Wairarapa Daily Times. [Established 1874.] MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1895. THE TARIFF.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XVI, Issue 5131, 16 September 1895, Page 2

Wairarapa Daily Times. [Established 1874.] MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1895. THE TARIFF.

A free light ovor tho tariff will, for all practical intents and purposes, end tho session. Tho Government wanted more money out of the Peoplo they love so well, and thought a little more could be squeezed out of thorn through the Customs. Fifty thousand pounds or so would satisfy tho Colonial Treasurer, but money must be had by hook or by crook, and tho Ministry decided to got it by crook. Now it is dirty work in the days of surpluses, to increase taxation, so the Ministry got some obliging persons to do this dirty work for them, At a cost of ono or more thousand pounds, Commis- , sioners were appointed to revise the tariff, But the Commissioners in their turn, did not feel like doing tho dirty work of the Government, oven at two guineas ;t day or whatever sum they were paid, and so instead of lilliug the tariff sponge, t thoy emptied it, Then tho Government was wrath, for it found that it 3 must do the dirty work itself, after all, and the Colonial Treasurer swept tho voluminous report of tho Commission on one side, and drew up an innocent-looking tariff of his own, a sort of cow tariff, which would milk-well into the Treasury bucket, Somowbat to the surprise of Ministers, the House would not endure this Ministerial tariff, There was a quostion as to whether the Government or tho party was ; the stronger, aud tho party pre- "' vailed, The Treasurer's tariff was politely kicked out of tho House, and the Govornmont then s in an awful fright brought down a '■ second tariff on which, in the plainJ tivo accents of a Cheap Jack, they [ say they lose money but must do business, Instead of making£so,ooo a year more, tho Government will ; take £IO,OOO a year less to get rid \ of the tariff question, But there is little chance of that, for they have set a ball rolling which they cannot stop. For weeks past trade has ! been worried and harassed by sus- ■ ponse over this wretched tariff ' muddle. Now it will take some time yet to determine whether tea is to be , eheapor, and if it is to bo so, then , whether as a necossary consequence fruit is to bo dearer. There will be endless haggling over every item, and after all it is not very material how the thing works out. The Gov-

ernment morally is defeated in this tariff business, but. will not own up to its position. It lias "still the spirit of a man," Some of our readors may remember in an old number of" Punch" the picture of a brave fellow who had taken refuge under a bed. His wife, brandishing I a broom handle, called upon him to come out, but the hero under the bedstead cried, "While I have the spirit of a man I won't come out." The Ministry has, in this tariff question, been under a feather bed. The party, its hotter half, twirling a big. stick, calls upou it to come out, but the Government, while it has" the spirit of a man" won't give tho party a chance to get a whack at it. The party, for some time to come, is likely to hit at the bedstead and strike the bolster, but the Government is safo as long as it keeps under tho bed.