PREFERENTIAL DUTIES.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIII, Issue 165, 14 July 1902, Page 2

PREFERENTIAL DUTIES.

(To the Editor.)

Sir,—While recognising- the ability of "Anti-Shylock," I would point" out his error, "that 5 per cent, ad val.'tax on foreign imports by Britain woitUl be a' splendid help to the colonies.:be-' cause our exports to every country/ are strictly: limited by our imports, whatever the quality of our exports may be. All-foreign trade is simply an exchange of. labour products. .If, say, France produces brandy of better quality wita less labour thanUi can be produced in England, by sending our whole exports to England we must get inferior or higher-priced brandy. That is to say, we must give a greater quantity of wool,'etci, for a case of brandy. This would'be-A loss-to England also, as by taking the whole exports of the colbn'es she is debarred from taking from other countries the best value for her exports. When the colonial Premiers ask. for a preference in duties from the British Government they are prac- i tically asking for a reduction wages of the working classes of fU the countries concerned, and to bring the 'Empire intellectually, morally, and religiously down to the level*ff •the United States and those Continental countries who impede the free exchange of labour products. — 1 &Vh etc., JOHN JOHNSQiS. T

, (To the - , ; Sir—ln rt-ply to Mr Sanford re,my letter, "Taxing the Foreigner," I repeat again that England's external debtors, when contracting their obligations, mostly during the seventies and the eighties, most decidedly stljp* posed that their exports (specie Apt included) by which alone they coi# pay interest on their debts, would be admitted on even .terms with other debtors, colonial or foreign. I alsp stick to my opinion that England's policy is very largely based on the • exigencies of finance, and that,,t}ie world is now under the rule of the almighty dollar more than it; ever has been since the Israelite* bowed down before and worshipped" the golden calf. The Rothschilds Q* finance can make or mar a war/ A* England's debtors at present owe a» amount equal to one thousand nuV lions sterling, "The City" consider! such-borrowers, be tliey-colonial?* alien, worthy of equal consideration. —I an, etc., ANTI-SHTLOGE*