PROTECTION IN NEW SOUTH WALES.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXIX, Issue 3166, 8 October 1892, Page 2 (Supplement)

PROTECTION IN NEW SOUTH WALES.

The Sydney Mail, in the courae of an article dealing with tho produce trade, spys : —" It is a strange tiling that hojiegrown potatoes are entirely unknown in the Sydney market. Even the now tariff, upon which the Protectionists based such santj-uiue expectations, has made no dillerence in this respect. It is not that we cannot grow potatoes iu this colony, but simply that it will not pay to take thorn to market. Plenty of potatoes are produced at Orange and Goulbourn, but they go to supply the interior districts, and are noc sent down to Sydney. The cost of railway carriage is prohibitive, and a tariff, no matter how heavy, will not help matters. After making enquiries of many agents, we cannot find that the now duties have made any difference whatever in our home production. Some aay that they have led to an increased importation of seed; others, that they have steadied the market and raised prices all round. The agents, of course, do not object to this, for it moans higher commissions ; though at tho same time they need more capital to carry on their business. This means that the new tariff tends to the creation of monopolies, since none but the largest firms will ba able to stand the pressure of the severe and everincreasing- competition which characterises the business ; meanwhile, the over-sea trade goes on much as before. From South Australia we get wheat aud flour ; from Victoria, chaff, onions, flour, potatoes, cabbages, cauliflowers, and a host of minor articles of produce; from Queensland, occasionally a little maize; trom New Zealand, potatoes, oats, whe-it, butter, chaff, and (when the market is high cnouyh) choose; whilst from Tasmania wo draw potatoes, peas, oats, straw and chaff."