The Temuka Leader. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 1883 INDUSTRIAL ASSOCIATION.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1072, 17 February 1883, Page 2

The Temuka Leader. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 1883 INDUSTRIAL ASSOCIATION.

A few issues ago we stated that there was a movement on foot to establish an Industrial Association in Timaru. We take to ouiselves the credit of being the first paper in the district to refer to the matter, and have no hesitation in saying that but for (he Timaru papers never havingadvocated local industries, things would have been differerent now in that town. This fact seem s to us proved by the result of last Thursday’s meeting. Notwithstanding that the evening was extremely wet, there were about 150 persons present, and so enthusiastic were they in the matter that there was no room deft for doubt as to their cordial sympathy with the movement. They showed in a most unmistakable way that they only wanted some one to invite them together—some one to take the initiative; and this confirms ns in the opinion which we have always held : that if the local papers had put the matter before the people long ago industries would have been startel in Timaru before now. There are as persevering, as enterprising, and as industrious people in Timaru as in any part of New Zealand, but they want loaders, and they have not had them up to the present. The moneyed men of the place are conceited old fossils that are good for neither kind nor country ; whose all-ahsorbing idea is to acquire land. Anything in the commercial line is beneath their notice ; to be engaged i n trade is vulgar in their eyes, and they will not have anything to do with it. There is no hope from such people. It is as good to leave them out of the reckoning, and this evidently is the intention of the Association, whose object is to combine'persons together for the purpose of promoting the developement of local industries. They will no longer wait until the old fossil portion of the community set things going for them, We are pleased to find that the Association has not limited itself to Timaru, and that as its name indicates, it intends to embrace the whole of South Canterbury. It is, we trust, a step that will eventually wipe out the petty local jealousies. As we have stated on a former occasion, it is impossible for the district while disunited to accomplish what it might easily do if combined together, and, therefore, we hope that the outlying districts will join heartily with the people of Timaru in promoting local industries. One or two matters cropped up at the meeting which are deserving of notice. It was asserted that politics should not be allowed to be discussed in the Association. We firmly admit that politics would be an element of discord, and ought not to be permitted, excepting so far as the interests of the institution are concerned. The question of Protection versus Free Trade cropped up, and we certainly agree that though that is a political matter the Association should reserve to itself the right to discuss it. We have frequently given our opinion on the matter, We have held that it is necessary to protect industries in a young country like this, and shown how successful Protection had proved in America. There is a great difference between this colony and England. The latter has had her industries

working on sound principles from times immemorial; labor is cheaper by far there than here, while the working time is 12 hours instead of eight hours, and she has the advantage of being situated in almost the centre of the world. In this colony money is dear, labor is dear and inefficient, and we are far removed from the principal markets. It is evident, therefore, that what would be sauce for the goose would not be sauce for the gander in both places, and that while free trade might be right enough for England it might be totally unsuitable for this colony. We are not sure that free trade is good for England either. England has to raise £25,000,000 every year to pay taxes, and a large proportion of this has to be bora by industries. America on the other hand has reduced her national debt to a minimum, and in a few years she will have little or no taxes to pay. If America competed successfully with England in the past when she had to pay very heavy taxes, what hope is left for England in the future with har burden of £25,000,000 in the race with America with scarcely a penny taxation. We do not think that England can by any means hold her own then, unless she goes back to protection. Now this is a question that the Industrial Association ought to discuss. Thera is a sort of protective duty on goods coming into this colony now, but politics are capable of change, public opinion is very fickle, and no one knows the day that some Ministry may step in and remove all duties from imported goods. If such a step were adopted it would ha useless to try and start local industries because they would not pay, and consequently we think that discussion on this subject ought to be a part of the programme of the association. Free trade is inimical to the success of local industries, and anyone desirous of seeing them established ought to go against it.

T£ KOOTI PARDONED.

Te Kooti has been pardoned. Te Kooti —the vilest, the most bloodthirsty, and the most atrocious murderer that New Zealand ever saw ; the fiend who, in cold blood, massacred the residents of Poverty Bay a few years ago ; the defiant villain who only a couple of months ago issued an order that any half-caste found in the King Country should be killed, because it was a half-caste gave up to justice Winiata, the murderer of Maclean—has been granted absolution for all the sin? he has ever committed, and, to use a scriptural phrase, he has been made whole. Well, perhaps it is as well. For the last ten years no effort has been made to bring this vilest of cnmnals to justice ; he has been going about wherever he liked, excepting that he took care not to come too near to the police stations, and no effort whatsoever has been made to capture him. It was therefore as good to tell him that he need not be any longer afraid, and that he was a free man, as to let him roam about as he liked, while yet an outlaw. Still it is humiliating to find that a bloodthirsty villain, has defied the Government so long, and at last been pardoned. What effect will the pardoning have on the Maori mind ? Will it have the effect of inspiring the Maoris with admiration of the Government, and induce them to comply with the law, or will it make them think that they have nothing to do but massacre a few inoffensive Europeans, escape to the fastness of the King Country, hold out there defiantly for a number of years, and then get the privilege of having their bloodstained hand shaken by a Minister of the Crown 1 We are rather inclined to think that the latter impression is the more likely to be made on the mind of the natives, and we would not mind betting our ‘ bottom dollar’ also that should the occasion arise again Te Kooti would reenact his atrocities over again. This pardoning business is rather strange compared with the treatment the Native King received at the hands of the Native Minister. Mr Bryce met the Native King a few weeks ago; he made certain proposals to him, and broke them off because the King could not give him a definite answer in 24 hours. From what has occurred since it would appear that if Mr Bryce were not so hasty he would have been able to come to terras with the King, and, if he had done so, it would have been worth all be has done as Native Minister. So long as there is a King, he is bound to have around him followers who will disregard all European laws, and bow only to the mandates of their own monarch. And so long as there exists a constituted authority of that kind it is bound to come into collision with the Government, and cause unpleasantness. The removal of the King would end all this. If there were no King and Council the tribes would very soon split up into factions, and very shortly the King Country would be brought under the control of the Government. It is obvious that while a King is there, this is not possible without bloodshed, and if Mr Bryce had acted wisely he would have taken more pains to bring about so desirable a state of things. Contrast the curtness and abruptness with which he treated the King with the cordiality of his hand, shaking with the vulturous Te Kooti, and let any man say does the Native Minister’s conduct show much capacity for statesmanship 1 Ho should have done his best to conciliate the King, but instead of that he not only was abrupt to him at the meeting, but

prevented Mayors of Municipalities from entertaining the Native monarch while travelling through the North Island recently. The King was well received throughout, but Mr Bryce did his best against It. And this man pardons Te Kooti. Such a step is a disgrace to the colony at large. ________