The Daily News WEDNESDAY, MAY 29. THE OTHER SIDE OF THE PICTURE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 59, 29 May 1907, Page 2

The Daily News WEDNESDAY, MAY 29. THE OTHER SIDE OF THE PICTURE.

in (heir suggestions to the. Old Country about the hitter's lineal policy, colonials are, naturally enough, unable to see things from the Old hand's view point. Colonials, or the majority of theiu, feel Unit .Knglaud is on the downward track, tlint it needs a lot of wakening, that foreigners are culling the .'.'round from l,i-ncatli the Old Stock's feet'," and tli.it it is only a matter of a little lime when England on account of its peiversiiy and inci'maiion lo slick io ils old fetishes, iisrel and otherwise, will lie forced to Like a hack seat in the raid; of nations. H does us g,«d to have sonic plain truths told to \ia from the Britishers' standpoint, and in Ihe April iiuintrulhs told in mi sinking and thoughtful a way Una we make mi npi.h.gy lor reproducing them here. Tiie paper dcaluith the" reciprocity u, •tarn jie,t before the commencement of the Premiers' Conference, and having pointed out that it is an essential principle of the Umpire that no one self-governing part of il shall ever interfere with the internal ali'airs of any other pail, says the fuel that Britons oversea will brook no meddling in their home ali'airs. is a guarantee that they will not meddle in the home affairs of the Mother Country or of each other.

The "Spectator" proceeds: ''Though no doubt they (the colonial Premiers) think the policy of iveu trade a mistaken one, they no more desire to force ally abrogation of the free-trade principle upon us than we desire to force upon them any abrogation of protection. . . . At pre-

sent many of the Prime Ministers of tin: colonies seem puzzled to understand how it is that tliuugh they sire willing to amend their fiscal systems by giving us preference, we seem unwilling to modify ours in order to repay them in kind by the grunt of reciprocal privileges. We believe that a little study of the question at close quarters will soon show them that though apparently they are only asking us to do what they already do. they are in reality asking a great deal more. They can give liritisii goods a certain amount of preference in their markets without in the least breaking down or interfering with the essential principle upon which their lineal system is based —the principle of protecting their home manufactures from outside competition. Wc. on the other hand, cannot give a preference to their goods without violating altogether the essential principle upon which our fiscal system is based—viz., the principle of a free market, subject to duties for revenue only, the principle, that is, of letting every man who has something to sell sell it freely in our markets, subject only to tolls the object of which is not to keep out goods but merely to raise revenue, ruder' their systems. Customs are not levied primarily for revenue purposes, anil the desire of each (loveraineiit is not to see as many commodities as possible come into the ports, but the reverse. I'nder ours we %ant (o see the greatest amount of taxable goods enter in order to increase our revenue. So doubt if self-governing nations like. Canada and Australia were willing to take British goods which are now subject to protective taxation and to place them on the free list, they would lie giving us a preference which would be a negation of their protective system, and would be analogous to the derogation from our system of taxation for revenue only which is suggested by those who demand the grant of colonial preference on our part. lint the colonies answer, and from their point of view naturally enough: %> that is a form of preference which we cannot give you, for it would interfere with the principles upon which Our whole liscal system is based." So we, whi'ii asked for a colonial preference, are bound to say that we cannot give it because it would (lestroy the system upon which, rightly or wivm-tv our li-cal policy is based', the system o' tarili revenue only.

"So Hindi nonsense has l,ivn falk»d :'•! 1 free-trjdcvs earing more f„ r t!, O foreigner than for their own 110.-ii and blood ih:'.(- it nuy be as well t„ point (Hit Unit five-traders who hold our vi,-v, do not in Hi.. least .-tT..)i.,rl tin- r.-tvutim, of (iiiv present system oui of unv de-ire 1.l beileiil till' foreigner. If it ..v,.;,. merely H ca :■ of h--lt.il!-,' Hi 1-illi.ll trader ini.l injuring' tin- foreigner wilhidvt to assent lo colonial preference, fur v.c hive no sort of ilillhnllv in savin" that we prefer our own flesh mid blood to outsiders, and. other tilings being euual, would I,;, infinitely more pleased to see tlie colonial trade return-, no up tlinii those with foreign countries. ' Cnfortiiiuitely, however, oxperi.-u.-e as well :is abstract reasoning show beyond a doubt that it is impossible to give preferenee of colonial goods without doing an injury to that eoni|.let(. freedom o? eonnneree which is the very life-blood of the Mother C'ountrv and which enables her to bear the burden of Umpire. Jt is ii)mn the principle of the free market, upon the principle of encouraging and fostering the greatest possible number of 'vchanges instead of attemptine; to torbid or hamper them, that the liritish Kmpire is in the last resort built up It is our adherence to the principle of freedom of exchange that has given us not only our oversea possessions, but the lordship of the ocean, both from the military and the commercial point of view II is. for example, not because we are nalurafly better seamen, or have greater .'acilities for ship -building, or nrp~rieher ir more enterprising than the Engli-h-----wakinir people of the Uniled Stales, that we, not they, hold die empire of the sea. but because we are free-traders and they are protectionists.

"Hhl. it may lie m-ucd, would it unl lie possible to mwt the d-maftls of the <;„- '<mi-s by ceilaiu concessions so small lli;ii (hey would plea-o colonial opinion •in.l show our "oodwill. dun- would in effect derogate very little Iroin (he principle f)f tin. free market ;ind of (aril)' for revenue only? For example, if a sli-lil preference were i>ivcn to coloiiinl wines, colonial coll'ee colonial sm<ar. colonial ( 0 . liacco. and oven lo colonial corn, Britain would still remain in. all essentials a

free-Irade country, and would still in practice, if not in theory, ndliciv to Ihc> policy nf (arilf for revenue onlv. Our answer is (lie answer Umt a wis.- Man-is bound to ;;ive to specious pleas for not mcndiiH; « Irak in a reservoir on Hie

ground (liat only a few sinnll jets of water arc escapm;; and tint lliey'do not 'iroatly matter. A train, if a svslem of oref ( .renee for mlonihl product., were to V set up. il would |„. ~1,.,,,,.,] t„ „„„.;.

fhe colonies with a wnrlliless u df|. A concession or present made to a" menilier iif ones family, if it is made at all. must !.■■ v.orll.y of the donor. In oilier words, if «e jriiv 11 prcfficnr,.. it miisl l,e sneli

'iilul vnlc. llnl (his iimisl hivolvc a. v.t.v mlnrlinu ~'r I rcvclllli'. :M1(1 it i< ;i ivilllcliiin ttllicli will j hi' bllimil (11 };,> (,n ilh-IVM-ili!;. () llr fill'-

•n.l v.v hj:.,! n 1„„. ; iiixl vi-v twin,, ,„„. •v;h tin! all surls of I'niviVn <r<i<n|s wnr <l.i|>|.p.) 1" 1!,... m!„„i,.s. iU „I (1,,.,, ~„,. Miv,,l U, lin I:,!,, ,„„■ ~nrN ~„•!,,■ 11,. •»v,.r ~r ~„1,.„i.,l ~,,..■,.,.,.,„.... Tii.,1,;..-. !<•>• ni-l;!ii-... »,.„! jV„ni (li:> I!.-,!!!,- j., ''""in. iiu-1 v.-a- i -51i1i,|.,.,l m,,!,,,. (i„ nivf-rcn.... ;i- ('■innili.iii liinliiT. wlii).. ,;,f ■V." I'rnin lir.ivil : ..i.l ~ih...i- Smill. \„„. r :

'•■ in Sialic w ,ij t 0 |!„. ('..,„,, ~,,„] ~.,„,„ 'nc!< tis ('ape ,•,,!!',.,.. The K;1 „ lr , (],;,„, •"> <I""W. v.-.n.M 1,:,.„„.,. .-iir.iin will, fnIViL'Il |.n.'!!!,-ts vl.irll -,v,;,.1,| s ,\ ;,„ n(] . l.v rcMcliiii;? n-. vi:i rnlmiia] inn-Is, witli (lie- l-t-iiiH Ihil our Ciw1,,,,,* s ' v " •»^ 1 '«'

nlis,.lntol.v m ,„i,v. (),i, «-,,„!,! ',„,,,„ 'liivc nr r„„v niilli.ms of nnv iaxatioii. Nipiio.ao i- |„ 1,. 1.-vic.l imliivHlv. Tl 'llllsl. in llinl (-;,.,.. : ,,.| ; m ~ ,„,„. ,•,.„!,.;,.. 'ion on iivt.lt- ami i-mmm-ivr. and i] m , ■viml-i. il imi.l l,r a snm-ial Imril'i.ii u|i,',i, ■""if pni-lmii hi" t!i» cninniiiiif r. ami iliU 'Mini llicir iufcrpsts woiv lu'iiin- sai-rifii'eil " |il<'nsa til.' oolonics. ]!„( m„ a11y,,,!!'

Millie 11ml- (his would I,<. rmicluniv,. (■„ "«•! fccli"',' i" (ho Tinjifrp. or In w|,„| iiiiporiiil uonlihiciit wliicli wo ;ill (Ipsiro 'llf |)i!s( colonial pivfpVPllCP llladp infll 'Hil;p (lie Empire and rmispd a prp;if )p;il r.f I'i.ii; impatipiipp wliiVli Tinparialron ami nMlial di'sim In "■pf rid „f (1,,. •nl..iii..-i v-liii-li market] pnldip opinion in •iip •■l'nrlii'-" and "firtips." Can we 'mil,! I In, I (1,0 pd'ppf now would be as j Mien? Sural v if will lie wiser for flip ' .■oloiiits to k'jiv" our iiseal system nioijc

while i\o leave theirs alone, and to let each section of the Empire manage ils own commercial affairs in its own ivav.

'"To say this is not to suggest for a single moment that it is impossible for us to draw closer the bonds of union with the colonies, ov to strive after a more closely-knit Empire. Though holding the views we do in regard to trade and commerce, we never felt more desirous to maintain (he British Kmpire, or more confident that it can be maintained •in health and wealth long to live.' The union lo which we look forward is a

union of oipials. not based on ihe exercise of any preferential and political righis or prerogatives on the part of ihe Mother Country. We believe that in tile course of the next lifty or sixty years the great nations of Canada and Australasia, and possibly of South Africa, will have grov, n so populous (hat they will he able to enter an Imperial union or a Mi.nice on equal terms, or, at any rale, upon terms which will give (hem substantial powers and righis in the matter of Imperial policy. We deprecate a premature tightening of the bonds of Euijiiro. not because we are anxious to avoid sharing power with the

colonies, but because we hold that a premature sharing of political power might end ill disappointments and disagreements that would shake the Umpire ,lo its M laudations. Let us wait till ihe free nations of the Kmpira are more advened in tile matter of population, .mil till tli'.v can ask for their share ill the direction of Imperial ali'airs on terms of eipiality. Till that day arrives we see nothing derogatory to the, colonies ill maintaining our present system. That system has worked well in tils past, and will, we believe, continue lo mirk well as long as we scrupulously respect the rights of the Mother Country to manage her own ali'airs. That is it perfectly sound and intelligible position, and one which we are coulident is acceptable to the free peoples of Britain.''

Wo can hardly agree with Councillor Mi.ls' sweeping condemnation of the streets of tlii! ,\ew Plymouth borough as "disgraceful." There are places wnicll need attention. There are footpaths that should be made and kerbed. Tiiere are a back streets that need attention, and we hope'-tlie new works committee will 1 give I hem that attention right away, lucre's an almost criminal waste in the present so-called footpath. In evu-y rainy sped pounds and pounds' worth of soil and gravel are washed oil the sidewalks into Ihe aide-chanuoi.s. Concrete kerbing and channelling would 111-event that waste. But in the pisttiic borough authorities seemed to look up m concrete as an expensive luxury insiead of a cheap anil permanent work. Most people will agree with (Jr. Mills that the crossing at the Bank of Australasia should be straitened up a bit. St. AiuV.n street, at the corner of Eginont street, should be improved for foot passengers to find from the railway. And there are probably a few other mutters that need iniiiiediite action to'make us up-to-date. But, taken on the whole, Now Plymouth's streets are good, compared with those of other towns of even larger size. And their condition is very creditable indeed when we consider that when- the present foreman took over the streets there was not a yard of maintenance metil on hand and the winter was already far advanced, with the inevitable result that there were mud holes where there ought lo have been metalled roads. Mr Hooker has managed his department wei'l ami economically, his suving being especially noticeable in the reduction of the cost of concrete channelling and kerbing. Whilst not urging extravagince tve hope that at the end of (he present financial year the vote for streets maintenance and improvomsni wilt have been fully expended, and that there will he good work to slow for the nionev.