SUPPORT LOCAL INDUSTRY.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2232, 28 October 1886, Page 2

SUPPORT LOCAL INDUSTRY.

to thi; KDiron. Sir, — I have kept in front of me day by day your issue of October 14th, where you g'ne us a pleasant and very sensible leader on the above subject, touching at the same time on the great question of Free Trade and Protection. Even after all this delay I cannot find time, and lack the inclination to tackle these questions fully, but I have something to on these matters, and will do so as briefly as possible. The cry of "Support locil industry " is heard on all sides. The Press echo and re-echo it everywhete, and you can hardly take up a newspaper but the advertsiement of some inanufactuier implores you to "Support local industry," adding that they can supply "at English prices or a fraction over,' and you are requested to pay the fraction o\er if you would prove yourselves good colonists. Now, this is all very good, but where will we find out selves if, instead of shouting " Settlers, encourage locil industry,' we say, "Local manufacturer-!, encourage settler*." Well, I venture to say that we shall find ourselves in a very queer street, and if we ask the question " Do our manufacturers encourage the settlers ?" the answer must be in the negative. Let us take, one manufacture as "an example, namely, agricultural implements 1 . Is it not a fact that we cm buy an English impoited plough at less money than we can those locally made, and this in the face of expenses so heavy that they ought to amount to the actua prohibition of imported articles ? Let us try and get some idea of the profit and expenses put on an English plough when offered to a farmer ; let us put the manufacturer's profit at 10 per cent ; commission, charges, etc. before shipping, 5 per cent. ; exchange, 5 per cent. ; freight, insurance, etc., 5 per cent. ; duty, 1") per cent. ; retail profit, 13 per cent. These amount to a total of 55 por cent, above cost, aud vet our colonial manufacturers cannot, or will not, supply v-> with similar goods c\en at these, enlnncid price-, ! (if course, I shall bj told that the, difference i;i the pi ice of labour accounts for most of this, but I doubt it very much. T know that the price wo pay here for unskilled labour is far and away above what it can be got for in England ; but T also kn >w from actual expeiiH!C> th it the wacres of a skilled meohavic at Home aic (or wore a very few yeais ago) .so hife.li tli.it it woiild d-itonish many of your leadeis; aud I que-iti* n if the wages of die billed mjch mic in Xcw Zealand are vcty much higher than those paid in Enghnd to siniihr woikmen. Let me now give an example of the way ''local manufacturers encout age settlers, "but for obvious reasons I omic names, alter figures, &c, &c. Not long ago I travelled Some 80 miles to soe a newly-invented machine at work ; this m ichine, if it would only do what was claimed for it, would have been a great boon to many ; I saw the machine ; it was an advance of what ha-d been done before, but to my thinking far from perfect. Said I : " What* the price?" Said he: " Can't afford h> sell it under £50." Said I 1I 1 " £50 ? ' Said he : <l That', the figure." Well, I looked with a cold, criticising eye at that maclrne. She wasn't pet feet, and she was made chiefly of nntenal that voll buy by the lOOfeet and by the ton. I reckoned that such ought to be made at from £23 to £30, and leave a good margin of profit, and I returned home not wiser but madder, and minus two lost days and two notes "that c.vn never be lecalled." Not long after the above dociibed visit I was in the town vv here this machine was made, and I called upon the manufacturers about it. Said I: "£5O is a big pi ice." Said he: " Can't mike it for less."' Said 1 (-.peaking sarcastic like, but he didn't see it): "I suppose you will make a reduction pome day.'" Said he (speaking quite nifokly and innocentlyh "Oh, yes, when I hue sold about 20 machines, I shall be repaid for the expense of the special castings and pattern*, and I can then reduce the price con-.ideial.ly." Said 1 "Oh" (ironically). Gie.it Cajsar, Mr Editor, but I sooted fioin that manufactory as hard as my legs would carry me ; an irresistible conviction seized me that the man must be a lunatic, and I was'nt going to wait for the consequences. Yes, here you have an example of how "local manufacturers encourage settler^." This man was waiting for 20 settlers who had brains enough to acknowledge an improvement when they saw it, who had pluck enough to try it, and who had pocket enough to pay for i(;— fqr possessing these qualities he was going to charge them, say, 3Q per cent, beyond what his price would be to the very next settler, a man who possessed, perhaps, in an eminent degiee, those qualities that are neither essential nor desirable in anyone. A few words about "Protection v/jTree Trade." There can be no doubt that in the next Parliament a new and most determined effort will be made on the part of the protectionist, and I ask what position are country settlers going to take up ? What can protection do for them ? A protectionist will tell you that protection reduces the pi ice of manufactures, and I doubt not that after many years of protection manufacturers would be so numerous that competition would compel them to sell at the lowest payable price ; but what is to become of us settlers in the meantime? Can any mortal power give ua protectiqn, a.u.c{ increase the value of any single one of our export*? Will it increase the price of our wool, our wheat, our beef, our mutton ? To a small extent agriculturists might be benefited by a protective duty on tobacco, or sugar-beet, or manufactured woollen goocjs, &0., &c, but what proportion do such h}dustiies bear to ouv total exports, aud thes»e exports the veiy blood ana life ot our existonre. I suppose I should be i>\ or-estimatii)g if I put it as 6d to 20$. Now, will it answer the .sefcfcJer to ad locate protection, and gtffc cent per cent, profit on his investment of (id, if he makes a 10 per cent, loss <m his investment of 20-;? I think not. Suppose fclioio was a5O pci 1 cent, duty or*, imported ploughs, what would the &ipjens manufacturer above-mentioned do. He would -v\y, " The duty was 15 per cent. It is now 50 per cent. Most excellent. I will put tha extra 35 per cant, profit in my pocket." In short, it appears to me that as ; .ir as country settlers are concerned " protection '' is another word for " spoliation." You cannot protect (he products of both town and country alike. The country <J«nonqs almost entiiely on its exports, which cannot qe protected, and if' you protect the products of the town, wo shall soon see a similar state of affairs to that existing at present in America, viz: "rings" everywhere, immense wealth to the favoured few by a disheartened and discontented people. —I am, yours faithfully, Ou> Grqwle%