PROTECTION V. FREE TRADE.

Waikato Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2056, 10 September 1885, Page 4

PROTECTION Y. FREE TRADE.

TO THF KllirOß. Sib,— On this subiect peihaps a small note fiom .in outsider in.ay bo admitted. I do nut wish to nppcar as a p.utis.«n of Protection, which, when earned to an undue length, serves only to bolster up unsound undertaking* that are htaitcd more to secure the bonus offeied by piotection, than in tho interest of legitimate trade, but an amount of piotection ec|\ii\alant to the mipoit duty now charged upon any particular line of goods can ncarcelj excessive. The loss would only be in revenue, while the whole of the nioniy paid as height, wages of operatives etc. would be left m the country, instead of, ;is far too frequently at present, going to tho suppoit of nianufactuiinpr towns in other paits of the woild. The M.>ns of the times arc rapidly changing, and if they point to any thin;,', it is, that we, tho people of New Zealand, mu>t btr.llll e\eiy nerve, to puteveiy penny tli.it we can in the countiy. Wo aro being anmnlly di.uned to bond thousands of pounds away never to return, fir article-, m my of them necssiries of life, which we can, and if we intend to live here, iiui*-t produce omselve-!. What a different po-.i tion we should otc.ipy, if nil th< se goods, non, st<'el, sug.irani! ni mj oth-i npu'ssinesi, weii." giown .md in.unifactmed by us, wh t tow ms of opei .lines we should lequne; and «uiely v.c ci uld better utfoid to pay these thousands of operatives, with oni firm, duty, and othei pioduce tl-.it they would lequne, than to sciape the m >ncj together, as we do now, to send thoiisinds of miles to them, and get deepei and deeper into debt to do mi, as we now assuredly «re doin o'. 0 '. L-tustlionstandshouldirtoslioMldrr in any local industry which will keep the money in the distuct and coiintiy, foi if I am not mi'-takpii, it Will In 1 moie in what we cm keep, than in what we will receive fiom foreign couutnex, that will make us liulep'Mdent m the end — T am sir youri obediently. Wh \ t\\\ ha r v V \hmkh.