Protection v. Free Trade.

Auckland Star, Volume XVIII, Issue 69, 23 March 1887, Page 3

Protection v. Free Trade.

Kei-ly to "H.W.T." by "EM."

" H. W T." published a sort of manifesto on the above subject in youis of Wednesday last. All that he says and the quotation he odors from a speech of Mr Garvan have beon replied to and shown to ba fallaciej, timO3 without nuinbor. Ido not intend to travol o'.gv this ground again, but as he ha? formulated nine reasons why Now Zealand should adopt a protective tariff,. I propoao very briefly to reply to each of thoeo reasons in order.

1. For every or any articlo imported, whether it can be made iv the colony or not we do not Beud away a einylo sixpence in money, but we send the products of the colony on which the labour of tho pooplo has been employed. If ho will look at our import and export table?, no will tititl we import in round figures £7,000,000 a-ycar, and wo export the same amcTunt. Tho imports are tho productions of o her countries who can uiatmfacturo tho articles choapor and better than we can, and our exports are our productions', which we ciin do better than thsy can. Suppose wo rou'uco our ira ports-say by £2,000,000 -determined to produce the articles ourselves by protective duties, thus making them dear, we should havo alflo to reduce our exports by tho e;mo amount. We simply displace labour from a profitable to an unprofitable channel, increaee the taxation and make everybody poorer. 2. The countries namod have not provod tit all the wisdom, but tho great folly, of fostering locil industry by hij;h protective duties Taken over a eerioa of yours, it. haß rosulicd in ureat misery to the artisana. All tho goods wo either import or export, aro surplua produce of the countries concerned, and auy that are brought here are only admitted at tariff rates, generally 13 por cent, ad valorem. Wo do not pay any duties on the Roods wo oxport whothor to Molboiirno or United States ; tho receiver or purchaser pays the duty. It makes no diilerenco to the sender whether Hioro is a tariff or not, excipt that it places a roHlriction on tho amount of business ho cau do.

3. If all our industries are at their lowest ebb, tho next fluctuation in trado muat improvothom. Tho improvement in our ehope, for instance, cannot proceed from making articles thpy sell one-fourth dearer, which would bo the oll'-ct of protection ; tha*would cause, us to go to a lower ebb still. Aro not nil tho traders in Queon-streot puehirg all their energies to roduco prices in order to attract curtom ?

i. Fot nocessarv to reply. Government has ceased to bring out emigrants.

5. No, 1 will almcßt entirely answer this. He surely rioos not a«k us to boliove (hat the countries nnmo.i will, as a principlo, send their productions to us at less than what (hey cost. Ido not think they r.ro such fools, and I am not fool enough to nccept tho assertion as a fact, if that is what is meant, what is the difference between Franco and Germany subsidising linos or steamors, and our doing the same as we do to Europe, Fiji, and the South Seas ? 6. America hai certainly established induatrics, but she n- ithcr supplies her own demands cheaply nor thnt of o'her coun trios " Uradstreot's Jourml" made a thorough investigation into the state of her industries two yeirs aa;o, and brought out tho following facts -the inquiry hoing into the state of tho leading manufacturing industries in the twenty-two Northern States :

— "There had been n gennral reduction in wages, varying from 'JO to 25 por cent , and in some ca?es to 30 per cant. Tho reduced forces lie., number of men) at work rango from 33 per cent, to 12 por cent. Tho total number reported out of work is 31fi,000, or 13 per rent of tho whole number bu=y in ISSO " A=> to (ho industries which siiffrml most, they report—"Six highly-protscteJ industries, iron and fltool (also foundries and machino shops), clothing, cotton, woollon, tobacco, nnd glass manufacturer.', which employed 34 por cent, of all industrial workers (as reported in 18S0). havo thrown out one -half of the t.ital number of workers since JSS2— 177,000 in number." Th»«e extracts could bo greatly multiplied, but listen to tho Hon A. S. Hewitt In the House of Representatives, quoting from evidenco laid bofrro tho Sonato Committee on labour nnd education— "There wore miners of iron oro workirg in Pennsylvania for 75 cents a day (.■>) l.'id); that their abodes were extremely miserable, and that th«y sulforrd frotn n truck system, tinder which they piid 100 per cent more than tho iron and ftool workers did." It is recorded by tho " l'nll Mall Gazette " " that at Darby In Pennsylvania, under a system of tariffs which was to guard them against tho pauper labour of Europe, and in tho works of a corporation o-vned by prominent c'tizens of Now York and Philadelphia, children of nino years old and upwards were employed nnd workod from G. 45 a.m. to 8 p.m." Tho Secretary of the Treasury (Mr McCullnch). after alluding to tho " dire distress " of tho manufacturing industry, fays : " Many forced into bankruptcy, othora closed thoir mills to escape it, few running full time; and aa a consequence a very lurgo number of operatives are either deprived of employment or are working for wages hardly sufHcient to enable them to live comfortably or eve-n decently." Also: *' Unless markets now practically closed against U3 are oponed, unless we cm share in the trade which i* monopolised by European nations, tho dopression now so severely felt will continue, nnd may become more disastrous " Tho Hon A. S. Hewitt, already quoted, snys in closing hisapeeeh in Congress: "Such is the commercial picture presented by n country which has bad twenty-live years of un'nterrupted protection under a highnr tariff than ever existed in any civilised country on the globe." To show that she cannot compete in woven good«, I quote her trade* in woollen goods in 1885. She exported £161,653, of which £21,90S was to England. Tho sarno year England exported £18,847,0r>3,0f which £2 585.33G was to the United States in spite of their high protectivo duty. With such a trade England can afford to smile at, tbo email competition America is able to bring? fco bear. 7. Regarding America and her prosperity 1 would refer "H. W. T. " to a letter from tha correspondent of the " Daily News." you published a few months aj^o ; it will open bis oyos as to tho State of Canada. Owing to the high tariff, one of the States wishes to rotire from the Dominion. I most emphatically deny that any industry has heen completely crushed out in this colony as i result of free trade.

8. If Victoria, asie currontly reported, is paying 2.1 per cent, more for her locomotives and railway plant than eho could import them for, ehe is inflicting a gross injustice on her community. A debt is boine piled up, the effect of which may not bo felt now, but will in a fow years.

9, I fail to see what peculiarity there 13 about New Zealand why she should have a protective tariff, except to hinder her progress. With free trade f>he would mako a steady and healthy progress, whilst under protection she will so on dragging for years cot able to absorb tho population which will spring up.