THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1973, 28 February 1885, Page 2

THAMES VA LLEY GA ZETTE.

.'. ju-l ..I d i> a t justice to all mi 11, ')t wh^tsitt \f i state or peisuasion, religious or politic.il Hen *li ill tlir In s1;s 1 ; the Topic's ri^-lit maintain,, UnaAfd by influence and unbnlx-d by (fain.

SATURDAY. FEB. 28, 1885.

The land-owning class in England are making' strenuous oilbrts to secure a reversal of the free trado policy of ths't country. The movement affects public opinion in these colonies in t\v o ways. In the first place, producers on this bide of the world naturally enough regard a tnx upon torevgn imports in th<; li^ht of a tymus upon colonial

grain, wool, and meat, and m the second place, the ad\oeates of Imperial Federation affect to see in the projected revolution a means of cementing a commercial union between Britain and her various dependencies, which will in process of time bring about that grand political confederation which is the hope of us all. Against a -scheme such as this there is nothing to be said, but we must be careful that we do not proceed upon false premisses. The agitation in favour of protection (or fair trade, as its advocates prefer to call it), which originated with Mr Chaplin and others, is not a new thing m New Zealand, mid whatever individual opinions may be, it must be admitted that from a colonial point of view the question opens up a ast area of debatable ground. Upon this, how e\ er, we do not at present propose to -venture. Our object is to consider briefly the probabilities of a return to protection in England. A few da>s ago, Mr J 0. Firth wrote a very elaborate letter to the Auckland Herald, in which he attempted to demonstrate that the days of free trade in the mother country were numbered, and he relied mainly, (1) upon the well ascertained fact that the agricultural interests at home have seriously deteriorated, and (2) upon the statement, which may not be a fact, th.it while the imports to the United Kingdom were increasing the exports therefrom were declining. There was a great deal moie, ami very much that is deeply interesting, in the letter, but this, broadly stated, is the ground Mr Firth takes up, and from which he prophesies the abandonment of the teachings of Cobden and Bright. Mr John Milne, of Auckland, has answered Mr Firth in two able letters, calling in question some of his facts, and conecting some of his figures. Taking the case of the United States, Mr Firth showed that while there was a considerable increase in the value of the imports from that country to England, the value of British products to America showed a falling off. Mr Milne, in one of his letters, demonstrate* tli.it so far from this being the case the latest returns showed a material increase in the exports. But, lea\ ing Messrs Firth and Milne to tight their own battle, let us glance briefly at some of the arguments used by the advocates of protection in Great Britain itself. And here it may be well to remark that the protective tariff proposed is to be upon breadstuffs and other necessaries of life. Writing to the North British Agriculturist, a correspondent, " A. F. ti." sets out with the query, " Can the British farmer be rescued from ruin V and he tl\en proceeds to answer it by saying in effect, "Yes, certainly, if only we t.iv the foreign imports of food." " The prospeiity of the entire commercial community is," he s;i)s, "bound up in the prosperity of ngriculture. No profit to cultivator, no money to purrh.tM* from the shopkeeper- no jnoiit te shopkeeper, no orders to wholesale merchants— no trade to the wholesale merchauds, no employment to the manufacturer, so far as home trade is concerned. Foreign trade never does supply the want of home trade. In home trade home labour is employed in reproductive industry, and the labour, while feeding the labourer, reproduces itself. Foreign trade employs foreign labour, and reproduces itself to the foreigner, but not to the home producer of the same commodities. No profit in arable farming results in land being withdrawn from cultivation. Every acre of land so withdrawn results in a loss of £8 of home-grown food to the consumer -—of reproductive labour producing that sum — of a lhing to the labourer and to the farmer, and of a rent to the landlord. The space of land which, under culthation, will pi oduco food foi eight mouths, will, under grass, only feed one." After remarking (which is selfe\ident) that the profits or losses resulting from the cultivation of the land should be dhided between the owner and the cultivator, the writer makes the startling announcement that the price of wheat to the English consumer lias been kept down by the Home farmers. This is howhe puts it : — " We have our wheat from abroad just now at 30s a quarter. Would it have been so low if we had grown none at home ? The home supply steadied the market. Had we had no such home growth, we must have paid whatever price foreigners chose to exact, and that would certainly have exceeded 30s a quarter. The moment we get entirely in the hands of the foreigner for our wheat supply, we must stand and deliver his price or starve." The writer points out that while the English farmer is taxed fully 12 per cent, on his produce, his foreign and colonial competitor is let off with scarcely any taxation, as the cost of freight, is almost as great from the Home farm to the market as it is fioin the United States. The only tax paid by the New Zealand farmer is, so we are hew informed, \d per acre of dnirch rate' However, let us proceed to his argument. " In. 1882," he says, " we got about £4f>,000,000 from abroad ; and produced at home .£15,000,000, making a total of £00,000,000. We paid -15s per quarter for the whole of that. If we could keep the price at 30s we would save to the consumer onethird, or £20,000,000, at a cost, if the consumer paid the taxes, of 10 per cent on home growth ; say, gross produce of £20,000,000— though human consumption is only £15,000,000—0r £2,000,000. Thus the gain to the consumer would have been £18,000,000." This is % ory ingenious, but it is as sophistical as most of the other arguments used by the advocates of protection. We shall let another correspondent, writing in a subsequent issue of the Agriculturist, provide the nnswerto

it. Ihis correspondent, who, singularly enough, is a namesake of Mr Firth's antagonist, Jolm Milne, writes as follows :—": — " So fir as I understand your correspondent, " A.F.8." he contends that all taxes should l>c taken oil" land ; but if so, it is clear they must be put upon something else. He leaves us in doubt how we would proceed. He would put. Los per (jr. upon wheat from abroad ; this is the plain incidence of his figures. He believes the effects of this, if I understand his somewhat vaguely put arguments aright, would be, that by lemoving taxation, wheat could be grown at home at 30s per (jr. , and ho seems to tiy to pro\e that if his proposals had been adopted in 1882 the consumer would ha\e had to pay £2,000,000 of taxes, borne by the landlord, but the price of wheat would then have been 30s per qr. instead of 4os, and the consumer would thus have saved £18,000,000. Your correspondent is evidently in a muddle here, or he expects that tho foreigner will import wheat even if he only gets 15s per qr. for it, for if the price of wheat is kept at 4T).s per qr. by a duty, the consumer would save nothing. He would be saddled in addition with the taxation the landlords throw off; and if wheat could be grown upon untuxed English land at at 30s per (jr., while the market price is 4.">s, the difference would go into the pockets of the landlords in the form of increased rents. Local taxation can have no effect upon the area or price of wheat. The only effect of its reinowil would be that fanners who pay it would h.i\e a little more rent to pay, and the landlords would ha\e a little more to .spend or squander. Your correspondent's whole argument is that 3.">,000,000 of the Queen's subjects would be sacrificed |to benefit ' the 10,000 landlords. Most unselfish people reason that, if wheat cannot be grown in England on account of too high rents, then rents ought to be lower rather than that e\ cry loaf made in the kingdom should be taxed. Our manufacturing population pay handsomely for the sites of the houses they are permitted to build. The supply of their wants and food has greatly increased the x.ilue of land in every part of the kingdom, yet your correspondent insists upon levying additional blackmail upon every mouthful of bread they eat. They will be something worse than fools if they allow this." In afootnote, the editor of the Agriculturist, the organ of the Scottish farmers, says emphatically, "We h.ue no sympathy whatexer with the so-called return to Protection movement."

On the subject of connnerci.il federation we shall yet have something to say. Meantime, sve have shown that the prospects of the protectionists in England, upon the success of whose, ci tis.ide Mr Firth depends .so much, are not particularly bright.

"Echoes from the Cafe" by S. Mmitfo, will l>o f.mnd in this fmuth [>w of thi>. i*mic

A grand miscellaneous concert will be held at Wli.it ivsli iti on Timi>day ii(>\t, tho pruceedi m .(id "f tin 1 Wo^eymi Ciicuit Fund.

We understand that Captain Xoithcroft has bt-en a«ked t<> kindly 111stiuct nuitnblo nipu to collect name* of Wftikatu men di'smug to join Bennett V n.i\al contingent for service m the Knud.ui.

Oapt. Daly. Hautapu, has been veiy Muccessful with Ins bees this reason. He expects to g.ither over tour tons (if honey, .»»(! has completed iirrangeinonts for sending 22 1 1 tons direct to the. English market.

At Thursday's sitting of the Sen.itP of the Now Zealand UimerMtv, at Auckland, Dr. Hector, (late \ice-ch.ui-cellor), was elected chaiici'lloi, m tho phico of the Lite Mr H. ,T. Tuncred. The Ko\. J. C. Andrew, was elected vice-cluncellor.

A meeting of the members of the Hamilton Choral Society, )■* called for M»ncUy evening ne\t, at the Public Hall, for the purpose of electing officers and the transaction of other buwi»e«-< of import mcc. It is hoped that there will be a larj?e attundnnco.

A match at lawn tennis between the Hamilton and C.imbiidKO Clulw will l»e played on the ground of the Litter this afternoon, commencing at •* "'thick. Me»sr> B C, Mourner, W. A. Yon Stunner, H. PcirMin, and T. W.illnutt will iepir-<pnt Haniilton. The match Hamilton v. Ksnvliia w ill Ihs played .it the Hamilton court on the 17th of March (S. P.itnck's Day )

The promoters of the New Zealand licet Sußar Coinj>.my »»o madw of tlio right kind <>f *tutf. They h.ne comened another meeting of Miomj inttMesteri t<» bo held at Thn Waiknto Tiiium Uinldin^, on Fud.iy after noon no\t, when further arrangement* with the object of thoroughly cnn\ assinj? the f armerfl n\ ill be made.

At the meeting of natives held at Kihikihi on the 2">tli, with refeicnce to the railway and other matter-", Wahanui stated'that the Maoii.s intend to pnwppet for gold in the Khmj Country, .md that Mr Barry, who was present at the iu"etmi», was to ha\e charge of the party, with full discretion.

The Richt Rev. Dr. Luck, Roman Catholic Bwhop of Auckland, was s\ p.isspnger to Hamilton by yesterday's ti.un. Tho ceremony of blessing iS. M.irv'> Monastery, Hamilton Kait, will tako jilnce to-morrow. It will be conducted by liis lorciihip, who will afterwaidi adnmiister the rito of confinn.ition to tlmsc who ha\i> been ]>reparod. Tlie bishop will also celeIn.itc eaily mass, and will pi each at the evening service.

The election of licensing commianioneis for Cambridgo town district takes place on Mond.i\ »e\t. The temperance party only seek ti> be iepresented on the bench by two member-*, and doubtless they are sufficiently strong to secure tho return of theii men. Tho contest does not promise to afford much excitement. .*<< usual, tho election for tho Pnkvkurn, district, for which no fewer than nine, candidate^ have been nomin.ited, will >fford an evcitmg ntrupp;le for places.

This afternoon the great sculling match between Botch, the cliaim>ion <if the world, ;in<l Thomas Clifford comos off o\er the champion couiie, l'.uramatt i Kivci, Sydney, for £200 .isido and tin 1 ch.mipinnnhip of the world. Should Clifford he.it Bench, Hanlan sure to dies* Clifford down when they meet However, there is very little pmluhility of Chffoid winning, and tho who this evening will, wo think, Iwur this. Th« i ace between Hnnl.m and Vicieh is .in\iou»ly looked foiwaid to, but the oddi are in t'ue favour of tho Canadian.

The following special telegrams to tho Ph".^ Association, dated London, February 25th, havo been published :— Tho Agonts (Joneral are protesting agaui«t any rocidivntc schemu fm the Pacific, and have prepared a bill dealing with tho matter, which they havo handed to Lord Derby.— The ahipmont of frozen moat by tho steamer Tong.uin> has anived in good condition. — At a mooting held in London the Kail of Dunraven advocated and spoko utrongly in favour of imposing » ta\ on foreign import*, which should po to fonnintr a fedcml defoncc fund. Tlio hon. A. Jcwph, M.L.C., New South Wales, opposed the Karl a views, and Haid the proposal was absurd.

It will be seen by an advertisement in another column that we aic to have tho "Groat Australian Hoalor," Mr Milner

Stephen, in our mid>t. He begins Ins mission td Waikato <m the 7th of Maich at Hamilton, where lie in.iy he con-suited at Gandni's Hotel. Mr Stephen's name .md fame have travelled all over the woild, and have readied even to this corner of it. It is not therefore necessary that we should enlarge upon tho subject, but to those interested we mny nay tli.it we ha\ea number of fly-^hcets and a pamphlet, setting furtli the wonderful n.tti^netic ciires, «lncl» u< v hli.il! be plad to whow anyone desmms of perusing them. Among tho testiiuoni i]«, is ,i characterntic <>m- fiom a gentli-ni.in wellknown in Waik.ito (Dr. Hovell), who, under the hand <if .\lr Stephen, w is 10 lioved of the ill effects of a fall fiom Inhorse about st\ months before.

Our Te Awarautu correspondent writes :— Considerable comment has b^en made heie on the fact th.it the exclusion ti.iin stops at Hamilton. Why could not the train he run m far as To Aw.unutu '! it would not interfeic with those whi u^it Hamilton, they would go there whethei the train ran to Te Awainutn or not. B "-ides, if the intention is to let Auckland pjople see something of the Waikato, the opjMirtimity of seeing a good di.stnct should l)i> afforded them. Unless they come on to this- district, I fear they will not (,'-> back veiy much nnpressed with tln> fertility of the Waikato. There aie plenty of coaches in which to diivc visitor-, round the country, and a visit to Rangiaohia, Orak.iu, and other placs, would not be without interest to the du'elleis in the city.

A correspondent at Ngaruawahia writes . — At a. public meeting hold :»t the Delta Hotel, Wednesday, '2%tli, Mr D. Henderson in the ch.iir, theie was between 30 .and 40 pie^-nt. The. Cluiiman stated tho object of the meeting was to take into constdciation the light of Mr Jamer. to ieniovo the big di tun from the s-chool umin, after the brass band receiving the u->e of it from tho ti ustees, they, the trustees, not haung authoiiMvl Mr James to take tho same. It was then proposed by Mi 1 Dashwood, and hcronded by Mr Rollett " th.it tho brass band havo the use of the drum upon the old terms, and that they £et timely notice if it is required for any other' band, and that tin 1 tm>tees be requested to take immediate st;ps to rec »ver the dium and hand it o\er to the bias-, band."

The Cambridge Brass and Reei Bind,undt'i tl)i'pi»i(liictoi-hi|H>f MrCuitico, rendered a iiunibi'i* of popnl.u -elections in the rioin.un on Thmsd.iy evening. Tnoro was a huge attendance of people from all p.uts of the town ami all seeiiud to thoroughly enjoy the musical tre.it afforded them. Tn« members of the band desei y e great credit for tlu'ir MilliiiErncss in thus contributing to the harmony of the summer evening*. They pl.iy .igiini on tSituid.iv e ,eimiK m front. .ftl.e Public H ill. Rcw|iuctinp tlif suitability <>f the dom.iin for such performances there cm be no doubt that it iw, in almost eveiy respect the best place, but it \v.i». evident on Thurnd.vy c\enni(? that it is yet too young for tlio presence and consequent enjoyment of such a multitude. There were a number of frolicsome young people and a flock of doga who openly put at defiance the rules and regulations of the boaid. The young grass in some place* was subjected to a very considerable rolling, and home of the young pl.vnts recem-d undue attention from the canine viMtoi--.

At Thursday's meeting of the Auckland Crown Linris Boaid the following business interesting to roaden in this district was transacted :—WaUo\.— The Chairman of tlie W.utou, Koad Board wiote in inference to the OApenditme on a ceit.un load in the district us to whether it was included in the list authorised under the third of tho levcnne from deferred payment land.— The Chairman *aid it was not in eluded at present, but it was desirable th.it it should Ix3.— lt was agreed to include; it accoidmtily on this Jist.—KlHtKlHi.— Mr Josepli N.itti.is", of Kilnkihi, asked to be allowed timccupy <»r lease a hoction of an area adjoining his properly.— lt was agiced to grant him permission to temporarily occupy the section, but the board did not thmk it deniable to l.'ise it. -Waikvto L\M» A>«vM;ivn<iN.— Mr Kittley, »n beh.ilf of tlie W.vikuto Land Association, wrote asking that a certain drainage ie-<erve might be otfeied for 1.410. The whole of the adjacent l.vnd h.vd been purclvased by Mr .it ihe recent land sale on behalf of th« company.— The Chaiiman considered that tho company w.is now faiily entitled to puichasp this receive. It was agreed to withdraw it from sale, give the nooessaiy notices, .md then allow tho comjiaiiy tn puioh vsc it under tho .squaring up clause of tlie act.