MAHOMET IN NEW ZEALAND.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVII, Issue 7, 9 January 1886, Page 4

MAHOMET IN NEW ZEALAND.

The Prophet's Christmas Epistle. Reflections on Protections. [BY OUR OWN ORIENTALIST.] Dear Mr Editor,—First I must thunk you for the Christmas hamper, which reached the solitude of this ancient party, and roused his feeblo spirits, siniring at the prospoct of again passing another milestone on the roadway of life. It was so kind of you not to forget me during the festive season. Whenever your hamper was opened, and I saw the plump turkey with its satellite sausages, eurreundea, in their turn, by a guard of interesting bottles (so soon, alas! to become marines)—when, I say, my eye dropped on the rounded plumpness of that king of fowls lying in " beauty unadorned adorned the nK,st," I exclaimed with a tearful joy, "Come! lie next my heart," and in duo time it did occupy the next compartment to life's pendulum, for which wo ore truly thankful. Yes; you are right. New Zealand produces magnificent turkeys, whose ultimate mission is to feed the unborn millions that will people a land redundant with the good things of nature. (Excuse me ; I have been a little touched by the " blowhard " oratory, and you must tako the last observation for what it is worth. I may mention, however, that these interesting sentinels have not been all " converted " into marines as yet, though the good work is progressing rapidly.)

To a man whoße best part of life is a thing of the past, this time of year has strange effects. The many springs, summers, autumns, and winters which have passed over my head have reduced it to its primeval nakedness, and in place of clustering curls there remains but a staring glossy surface of epidermis, polished by the continuous action of this deluiro of time. But if the flood of years has denuded my upper sphere of its ample foliage, it has carried along with it all traces of its originally verdant colour, and I just guess that my head ain't been polished without causing a "reflection" or two. It is also only natural that these reflections should hover round the subject of necessary " protoctionB1' (by wigs, nightcaps, or other devices), and, as I notice, your Primer (I beg pardon ; Premier is the correct spelling, I believe) has been dropping a few words of advice on this subject, perhaps a few of these reflections may bo of use tc you,

Tho first one that occurs to me is that Free Trade ia very draughty ; that is to say it has a powerfully •■ developed draught power over the metallic currency of a country unless that country is tolerably well off. Draughts, as you are probably aware, are very prejudical to the health of everything young, whether animal, vegetable, and I was about to say mineral—but the last is a limited case only. We see hew a careful gardener shields his young plants from the effects of cold air—especially his imported varieties, and how a fond mother carefully covers her little one from the blighting blast of the hungry wini. And the little one sprouts into a tall and comely man who laughs both at the wind and the tiny wraps treasured by his doting parent.

What the child is to the mother, the young industries ought to be to this country. The same care in their nourishment (on deftly cooked turkeys or otherwise) ought to stimulate your efforts on their behalf, and they must be, to a certain extent, " protected " from tho hungry war of competition until old enough to fight for themselves. You may observe that old people like myself require protection as well as young. It is at the two ends of life that the duty of protection is imperative. You may also have observed that in the headquarters of free trade they are now discussing the probability of a roturn to protection. Age is, in fact, beginning to tell, and though the ancient mother speaks only of "reprisals" and "reciprocity," these are merely polite terms invented to conceal the ravages time has made on her strength and her principles. The strong lady is past her prime, and the wintry weather chilla her bones with a warning of age. If she is wise, she will take that warning, and prolong a glorious and useful existence by the use of suitable protections.

But there is, no doubt, another view of the Protection question — a view that is promulgated by all the doaciples of Free Trade. It may be called the " Kill or Cure " eystem, and is based on the axiom - " Don't bemoily-coddles." For aFreeTrader will tell yon that your position, so remote from the factories of the older world, answers all the purposes of a protective duty, and that your youthful industries will best assert themselves by being left to natural laws. Now it is apparent that, though we cannot do without natural latvs, man can often improve on them to a certain extent, and his improvements have been called civilisation ; but he has never yet been able so to improve these laws as to render an infant a fit match in point of strength for a man. And what are the facts to be faced with regard to the possibility of establishing colonial industries in the heat of a fierce, uncontrolled competition from older countries ? In the first place, the foreign manufacturers are prepared and able to sacrifice as much capital to keep the colonial markets in their hands as would suffice to establish these industries hero. In the second place, they have the advantages of low prices of capital and labour. In the third placo, they already have command of the channols through which the trade flows. So the Free Traders are very complimentary when they tell us that our children ought to be able from infancy to hold their own with the man in possession, who has abundance of capital to sacrifice at a pinch, and who obtains the necessary capital and labour at much lower rates than wo would ever wieh to see in this glorious country. And again they tell us that if the infant cannot overcome the adult it is not fit to live.

Quite so; that may suit their views of the case to a nicety; but we are fond of our own "little nippers," and prefer to shelter them from the rough handling of the man in pß39esßion until they are of a fit size to fight for themselves. But, on the other hand, you must not coddle and kill them with a false kindness. You must simply insißt on the principle of " weight for age," and it ia a mere matter of arithmetic to calculate on any given industry the protection due to it from the facilities afforded to its rivals by the lower prices of capital and labour added to the established growth of years; and, by imposing equivalent duties, so to handicap the imported goods as to place your youngsters on a fair basis to compete with them.

Competition in small quantities is, like some other comforts, a healthful stimulant, but an over-dose always precedes great depression, accompanied by a severe headache next morning. It is the otrong wine which, taken in moderation, stimulates the system, but which, in excess, produces that drunken madness known in commercial centres as "reckless spaculation." The careful fathers of the State's children should see that none of their young folk drink too deeply until they arrive at years of discretion.

But it is in the power of the country first to plant and nourish by careful protection those industries most suited to all your requirements and also to the capabilities of the colony j and then by the gradual removal of the protections to stimulate the youngsters by the force pi competition. But don't begin by giving the baby brandy neat.

Such ar,e the polished reflections of my eastern epidermis, and should they prove of use to the country that feeds such delicious turkeys, your humble servant will stand on his head for joy. This is a habit I have a great fondness for whenever I am what is called V slightly elevated," and I believe it is beneficial in correcting that tendency by reversing the position of affairs in general. Owing to the steep gradients of some of your streets—Shortland-street for instance—this feat is not unattended with danger, as the glassy surface of my upper story does cot present sufficient frictional resistance to prevent a rapid sliding descent into Lower Queen-street, lam afraid that on allowing vent to my feelings without regard to site, 1 should find that instead of eating another of your turkeys, I had ." cooked my own goose "

Wishing you all the compliments of the season, and many of \hem.—l remain, Allus yours, MahomdtMjscoa, R.O.T.F.

[Note.— We understand that tho letters after Mr Mecca's name indicate'his title, namely,Euler of the Faithtur.-Ed; E,S/j