Preferential Trade.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVI, Issue 42, 23 February 1904, Page 4

Preferential Trade.

K AMERICAN VIEW OF THE - NEW ZEALAND ACT.

v commercial man In Chnbtclm c, i o communicated the salient nomti, of' tte New Zealand Prelerentml Trade Act to a business man in the United States, with whom he doe. a large amount of operations, has received a letter acknowledging his, in tiie course. of which the writer Inspection oi the prelimiiiarj schedules you semi woulil indicate that on many ai tides we have only to face a 10 P»' cent, increase over previous tarifl, while many once nee must now bear the full 20 per cent, or 30 per cent., as the case may he. The continuance of this tarm, or further increase of same, rests, Judge, on Wr Chamberlains success at Home. If England adopts Ins views, the colonies must reciprocate; if England fails to 110 so, then the colonies will be inclined possibly to recede from even the prelerentials now established. Be this as it may, we as the merchants within a protected country, cannot criticise, but must meet conditions, or retire giacefully from the tiekd. "Now let us see what conditions' we shall have to meet. Having all the experience that comes from doing business within tnrill walls, we can very nearly tell what will be the conditions after tnewull is built and in operation. Your English merchant, after carefully estimating the amount of protection your tarifl gives him, will take full advantage of it. Your merchants of Sew Zealand will not buy as cheap- ' ly as tlioy /do now from England ; they will pay just the limit in price the English merchant has in protection.

"To explain : If an article now sells from England to you, as the merchant, at 1 dollar, which is now protected 20 per cent., you will pay the English merchant 1 dollar 15 cents, perhapp 1 dollar 18 cents, for it in iiiture. The protection your colony gives will eventually go to the English merchant, not to you as the verchant. He, to hold his market, only needs to sell just below what the same article can be brought in at, duty paid. The public must pay the difference always. You will pay the English manufactura- a higher price, the dealer or consumer must pay you the higher price, and you will end by making the same profit as heretofore, while the English manufacturer will reap the benefit of the tariff. Carried to its logical conclusion under a high tCL-ifl, wages must go up as the purchasing power of money goes down. It is true here, and it is a broad question if the tariff ends in any material benefit, weighed carefiilly from all sides, but the ethics of the subject ate too complex for ordinary minds to waste time on, so long as one can eliminate all the facts not material to his interests, and pin down the salient points to g<uide his actions by. "Two years from now, if Chuin- . berlaitt's programme carries, what will our two companies have to face ? Not so serious a problem as at first thougJ>t appears. The selling price of the various articles we are interested in will go tyi in your market. Instead of a naked 20 per cent, or 30 per cent, to face, we will find that 10 per cent., 15 j«r cent., or 20 per cent, of it will have disappeared, due to the advanced prices English manufacturers will ask the New Zealand merchants to pay them for their goods. Tilts raises the selling prices, and we will be able to still take care of you, as your increased selling prices 'will still leave you your margin of profit, possibly only 5 per cent, differential, in effect, to overcome on our part. It is only tlie period of readjustment that will be distressing, ihu-ing that period loud will be the wails of your dear pulnlic, accommodating itself to the paying of from 80; per cent, to 40 jxv cent, more for goods purchased before at lower prices. Unless your English manufacturer, is different flesh and bloorf from the rest of mankind, this is , sure to happen. One can scarcv--ly conceive of his not reachfrg- out and grabbing tiiat psreferential ilirty for iiis own:. If tie would let liis prices remain as t-liey are to-dav and : oura stayed there, he would ' hold the "market against us. Hut he _ won-1 do it. If he dkl, your merchants would raise their pi-ices to within a brick or two of the top wall, and the result is the same, so far as we are concerned. Either way, thfe time will come when the tariff will not be any preventive of our continued relations. The public must Ray the bill."