The Temuka Leader SATURDAY, OCTOBER 30, 1886. PROTECTION.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1506, 30 October 1886, Page 2

The Temuka Leader SATURDAY, OCTOBER 30, 1886. PROTECTION.

The first blew has been struck with capital effect for advancing the industrial development of this colony. • Hitherto no candidate dared to announce himself in favor- of Protection, at to do so meant defeat. Mr Bracken, however, in Dunedin recently boldly went before the electors as a Protectionist, He is connected with a paper that advocates Protection ; he wat requisitioned to stand for election by the Protectionist League ; he was surrounded and supported 'by .Protectionists, and bis address dealt almost exclusively with the question of protecting native industry. A few years ago a candidate com ing before a Dunedin constituency under simitar circumstances would have been scouted off the platform, Dunedin is the greatest importing city in New ZeaUnd ; it is there our chief merchant princes live, and they exercise tremendous power. They have hitherto pretty well controlled all the elections, and in fact exercised enormouA. influence over all classes ofpe,cple. There, too, are,two or three powerful newspapers advocating Freelrade principles. Day after day able articles appear both in the Otago Daily l , Times and the Evening Star magnifying the beauties of Freetrade, and picturing Protection in the ire t despicable colors, Lithe Ucth of all this opposition to Protection it is a remarkable fact that Mr Bracken was elected by a majority of two to one. It is something calculated to inspire with hope those who had begun to re-1 gard it as impossible to awaken the people to a sense of their responsi- . hilities, Mr Bracken is the first out-and-out Protectionist who has put the question to the issue, and the result has been a magnificent victory. This leads us to hope that at the next election other candidates will be found to follow the noble example set them by Mr Bracken, and that in future the people will be found voting for principles—not men, But perhaps the most interesting question is, What has transformed the Freetraders of Dunedin into Protectionists? The ahswer is not .difficult to find. The pinch of hunger, and want has made them raflact and look about them for the cause of the great dearth of employment in this colony. They saw Freetrade New booth Wales, after having expended £22,500,000 of borrowed money on public works during the lasi three or four years, equally as depressed as this colony ; they saw processions of New South Welshmen marching through the strests of Sydney with the words on their banners, “ Bread or work ; starving men,” while according to all accounts times were never brisker in Victoria, They could not also shut their eyes to the fact that men. in England and America were employed in making articles which they could make as well, and they came to the conclusion that it was not right to give work To men in England and' America over the beads of the starving artisans of the colony. It is just the bard times that has taught them a lesson. Freetrade has brought the country to the verge of bankruptcy ; tljey have now . come to the conclusion of trying tW other tack.' Mr Bracken in bis speech to the electors ■lso gave them something to think about. In England he said “20 per cent of the produce of ‘ labor goes to the workingmen, 41 per cent! to the manufacturer, atld 3Cper bent to the Government; whereas in the United States .72 per bent went to the working man, 23 per cent went to the nianu- ; facturer, and 5 per cent to the Government. Worknig men ought to reflect on this. In America, where Protection is carried to extremes, the laborer is paid nearly two-third of the produce of his labor; in Freetrade:England he'is paid one-fifth of the produce of bis labor. Id one country the laboring man is Treated honestly : he gets fair wages ifor his work ; in the other he is treated dishonestly: be, gets starvation wages, while Government and the manufacturers almost equally divide the spoil between them. We desire this to be properly understood; In America a working man gets about 18s out of what bis work.is worth, For instance, if a man were employed by « contractor, and the work he did was worth £1 per day, the working 1 man would' get 72 per bent, or about 13s of it; to England he would get only 20 per cent, or 4s of it. That is the difference between Freetrade and Protection for the working man. In the face of these facts we cannot understand bow any man who has to earn bis bread by the sweat of his brow can be a Freetrader, and no doubt it was these considerations that made the electors of Dunedin Central vote in favor of Protection. At any rate the the first battle has been fought, and one Protectionist has gained a glorious victory. To us, who honestly believe that there is no half way bouse between Protection and National bankruptcy, this is comforting, as it gives us hope that next election will see the battle that .will put this colony in a position to pay her debts fought and won.