The Press. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10. 1857.

Press, Volume XLIV, Issue 6905, 10 November 1887, Page 4

The Press. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10. 1857.

Wk notice that no time has been lost in attempting to give practical application to the protectionist doctrine. A motion has been proposed, and partly discussed in the House, in favour of imposing a duty of 2s Gd per ton on imported coal. From a protectionist point of view there is a great deal to be said in favour of the proposition. The coal industry is one of vast importance to the colony. It employs a large number of people, and in course of time will employ a great many more. A few years hence coal will no doubt form an important item in the list of our exports. Looking at the proposal from the standpoint the protectionists occupy, it may be asked why should the colony import coals from outside when we have such vast fields within our own boundaries? Why should we send away, to use the protectionist cant phrase, large sums of money to New South Wales, when by imposing a duty of 2s Gd or 5s per ton on coal we could " keep the money in the country." In fact there is everything to recommend the coal duty on protectionist grounds to the favourable consideration of the Legislature.

Yet strange to say even protectionists have a strong disinclination to apply their principle in this particular case. The reason, we imagine, is that the true effect of protection comes out in connection therewith, more clearly than in almost any other that could be mentioned. The imposition of a duty they see would be followed at once by a rise iv the price of the commodity to the whole community. Coal is an article of universal consumption. It is used in almost every household, and the price of it is a matter of importance to everyone. It is one impoi'tant item iv the expenditure of a large number of industries. A rise in the price of it affects the pockets of the owners of numerous manufacturing concerns. Yet, as we have said, the imposition of a duty on coal can lie defended on all the grounds usually taken up by protectionists when dealing with the question of encouraging native industries. The only difference is that iv ths one case the injurious .results of a coal duty are apparent to everyone, while the same effect is not quite so clearly visible in many other cases* The injury is inflicted all the same, and the public would see that it is if they would only take the trouble to make themselves thoroughly acquainted with the elementary principles of political economy.

As regards the motion now before the House, we have no anxiety as to its ultimate fate. The House dare not venture upon such a transparent attempt to put money. into the pockets of a section of the community at the expense of the rest. Members know only too well that from nearly. every household in the .land there would be raised a protest against such an unfair impost. The mass of the population would not submit to be bo taxed for the benefit of the coal-mine owners on the West Coast and elsewhere. The manufacturers even' would point to the in-j jury which the duty would inflict upon their particular industries ; and the farming community would, make their Toices heard in opposition toa tax which would tend to still further lower the price of agricultural produce. We have probably he*ard about the last t>f Mr. Reeves' motion for the session. We trust, however, that the lesson which the proposal teaches will not be forgotten by the electors. If it is expedient to faster and encourage industries by means of protective tariffs, the coal industry is certainly ©ne which deserves encouragement. But the moment a proposal in made to impose a duty on that article, the public have no difficulty in realising the injurious results which would follow. The coal industry will develop naturally without such aid. Without any assistance from the Custom House it has grown year by year in importance, and if allowed to expand in a natural fashion it will speedily become one of the most important industries in the colony. The greatest danger it has to contend against' is the injudicious actions of its supposed friends.

The report of Mr. S. Percy Smith, Assistant Surveyor-General, on the eruption of Tarawera, although somewhat delayed iv publication, is a valuable contribution to the knowledge already acquired in regard to the volcanic and thermal phenomena of the district of New Zealand known to geologists as the Taupo Zone. In 1859, as is well known, the locality was visited by yon Hocustetter, who made a careful, scientific investigation of the various and unique geological features which it then presented; and although the district has since been more fully examined by different explorers of more or less scientific pretensions, all have been coutent to base their subsequent theories as to its thermal and volcanic action upon the original and comprehensive generalisations of the great geologist. Mr. Smith's report, which is abuur dantly illustrated throughout, is prefaced with a map of the Taupo volcanic zone, which, commencing about forty miles south of the volcanic crater of Ruapehu, extends northeasterly for a distance of one hundred and fifty miles to the Bay of Plenty, having a breadth of about twenty-five miles at the south-western, and seventyfive, miles at the north-eastern extremity. This area includes the whole of the lake system of the North Island, and is also, the seat, of six extinct volcanoes addition' to the cratere of Tongariro and Kuapehu, which are still more or less in a state of activity. The writer justly remarks that the evidences of volcanic disturbance which are apparent throughout this zone, are but the dying effort of an energy which, in. former times, far exceeded in

magiritude anything with which we are at present familiar. No one. travelling the country froniLKotoruato; Tanpo, for instance, can fail to be struck with the evidence, which isevcrywhere presented, of the tremendous volcanic forces which have been at work at, geologically speaking, a comparatively recent period; and which, in some localities, have bnne4 large areas of forest trees beneath deposits of pumice, ashes, or sand, ! the ejecta of the various active ' volcanoes, composing the system 'referred to above. Coming to the recent eruption which formg the principal subject of his report, Mr. Smith shows that, in its general aspect, it consisted of a series of eruptive disturbances, commencing on Wahanga, the north eastern point of the Tarawera Hantre, aud extending in a soriee of craters and chasms, with alternate intervals between, for a distance of about eight miles j the lake of fiotomahana being on the exact line, and forming the principal focus of the eruptive force. It was at first supposed, from the fact that the whole of the couutry atYeeted by the disturbance was covered superficially with, a deposit of mud aud sand, together with rocks or stones in an unfused state, that the eruption was mainly, if not entirely, due to hydro-thermal action. A closer examination, however, satisfied Mr Smith that this view was untenable, and that not only from Tarawera mountain, but at various points along the line of fissure, more especially at the Black Cratei , , rock was ejected iv a molten state. From this, und other evidence which it is unnecessary to reproduce, our author concludes that the origin of tbe disturbance was deep-seated, and this [belief is partly justified by the fact that, although a valley of 300 ft to •100 ft in depth runs parallel with and quite close to the line of fissure for a distance of over a mile, the eruption has severed one spur after another of the outliers of Te Hape o -Toroa hill, quite irrespective of the formation of the couutry and the line offering the least resistance. At Rotomahana Lake, ouce the scene of great natural beauty and the marvellous attractions of the pink and white terraces,'the eruption seems to have attained its greatest force, and here in a few hours was destroyed every evidence of Nature's most beautiful handiwork. Owing, probably, to a diflerenoe in the character and composition of the subjacent strata, and to the greater number of natural vents, the width of the fissure became greatly expanded at this point. From observations made by Mr. Smith, it appears that the whole area of the lake, which now forms an enormous crater, has been greatly enlarged, and the central crater has been blown out to a depth of 515 ft below the former level of the lake. It is assumed, at a moderate estimate, that _the depth of solid matter which has been removed from Rotomahana by the eruption is 300 f t; this gives a quantity equal to 620,000,000 cubic yards, or, in other words, it would cover 200 square miles a yard in depth. As to the immediate cause of this aud similar eruptions, notwithstanding a variety of theories which have been advancedj this still remains a matter of pure speculation. One of the highest authorities on geological subjects says : —" Volcanic action and " regional uplifting are really asso- " ciated phenomena, and the results of " the same cause. When we come to " inquire into the cause of elevatoty " movement of the earth's surface we " only encounter a_mystery. No solu- " tion has ever been given which does I " not go to pieces under criticism."