Protection.

Auckland Star, Issue 153, 1 July 1887, Page 2

Protection.

(To the Editor.) a,W LiWhile feeling considerable respect for ShGeoi'ge Grey as a citi_en and a man that \-m everlasting mernorndof .'.••=■ -inuniticence, % i an elector and an old <b, cannot

let his political speech pass without remarking that I was considerably disappointed at its unpractical character. I say, what does the working man care about the manufacturers growing rich, so long as the wagesman may enjoy, employment and his full wages? If Sir George considers that protection to our young colony may ensure a number of busy factories being established, and the citizens who support them growing wealthy at the expense of the , toil and labour of the working man, instead of the money going home t6 England and foreign countries, there can be no serious complaint. What the labouring class and the mechanic now complain about, is the fact that one half of the masters are bankrupt or have no work, and bhe sooner bhe millions we send abroad are spent within the colony tho better for all classes. As to Sir George's objection to Village Settlement, his speech is more suitable when he gets further South, When Sir George Grey was in power he had better facilities for populating the broad stretches of laftd lying ide here than bhe present Ministry, and I earnestly suggest his hearty cooperation to this scheme when the new Parliament meets, and' nob let the North again sutler by party feeling and personalities, such as those expressed by Mr Hobbs lately in the House. lam no admirer of the present Government, nor yet those 'members who assist to starve a bleeding colonial public by an enormous further expenditure consequent upon bhe dissolution. I do think that the LtiO.OOO some of the Auckland members objected to being spent in the provincial district of Auckland, as necessary to establish our needy colonists on unoccupied land in such a manner that starvation cannot reasonably follow, would have been better disbursed than ib was in paying bhe honorariums of these honourable gentlemen who again seek election, and I ask if it might not be wise to return a new set of men, who have nob so often tasted political pay, and keep good old Sir George as a watch-dog, but nob as a leader.—Yours truly, A.D.B.