division is not complete unless attended by the well-being of the others and consequently no torWard move should be hindered. A NATIONAL MOVEMENT To buy New Zealand goods is truly & national movement, without party or sectional aims. It only asks New Zeafenders to be true to themselves, and They will surely bring prosper:ty to all. The eyes of foreign nations are upon ; this vast Dominion to-day seeking a j Market for surplus supplies of the very j Soods we ourselves are enabled to equally well. The time is surely ripe for the average citizen to r «fiect upon this matter. Zealand invites the co-operation all citizens. It aims to educate the public to give preference to New Zea-iand-made and thus relieve the unemployment, provide work for the new Population, and preserve national selfreliance and security. the ideal to be reached Ifi a young country, such as the one j which you have the honour to be- | n B. the earlv activities of its people j always devoted to developing the and pastoral resources. In *-ese fields New Zealand holds a proud .Tuition—nay. one of the proudest —in ® w-orld. Our wool, our wheat, our T lry produce—all our primary proin a word—have a New ZcalandV. ! us * : but we have gone far be.“nd this. To-day. so splendid has . n °br development, and so rich are m r natural resources, that we ship . r B hrplus primary products to all 1- ,r® Of the world. Ard this is the _ * w« must set ourselves to reach ■th regard to what is known as our ™>nufacturing industries. the good* teed out in our factories and work•hop*.