The Daily News FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 81858, 5 October 1906, Page 2

The Daily News FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5.

THE RECIPROCITY TREATY. • As was generally anticipated, the Re- s eiprucal Treaty between this colony 1 and Australia was not ratified by the t New Zealand Parliament. After the ( reception of the proposals by experts , most competent to judge, the re- ] suit may be said to have been a , foregono concluson. There re- , mained no doubt, in the light of the information available, that the Treaty quito failed to realise the end Mr Seddon had in view when he com- 1 pleted his laborious negotiations. It is more than probable, however, that the late Premier cou'd have explained away much iliat apparently served no good purpose to New Zealand under the Treaty. That he had some reason for making sacrifices goes without saying, but what they were he was denied the opportunity of making known, and his successors could oniy view the proposals in their baldness. The evidence given before the Committee of the House which investigated the Treaty showed that Australia's gain under the Treaty would b-' iJui,t)3o, and New Zealand's loss £165,090. This colony would lose So,ooo in revenue from the abolition of the sugar traff; without sugar, the gain to the colony would be 1,000. The unfortunate part of it too, wou'd have been that the colony's loss on sugar would merely have been a huge present to a monopoly, the sugar proprietary concern, and not a concession to New Zealanders' breakfast tables. There is one antniaiy, however, that has arisen in connection with the consideration of th> Treaty: that expert opinion in Australia would seem to show that Australia anticipated a loss in revenue under the operation of the Treaty, iiiHead of the gain we are told they would make. The subject is too in.olved and intricate to attempt to explain, and only fuither serves to intensify the herculean task Mr Seddon undertook when he endeavoured to •uster closer trado relations between Muntries working under protective ariffs. Although the Treaty has tot been ratified, however, the ex->tc-sions of opinion given in Parliament by both sides of the House show that it is desired that favoured reatmcnt should be extended to Aus'ralia, and :t is not like'y that the vork effected !>y the late Premier may re long prov'de the foundation on ihicli will be built a commercial treaty to incrtase trade intercourse jotwecn the people of New Zealand and Australia.