The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1901. THE FEDERATION COMMISION.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXII, Issue 50, 28 February 1901, Page 4

The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1901. THE FEDERATION COMMISION.

For the cause that lacis assistance. For the -nrron? that needs resistance, For the Mare In the distance, , And th» good that \re oaa de.

The Royal Commission appointed to enquire into the question of Australian Federation as affecting this colony concluded its investigations at Wellington to-day, and commences its sitting's in Auckland on Monday next. At the four centres where evidence has already been taken, namely, Invercargill, Dunedin, Christchurch, and Wellington, 11.3 witnesses have been called. Of these 32 have favoured federation, CO have testified against it, and 15 have not considered the subject sufficiently to cOme to any definite opinion. So far, therefore, the balance, of testimony has been overwhelmingly against Xew Zealand entering the Commonwealth.

The witnesses examined are conspicuously representative of the commerce and ihdiistries of the colony. It appears to be the practice of the Commission, before commencing its sittings in a town, to issue summonses to the presidents of the Chamber of Commerce, of agricultural, pastoral, and industrial associations, officers of labour organisations, and representative manufacturers and merchants iv various lines of b.isiness. lt also publicly invites voluntary evidence from any person in the community who has studied the question and feels capable of throwing any new light upon it.

In this way a large amount of valuable information which Avill assist in educating and moulding public opinion has been collated. But when perusing the summaries of the evidence which have appeared in our columns day hy day, we cannot but be struck with, the tendency of witnesses to narrow down the exposition of their views to an expression of opinion with regard to the effect of inter-colonial free trade upon their own businesses. Many men, holding positions of influence and responsibility in the mercantile world, frankly confess that they have not considered the question in its broader aspects. Indeed, it is difficult to see how they could have done so in view of the small amount of attention that has been given to it by the political leaders of this colony, and th e meagre information available upon which a sound judgment could be based.

It is quite true that for ten years a heated "controversy has raged throughout the Australian colonies;

that conventions and Tefere-ndums have followed each other in quick succession; that in Parliament, on the platform, and in the press, federation has occupied a foremost place; but all this political turmoil, extending in waves of popular feeling from the coasts of Western Australia, to the most, eastern limit of the great continent, has scarcely ruffled tbe surface of New Zealand public opinion; and this, perhaps, may be urged as an indication, of' the lack of any real community of interest and sentiment- between the federated colonies and our seagirt islands. Whether it be true or not that New Zealand might gain some advantage from federation, it can scarcely be denied that there were impulses towards federation in Australia which have neither weight nor force with us here. The artificial boundaries of the several continental colonies with their conflicting border tariffs, the necessity for the residents in one. colony to draw their supplies through the nearer port of another, the personal and business associations begotten by these relationships despite the political ties 'exercising their influence in a different direction, and the irritations of differential railway rates constructed to turn trade out of its natural channels, all tended to beget a strong public feeling in favour of throwing off the restraints Avhich hampered the free expansion of the trade and industrial development of the continent. Here, self contained, and singularly *?lf sustaining, we feel none of these impulses toAvards union with our neighbours across th e sea. Moreover, the character of our colonisation, the diffusion of population among a number of centres of moderate size as distinguished from the aggregation of population in large cities like those which may be found in Australia, has undoubtedly accentuated those differences in interests and modes of thought which almost invariably become developed among; an insular

poiDulation

But: though these influences must retard the consummation of our union with the Commonwealth, it by no means follows that such a federation might not prove to our advantage. The subject is a momentous one for good or ill to New Zealand, and every intelligent citizen should give it his serious consideration. When one comes to look in detail at the question as affecting ourselves we see at once that federation is beset by many difficulties, apart from those considerations of a g-eneral character which may dispose us to cast in our lot with the rising nationality in the southern seas, whose birth as a compact political entity was so recently celebrated Avith jubilations in which we. all sympathised. The fiscal issue is by no means the least serious of these obstacles. New Zealand has incurred heavy oblig-a-tions which demand a large and reliable revenue. For this we have leaned more than the majority of our neighboursi upoif Customs revenue; and it appears tolerably certain that whatever form of tariff the Federal Government may impose, New Zealand, as a State, would be left with a deficiency of at least £500,000 to be made good- by some form of direct taxation. The redistribution of this might cause considerable industrial disturbance. Then the introduction of inter-colonial free trade would seriously affect us in other directions. With respect to sugar, for example, on whicli a revenue of £ 168,875 is collected annually, it is probable that Queensland, which now produces 100,000 tons of sugar per annum, would dominate our market, displacing the imports from Fiji, and thus administering a rude shock to the development of our island trade, which depends very largely upon this product. Then with regard to our manufacturing industries there is a remarkable unanimity in the

testimony, both by employers and workmen, given before the Commission, that owing to the lower wages paid and longer hours worked in Australia, and the greater specialisation which is possible in large manufactories in Australia, many industries, now flourishing would be killed by Australian competition, while others would only maintain their existence by bringing the workmen down to a lower level of comfort than they now enjoy. With regard to the supposed advantages that might be anticipated for the agriculturist, it has been pointed out by competent authorities that Australia is year by year becoming less dependent upon outside supplies, that already New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, and Queensland have a large surplus of butter for exportation, and that with respect to wheat Australia could and would under free trade carry the war into our country, with the result, in the opinion of several expert vritnesses, that a number of New Zealand flour mills would have to cease their operations. The gains to the farmers under these circumstances seem very problematical, and were not, in the opinion of two representative Wellington farmers who gare evidence before the Commission, tangible enough to justify the sacrifice of self-government which the transfer of large powers of political control to a Parliament meeting tn Australia might imply.

These are a few of the issues whicli present themselves froi£ a perusal of the evidence so far as it has been

published, and we have no doubt that when the full report of the Commission is laid before tbe country, it will materially assist the people of this colony in arriving at a sounder opinion on the whole question than has hitherto been possible, even to those political students who have taken more than a passing interest in the great movement which is exercising so potent a_p influence oh the destinies of our neighbours across the Tasman Sea.