The Advocate. [Established 1888.] [PUBLISHED DAILY.] OLDEST ESTABLISHED PAPER AND GUARANTEED LARGEST CIRCULATION IN THE DISTRICT. FRIDAY, JANUARY 14, 1910. TARIFF REFORM.

Bush Advocate, Volume XXII, Issue 11, 14 January 1910, Page 4

The Advocate. [Established 1888.] [PUBLISHED DAILY.] OLDEST ESTABLISHED PAPER AND GUARANTEED LARGEST CIRCULATION IN THE DISTRICT.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 14, 1910. TARIFF REFORM.

CIRCULATES FN Dannevirke Mangatoro Tamaki Ngapaeruru Mangahe Weber Ti Tree Point Waione Wimbledon Herbertville Akitio Horoeka Oringi Kiritaki Maharahara Woodville Umutaoroa Matamau Piripiri Makotuku Ormondville Norsewood Takapau Whetukura Awariki Otanga Kumeroa Rangitane Raumati Rua Roa S. Norsewood Tiratu Tipapakuku Mangapuaka Mangatuna Makaretu

Tlie election battle at Home is being fought out With great determination. The struggle is a particularly keen one, and every device known to the experienced electioneering campaigner is being practised. Files of British newspapers to hand by recent mails amply demonstrate the strength of the opposing forces, and clearly illustrate the fury with which the contest is being carried out. Whatever the result may be—whether the Liberals are again successful, or whether Mr Balfour returns to power—the fact is clear, that if the Tariff Reformers do not win, the cause they have so much at heart must have been considerably advanced by the prominence given to this great subject. Daylight has been let in on some spots hitherto covered by dusty cobwebs, and the average elector must now have a more reliable idea of what is at the back of the demand for Tariff Reform than he previously possessed. In one respect the figlit could not have come at a more opportune widespread unemployment that has time for the Tariff Reformers. The existed in England for some time past should certainly assist to create a feeling in tlie minds of the voters that the paramount question with tliem must be not the difference between a cheap loaf and a dear loaf, but between the latter and no bread at all. The issues have been admirably summarised in some of the figures presented at the election meetings. For instance, one speaker remarked that when tlie Government gave Mr John Burns £400,000 to dole out to the unemployed, there was at that time £400,000 worth of foreign goods coming into the country every day! H ere is another startling statement: "Taking the sum of trade between the five great industrial nations, we sent £76,000,000 worth of fully manufactured goods to tliem, while they sent here £98,000,000 worth, showing conclusively that the foreign nations were beating us at Home, and if they did that they could beat us in the neutral markets." It also appears that while English prison-made goods are properly prohibited from entering into competition with English products, I

goods made in German prisons, which were not allowed to be sold in Germany, were admitted into England! One speaker set out the proposals of the Tariff Reformers as follows: "Under Tariff Reform they proposed to tax imported articles according to the amount of labor that had been expended upon them, but tliey did not propose to tax raw materials. They were going to tax imported manufactured articles at the rate of 10 per cent., for they said that every one who used their market should pay towards its upkeep. Free Trade, as it was taught by its apostles, meant that they should have a free exchange of markets, but if they went to other markets they were met by tariffs. Their Consuls' report told them that their exports to America and Germany of manufactured articles were becoming less and less, more of the partly manufactured articles, and more and more of the semi-raw and raw materials. What did this mean for labor? It meant that upon their exports there were less and less wages paid to the British workman. What was the use of protection of labor in our country while they let articles produced in other countries under conditions which we would not tolerate, to come into our country and compete with us." Another speaker remarked:—''They were told that their exports paid for their imports. As they imported £200,000,000 worth more than they were exporting, they ought to be working overtime, instead of which they stood at the top of the list of the unemployed in the great industrial nations of the world. Their exports were becoming less and less of the wholly manufactured article and more and more' of the partly manufactured, semiraw, and raw material, and that meant that there was less labor and less wages paid to the working man of this country. To the working man the goddess of cheapness was one of the greatest curses." Finally, it may be remarked that in 1903 the percentage of unemployed in Germany was 2.7, as compared with 5.1 in Great Britain. "In 1908 it was still 2.7 in Germany, and 9.4 in Free Trade Britain. In Germany the deposits in the savings banks are three times as much as they are in the United Kingdom.