The Wairarapa Daily. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1887. TRUE PROTECTIONISTS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume IX, Issue 2691, 3 September 1887, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1887. TRUE PROTECTIONISTS.

Wb have been repeatedly and noisily told in this district that the only thing necessary to our well-being in this v world—ajnd it lias been more than hinted, to our salvation in the: next-is rigid Protection. We have been advised, in effocfc,. to produce all we can consume, and to consume all we can produce, arid thereby to; attraot to our shores the manufacturers and their employees from the effete and worn out old world ; and, thus; isolating ourselves from the remainder of the globe, to -4o use a vulgarism—live on our own fat. These, and we do not think we have unfairly strained his contentions, are the theories .propounded for/ our delectation and acceptance by a 'local oandidate who we believe to'bej. perfectly'sincere—in his desire to'tack the letters M.H.R. after his illustrious cognomen. It: is unnecessary to inform our readers that the gentleman in question has not supported his theories by any arguments, unless we accept loud assertion as argument. He has simply asservated that Protec-: tion and prosperity are inseparable; flung blatter broadcast at those who dissented from him, and deceived by the loud report of his own 'explosive epithets, mistaken mere wind for the detonation of demonstration. Wo do not wish to do this candidate any injustice, and therefore we must admit that he has one solitary argument ; he pointed to the prosperity of Melbourne, as an instance of the benefits. derivable from Protection. Unfortunately for him that prosperity has been proved delusive. There is, however, another country outside Victoria,' the most rigid protectionist oountry in the world, and when next he, and those who believe with him, desire to show the blessings of Protection, wo would respectfully solicit their attention—to China, This immense Umpire which contains an area of. 1.554,000 square miles, (or with her. dependencies, 4,500,000 square miles) ia 1880 miles long: by 1520. broad, and has. a population which may be.stated m round numbers as 400,000 souls, or 260. persons to the square mile. We have no intention of wearying bur. readers with a naum of tho aneient history of China.' It is sufficient for ourpurpose to say that for hundreds of years there has probably been the m&t rigid protection in'the Chinese Empire; her history records it, and there is. overwhelming internal-evi-dence of the faot..> .Be this as it may, it is absolutely certain that sinceihe' year 1618", when."the Ming dynasty; went down beforeithe Hanteha Tartar hordes, China, has practically isolated herself from the world, and. has sacri-1 ficed hundreds of thousands of lives and millions' of treasure to prevent the Fanqui, or Foreign Devil, from introducing the civilization and manufactures of the West. Even now, alter the numerous wars forced upon the Chinese Empire by England' in ■support of the Opium traffic, only a few Chinese ports, such as Shanghai, Hankow' Ningpo, Tien-sienand some others are open to Western commerce, ancTthough the direct duties .upon first imports where the consignee belongs to one of the" favored nations," may not be excessive, immediately the goods in bulk reach Chinese hands, the duties Become almost prohibitive. Nor have the Westerns succeeded to any great extent in mtrodu'cing'jtheir manufactures to far Cathay, as a slight comparison will show. New Zealand, with a population of say half a million has imports and exports which combined amount in a rough way to £14,000,000 sterling per annum. China has a population 800 times larger than that pf New Zealand, and

were her, united' imports and-exporbs'' on tlio same scale as our own, they would amount to the enormous ;sum of 111,200,000,006 per annum.. In point of fact, .'they' amount to some' £48)000,000 per annum only. China, 'with 800 times our population, has only three times our exports and imports."!'We have arrayed these figures merely to show that, China: -is still to ' all intents and purposes the' JbeSt proI'tectedr.' country. .on, ..earth, Now, [ aoc'oriag.tb' ine gospel' preached by "oirr :.lpcalt Protection |rophl/- wliat ilioUld- Have- happened f fo ; ''Ohina? .Whyrher/mMufaetures, have. -attracted- to - ' her; shores'..the skilled" ' labor and capital of the' universes-yet China has no large manufactories, and has never attracted anyone but a : few military, adventurers. Her .'people .*W«(--enjo'y the. highest wa°;es, the greatest prosperity, and should k the freest on • earth —yet a skilled workman, in China does not earn as much in a month" as a skilled'workman here in'a.' day; her inhabitants! die' annually in thousands of famine,' and. all below the Mandarin class are - praptically slaves'. Her manufactures, protected •as they have been, -.skidd how Jhave reached tho pinnacle of. perfection-fyet the art of the 'finest of her manufactures is lost; ith.e Qhina for- which she was so celebrated is no -longer produced; her Nankin olotk is' made:,nb- ! more; ■she-;has''forgotten sb ! 'seoreis^bf' her finest pigments, ''of her, world-famed cement, of her, rarest,.crapes,, satins and silks. Prqteoted'China his'stood still; nay, her commercial : . vitality is slowly rotting awa/y; Her. Emperors, her Tontais.'her. Jutais andiher peacock Mandarins have.been of the Ballance- H ogg-Ivess class. They thought they could produce all they could consume, and consume all they could produce, and the result has'beenpetrefaction. The Chinese seaman sails in . the ...same. .description of junk whioh was, 1 sailing, the seas: when Jason stole the Golden' Fleece; her swords and- gingals are of the same pattern as - when .Alexander taarched into India; her husbandman holds the'same sort of plough known lb Menu son of Brahma-and that is protection. Butr-strange commentary on the latest craze, preached in our midst by men who .call themselves Britons, but who are really. Chinese in instinctaiid spirit—what do ;we find now with regard to ancient, almost dead China? Why, that the modern spirit of the age has been breathed' into- her nostrils; that' her rulers, enlightened • by English' example, are throwing off the cerements; which, have, bouiid l Oathay,,'.and..are.;going forth .to meet civilisation; that they mean to 60ustrdot railways, and to open out the'country to : oom-' merpe and. Freetrader' Where "thenwill our own protectionists find a home and abiding city ? Surely:Nqv/• Zw .land will not'be' behind ChwMud: even China has no welcome for Mr Hogg and his prbteotioii policy. '.

We had pictured to ourfielve's'a model village settler of the Ballanco ..pattern', a-s an, individual who drew Gpvornment allowances and passed a somewhat discontented existonco in' a primitive dwelling on, a ten acre" patch, but all our. preconceived notions of suqh' a. settler- were dispelled .the' other day by a letter published in the columns:' o'f' our'-'local contei'miirav'.' which emanated from an Arcadian pf the Pahiatua settlement who apparently handles a psn%.dexterously as.' an axe. The-name of this Arcadian is, worthy of. his epistle, being, euphonious and impressive. The following is the more salient portion' of the letter to which we refer, and which bears the signature of Joseph Jessop, Village Special Settiement.Pahiatua:—

Now, Mr Editor, I will give you my candid opinion of this village special settlement Boherne, but before doing bo, I wish you to thoroughly understand that there are no' electioneering dodges about me. lam indeponclont of parties and shall vote for the benefit of the colony as a whole I have been twenty-four years in New-Zealand, and have seen many changes in the administration of our lands, but, to my mind, the village settlement is a most liberal measure. If a man cannot make a comfortable home for his wife and family ho ought to be thoroughly ashamed of himself. I will toll you what I have done Binco tho 17th March last. I came up to Pahiatua in queßt of a village settle-' ment section. I was a perfoot stranger to the diatrict, and was told that all the section's ■were taken up and settled npbn, and just as I vvaa about returning a person oatne.to.me and said he did not oare to go on the section he had selected, and if I would pay him the twelvemonths rent and registratiori' - Bls, I oould have his section. I saw BectiotrNo 21, 10§ acres, was highly pleased Willi; it and gladly accepted tho offer. The house was built. My son and I went to.work',in right good earnest.'olearing, logging^up. and feneing, and-the result .is I have a splendid grass paddook, .and at tho present 'time. I am grazing,.eight mill bullo'pks and 21 sheep, whioh bringin a -retain of 20s per Wek tiiitil I olobo the paddook'forseed.' Out of the ten acres I have ajs'b'bne' acre thoroughly cleared under a crop 'of 'wheat' and oats, besides a' garden ready 'lot tho parly season.. I keep an acooant of my-"outlay In labor, <fcc, and at the end of the 12 months I shall- be ablo to show what can be done on ten acres. ~ ■

The recital of what Sir Jessb'p has in afew.shprt months accomplished on his village allotment ii -almp'st a,new i-evelation-of m - id'e;a ; i 'colonial' ;diß6 which might 'tempt even the weary journalist to forsake -his newspaper,, or tho fagged; candidate' hto fruitless for •; tliat glittering 'bauble, 'ii parliamentary honorarium. -If. things are as Mr Joseph Jegsop depicts, then who would not be iiil Ar'cadiam it would seein somewhat-strange'that, aij' intelligent colonist of twenty-four years standing should be making a new beginmng : in the Pahiatua bush, but judging from Mr .'Jessop's narrative, this -village settlement must be the hitherto, un-discovered-happy land" for his letter breathes the very spirit of contentment." . Me formed so high an opinion- of-Mr-Jessop that "we asked a friend at Pahiatua to tell ue'eome more about .him. ■ We are sorry however to sayStbai -Pahiatua residents'dp not give Mr Jessop all the praise. to which he is entitled, and almost hint that our model village settler is capable' af romancing. Even the Pahiatua Star,: a very fair and impartial journal, is a little sarcastic at; the expense of Joseph Jessop in the following refer- ■ ence:— '

Hear,hear, Jessop;. no one doubts your word;,; but we do pity the'eight bullocks and twenty-one sheep you are fattening on nine acres of land .only burned within a few months, and a very poor burn at that,

Our Pahiatua contemporary, iiidesd,

appears sceptical as to the capacity oi Mr Jessop's estate'to feed eight bullocks and twenty-one sheep, and affirms that Mr Jessop's fellow settlers complain of an uphill struggle, as satisfactory returns cannot beobtained from hush allotments during the first twelve months' occupancy. We trust that our Pahiatua~ contemporary will make an.effort; to ...absolutely test the' accuracy of Mr' 'Jessop's statements.' He is evidently a little suspicious of them lutihis is hardly sufficient.. Thjj; ''question is one- of■: ihe fet-lnipprtarice,'-and; neS9 and would no ,dbubt afford.a rep : '- if faoilitytQ.Qorifirrji'his:Evidence..' The "qu'es-; tioph of- importance, .because if Mr" j'e&op liasover-rated his case he has heldoiit misguiding inducements tp denizens in towns like Mastertprv.to settlo-oh ten. aore. allotments'. Will our Pahiatua contemporary view Mr Jessop's ten' acres with his own eyes, and let the, world know whether the pioturedrawn-oftho model allotment is a true one? We do not desire to infer that Mr Joaeph Jessop has ; deliberately misled the public. His statements may be true, and evon if they are mistaken the error may arise from that enthusiasm which some.times' bi'asses a; well-meaning person's judgment. ■-■ , ~,,