PROTECTION TO LOCAL INDUSTRIES. LECTURE BY MR. TINNE. (Continued.)

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXVI, Issue 4168, 22 December 1870, Page 3

PROTECTION TO LOCAL INDUSTRIES. LECTURE BY MR. TINNE. (Continued. )

! jbut let us look into this com question, and see i first whether it is cheaper to grow corn than | to import it, and, if it might be, what the hindrances are that prevent our farmers from growing it, and then whether they should be assisted in growing it by the imposition of a tax on the importation of grain, or by any other protective means. That it is not cheaper to grow it thau to import it, is evident from the fact of our farmers asking ail import duty to enable them to compete with foreign markets, and obtain a small profit. That it might be cheaper to grow it than to import it is possible j our farmers say it is certain, if they only had an assistance at starting. They say protection would overcome hindrances they now suffer under. What those hindrances are let us try and find out. Now as I take the word "Protection" in a wide sense, I must begin by saying that our farmers are pretty safe from human enemies, in the shape of Maoris or foreign invaders, therefore there is no reason why for want of security of property they should not be able to grow corn. The enemies of the crops, however, I am not as sure about. The destruction of the crops by cattle and sheep is easily prevented by fencing or by compelling owners of cattle to keep an eye on them and keep them within bounds. But there are more formidable enemies than sheep and cafctle to contend with. They talk in America of a railway train being stopped by grasshoppers ; and I believe it is true that such a thing did happen, so that it is not tno much Lo believe that a farmer may be stopped by grasshoppers and caterpillars combined. How are we to protect the farmer from this formidable enemy, the caterpillar? If we put an import tax on corn, can we make sure that the caterpillar will so far respect our laws as to refrain from eating the growing wheat 1 If not, may we hope that, by enabling the farmer to persevere for a few years in wheat-growing, he can cleanse the ground, and conquer the caterpillar ? or, at all events grow wheat over so large an area of land that, in very spite of all the cateipillars in creation, ho will be able to grow enou>_'h for us all? I do not know enough of farming to be able to say whether he could or could not : all 1 san say is, that the farmers themselves not only say they could, but they have grown wheat constantly; but for some fiuther Leaaon they merely can't grow it "to pay." The caterpillar is nob the obstruction. Then is it drainage that is wanted, and is the complaint '"that the crop won't pay the whole cost of draining the land in the first few years '/" or is it money is too dear, the rate of interest too high? If this be the case, aud the farmers cannot afford to lay out money on their farms and wait for many years for a return, then we must have more money and fewer farmers. A complaint I often hear, uttered in a tone that seems to imply {that somebody is to blame, is that "money is too dear, and that until moneylenders lower the rate of interest neither farming or anything else will pay " (except money-lending). The fact of the matter is, that it is a mere question of supply and demand ; if you can induce more capital to some to the place it will overstock the market and the price of money will fall ; — frighten the capitalists away, or spend and waste what little you have, and it will become cleai, and will remain so until some 3iic has imported more or produced it by saving. If the lack of capital is the evil, bhon we must wait until there is capital 2iiough under the command of farmeis to lay out enough to make it pay. But "There's plenty of capital," says some one, "only some encouragement is wanted to induce the spending of it upon the land. Put a tax on wheat, and it will raise the pi ice of bread a very little, but will just raise it high enough to enable us to grow it ; it will just then yield a profit to the farmer." "Put on a protective duty." As a general rule, capital does not want much encouragement to sock and find the best employment foi itself. But it is complained that there is one more hindrance, either real or imaginary, in the way, and that I am bound to look at. It is complained that when farmers do grow a large quantity of corn and i bring it into Auckland the millers and corndealers don't give them a price that will pay them, and some even hint that it is an artificial state of the market, brought about by the connivance of monopolists, who take a pleasure or find a profit, in lowering tho price of corn by importing an undue amount just at harvesting time. Now, j I do not like this spirit that we seem to haye so much of in Auckland, of always imputing the baae3t motives to the actions of energetic men. In the spirit of that saymg, "Assume a, virtue if yon have it not," I say, "Attribute a virtue where you find it not ;" give a man credit for acting good-naturedly to you when even he meant otherwise, and you may often have the pleasure of assisting to create in him the very virtue you give him the credit of possessing. 1 believe it further to be a fact, that as surely as narrow-miuded selfishness generally outwits itself, so surely well-directed and well-regulated selfishness is a duty of man to his neighbour, and a benefit to mankind. "What is a corn-dealer's position in a place like Auckland ? He assumes the position annually of a providor to the community in which he lives. He is bound for his own profit to provide as much corn as is required by the community, for the more he can sell the more profit he can realise. Now, if he were to depend for his sujjplies on an uncertain yield from a caterpillar-devoured country, or a country otherwise uncertain ih its yield, and were to import so little that a failure of the crops would starve the community, he would be breaking his assumed trust, and injuring his own profit. Thus when he takes care to have enough, to be safe himself, and to be able to supply the country, and when he has laid in the necessary supplies of corn, he is naturally unable to buy wheat from a virtually unexpected, because uncertain, source. The result is that the uncertainty of the inland supply lowers its own price, when it does come forward. This uncertainty we are told will be pub an end to by a protective tax on corn. ~Now let me take a little of your time to inquire into the various reasons for which any Government may be inclined to put a duty on the import of corn. Ist. It may be taxed to produce a revenue. If so, the tax will soon annihilate itself ; because by prohibiting import it encourages home production, and in the exact degree that it does that it ceases to create a revenue If you want it to yield a continuous revenue, you must either make sure that the country is unscdtable for the production of wheat, or else you must see that no roads are made to enable you to bring it to market ! Then, as you can't grow, yon will be forced to import, and thus, of course, will pay any amount of taxes tho Government choose to put on. Therefore, if you are taxed on corn, see to your roads. Secondly, it may be taxed to foster the production of a staple product of the country. If so, we should first of all make sure thai the country is so suitable for it, that ultimately the fertility of the soil and th« facilities of communication will ensure its being delivered in the towns at the same price as foreign wheat can be delivered. Our farmers assert that it is suitable. Thirdly, the tax may be put on to create ar, export. It must be clear at once that, if we have to make corn dearer in order to enable us to grow it at all, we cannot expect to bo able to undersell those countries that can naturally grow and export it cheaper than wo can. Before it can become an export it must have fulfilled tho former condition, of having become a staple product of the country. Ii it can ever be grown to pay without ar import duty, it may become plentiful enougl co yield a surplus over our own requirements for export ; but, until we can grow it without protection, it is impossible for it to become (as I am assured it was once) au export. The farmers say they can fulfil the former condition if once set going by means of a tax, possibly, in time, they mighi be able to dispense with the tax and fulfiJ the latter. Fourthly, a tax may be put or corn to force ua to grow our own food, partly because it is thought the best economy foi \W tQ do $o t ra.th.er tfcajft t<* Ws otUett do. it