THE WANTS OF THE PEOPLE.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXVI, Issue 4153, 5 December 1870, Page 3

THE WANTS OF THE PEOPLE.

The following is the remainder of the lecture delivered by Mr. J. F. Clark ia the Mechanics' Institute, on Thursday evening ; subject— "The Wants of the People :"— We now come to notice manufacturingindustries. It may not be out of place to mention one or two historical facia. 130 years ago the manufactures of Prussia were small and insignifiant ; many manufactures of articles in daily consumption, reg tiring no more capital than from £'100 to £250, found no specula ora. Frederick the Great laid the foundation of her manufactures by giving premiums, gratuities, privileges, andadvances of ready money, and fostered and stimulated them by imposing strong protective and prohibitory dutiea. ( Applause ) It was the adoption of those principles for which we now contend that laid the foundation of her greatness, and materially aided in raising her to the proud position she now occupies, that of beiuvj the first Power in Europe. (A.pplause.) In 1790, at the close of the war of independence, America had few manufactures. Just before that time a member of the British Legislature is reported to have said in Parliament that the only use the colonies were to England lay in the fact that they were consumers of English manufactures, and suggested that they should be compelled to abstain from engaging in. manufactures. j America, in ordeT that she might become independent of England, and that England might derive as little advantage from her as possible, imposed prohibitory duties which forced into existence her own manufactories. Thi3 movement, commenced partly in spleen, has, more than any other cause, contributed to her greatness. Her protective tariff is still one of the strongest in existence-; her manufacturers are in many articles able to compete with the world. She stands a living proof of the advantage of protecting national and home industries. Her growth, is unexampled, her population rising, increasing, and spreading out. The passage of eighty years has raised her from the position of a weak and sparsely-populated dependency to that of a first-rate Power ; and, viewing her past history and her present progress, it is obvious the time is not far distant when she will be the first Power in tho world. (Cheers. ) To stimulate our own existing manufactures, to exclude foreign competitors, prohibitory duties should be imposed. Take, first, the item of furniture, for which, during the past year, the colony paid away the sum, of £32,600. We are fully capable of supplying this demand. We have the most beautiful of woods ; our mottled kauri, rimu, and many o'her varieties might please the taste and satisfy the eye of the most fastidious. We have cabinet-makers capable of producing articles of workmanship of a high order ; yet we are expending the sum of t'32,600 in foreign furniture. If the rich and luxurious will possess chairs, tables, and couches of walnut, mahogany, and cedar, let them pay for them— they can afford it. (Ap1 plause. ) Carriages and carts —we have artificers able to produce all we require j yet we last year expended £7,428 in their importation, suffering men who should be employed, ia manufacturing them to walk about in. idleness, l whilst we sent " away the wages they ought to receive to pay the labourers of other countries. If any gentleman, prefers a Sydney or Yankee buggy, or a tradesman a Sydney cart, let him have it, together with -the privilege of to the Government a liberal amount for the right to pass by New Zealand mam * tactures.- > ( Applause. ) We Jja,y« ironfoundors, §misB,' *hd 'agricultural, i«». glejnen^ ittaj^f^ 4Wg at *««ft a»mihy

all raw material free of duty, and encourage and stimulate their enterprise by strong protective duties. (Applause,) Oar little boot .and shoe bills amounted last year to a no less sam than £183,848 ; whilst numberless shoe* makers are unemployed. Our saddlery and harness cost ni £34,532, whilst harnessmakers are starving in New Zealand. Our New Zealand flax should furnish labour for thousands in manufacturing ropes, bagging, and paper; it is now little valued. Our days and sands suitable for pottery and glass are abundant ; yet we import nearly all we require of these articles. I have not enumerated one-half of the industries that exist, not to mention those that do not exist in New Zealand, and may be encouraged and established, to the infinite advantage of the labouring man and the community. It has been proposed to give Government aid to new manufactures in the form of bonuses. I would go one «tcp fur- | ther. Let the Government set aside a sum I of money to be expended in the purchase of plants of machinery for new manufactures, | the said plants to be handed over to individuals and companies able and willing to put them into immediate operation, the Government retaining a lien upon them for repayment of the principal sum, with small interest added. This method will operate doubly beneficially, causing the Government to feel a direct interest in the success of such undertakings, and afford opportunities to many individuals who may have the requisite knowledge, but only limited means. (Applause.) I ha c before me a copy of the present tariff. I have compared it with the tariff of America, - t ngland, and several other countries. In them I can find principles of economy; in this, none. The sole object contemplated appears to be the raising of a certain amount of revenne without any other object. It is a rotten, miserable contemptible tariff, which has largely contributed to ! our failure, without entering into items. I would enunciate a general principle upon which our tariff should be reconstructed, viz.y to admit frao such things as we cannot produce, including all those items which are required by our native industries, and heavily to tax all such commodities as w« can produce. The present tariff favours foreign industries; the coming one must favour our own. This tariff sends money out of the country ; the new one must be framed to keep money here. The said changes to be introduced gradually and carefully as our own progress and circumstances will admit. I hold in my hand the financial statement of the last session. The table of exports and imports for three quarters shows that during that period we exported 3,493,3342. worth of commodities, and imported 3,894,518£. worth, showing a deficit of 401,184/. ; to which must be added interest of existing loans, and also another large item of freight, which on moat of our imports is charged to us, and on most of our exports is debited against us. Auckland's deficit, being 432.222 Z., is more than that of the entire colony. Let us remember that every million thus sent away represents the sustenance of from 40,000 to , 50,000 individuals, hence our imports furnish a livelihood to a population nearly equal to that of New Zealand. It has been said that if we do not purchase our manufactures from England, she will not purchase our raw materials. This is the most veritable claptrap. England, depeudingonher manufactures, cannot close her ports to raw materials, and must and will buy in the best markets. I have endeavoured to speak in the interest of the working man. Bad times mean to the mci chant a tightness in the chest, but to the working mau want of bread, aud to the whole social fabric stagnation and probable ruin. (Hear, hear. } I hope and expect to see the working and industrial classes demand the adoption of such measures and of such a tariff as will Stimulate and encourage ihe employment of labour in all its forms. Let the working classes demand from the Government such changes as will compel production of the necessaries of life, and the establishment of manufactures. They then will cease to be regarded, as they often are now, as an encumbrance ; they \» ill find constant and remunerative employment ; they will be as necessary to capital as capital ia to them ; they will recover the independence they have lost. The working classes, the real bone and sinow of every well-or-ganised country, will become a power in the community, and be free from wank and free from fears of the future. Our cities are now all seaports; but it will not always be so. If, with the facilities afforded by increased communications and easier transit, are joined protection tariffs, it will call into existence many manufactories, some of which will, for convenience and economy's sake, be planted in the interior, and will become the nuclei of future towns, which, in years to come, may be the Bradforda, Sheffields, and Leedses <?f this country. There are a few persons in the community who cry, " Free trade, that is the thing 1 " Well, we have been as near free trade as the circumstances of the c lony will admit, and what has it done for us t It has ohecked our progress ; it has damaged our commercial credit ; it has drained all the money out of the country ; it has ruined, it has beggared us. (Hear, hear.) Those persons say Auckland is the last place in the word for which protection is necessary. What then do we want? Last quarter over Auckland imports were nearly 306,000£., whilst our exports were but 170,000?. If we are going to the bad at the rate of more than haif a million annually, if we do not need protection we require prohibitory laws which will compel us to desist from import- j ing commodities for which it is certain we cannot continne to pay. Recall your colonial experience. Is the labourer better off— ia the community better off when and where I commodities are cheap ? Exactly the re- I verse. These individuals profess to be very ' much the friend of the poor man. Carefully consider them ; are they employers of labour ? No. Do they do anything for the poor man ? No : for the most part they are living upon salaries and interest of vested moneys, and do not care a straw what becomes of the poor man. (Applause.) It is all very well to talk about cheap loaves, and the interest of the poor man, but it is better to give him work, constant employ, ment, and a fair day's wages. Benevolent orations will neither fill an empty stomach nor clothe naked children, (Applause.) The time is fast drawing near when we shall be called upon, to return new members to represent us in what will probably be the most important session of the new Zealand Parliament ever yet assembled. Let us not return nonentities nor dummy members — nor political chameleons — nor place-hunters — nor such as have no interest in the country— nor such as have no other qualification than wealth — but men that will think justly, speak wisely, and act uprightly ; t en we shall not, as in time paat, be twitted with the inefficiency of our members. Let us be sure that they hare the interest q! the country at heart — that they will determinedly advocate economy of the public funds—that their views with regard to our wants are sound — that they are prepared to demand the protection of our industries from the inroads of foreign competitors—that they will help to frame regulations, the object and end of which will be the keeping of money in the country. If in returning such individuals we have to pass by fiiends, let us not hesitate : the present is a great crisis of our national existence : measures are more to us than men. Gentlemen, I have done. (Applause.) If such are our representatives and such their measures, if manufactures are increased and local industries stimulated, if the Legislature make such changes in the tariff as will check importations and largely increase pro« ductions, we shall gradnrily, steadily surely emerge from the cloud that now en - velops us, and in a shorb time tUer^ w m b e abundance of work for willing hands, increased occupation of our waste lands, plenty of bread in, the land, contentment by our fireside, confidence in onr future, and J**W iftotlers coming to us. And New Zealand will move onward, upward, higher, toward* f h-.+ jpeatposition for which .Nature, by her multf Vious giffca, has so' eminently flaoe4 toerj *a 1 we, f ally adopting her as our u cintr, 1 wjwi united voice, shall cry : " Ad.tanoe* NeW^Zealand. 1 ' (Load applause. ) I Mr. Mason movnd % vote of. thank/* to &<?

Mr. Eastwood eudeavoared to address the meeting, but could not get a hearing. The Chairman put the motion to the meeting, and it was carried. The meeting then dispersed.