OIL-BORERS' DEMANDS.
To thu Kditoi.
Bir, —11 t-iM'iu were any room lu doubt I'lie ;i'cal .intentions \of tjioaij promoters and directors of petroleum panics who waited ou the Hon. J. A. Miliar last evening-, it would be thought mat they were poKing fun at the Annister oi Customs' known protectionist idea. They coolly ask that all they want to buy shall be admitted duty free, and that all they have, or hope to nave, to sell shall uc artificially increased in price by putting an import duty on similar nicies when produced m other countries. Anyone with any eounuonsensc can see the gross inconsistency of such a proposal: the manufacturer who uses an oil engine is to have the source of his power, kerosene, I made dearer to beuetit the petroleum companies, and if lie should happen to be making any of the machinery used in boring fur oil he must sell his produet at the world's price. That is exactly protectionism all over. It is a false principle, and, like all falsehoods, needs more falsehood to control it and to maintain it, i'urlher, Air Berry says that the consumer gained nothing' by the remission of the duty on kerosene. This is often stated but never proved: before the duty was removed the price ran up to about double what it is now, and never came down to its i present price; at least, if it ever did the defenders of duty should give dates and figures in proof of their contention. It would be absurd if the duty did not increase the price; that is the object of a protective duty, and if the re-imposition of the kerosene duty did not increase the price as soon as the companies' product came on the market, they would not give thanks for such a duty and would at once ask that it be raised, until the' price is, by this menus, artilieia'ily increased. Consumers need protection more than producers, for they are the great majority, ami if they were wise and united, and not misled bv false j s<lu . 8 they would demand it.—l am, etc! ' COXSUAIEi{ %
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TDN19061213.2.8.4
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 81901, 13 December 1906, Page 2
Word count
Tapeke kupu
356OIL-BORERS' DEMANDS. Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 81901, 13 December 1906, Page 2
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Taranaki Daily News. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Log in