The Daily Telegraph. FRIDAY, MARCH 21, 1884.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3953, 21 March 1884, Page 2

The Daily Telegraph. FRIDAY, MARCH 21, 1884.

The Liberal party in Victoria is distinctively protectionist, and the party in New Zealand that claims to be the liberal party is more or less tinged with protectionist vieAvs. Into the respective merits of free trade and protection we are not going to enter, but there is a form of protection which every one can adopt to the very great advantage of the colony. Old world notions are, perhaps, at the bottom of tho want of unanimity of thought .and action ou this question. Wo have brought Avith us from Home tho idea that certain articles must be imported from England to be good, and avo have not sufficiently severed our connection with the ,old country to be loyal enough to New Zealand to'employ a coarser article because it lias been made in the colony. There are of course numerous articles of general consumption in winch- the colonal manufacturer cannot compete, but there are many others which are just as cheap, and very much better in quality, that are made in

the colony, and Avhich aro too much neglected. Again, amongst those avlio should be producers, there is to be found a good deal of laziness that displays itself in indifference to little things, and waste of that Avhich in an industrious community would be turned to good account. Tho Now Zealand Times points out that the amount of money Avhich year by year this colony sonds aAvay for the purchase of useless luxuries,', and for the payment of imported necessities, Avhich are equally avcll ' produced in the colony, is something astounding. Probably, at the A T ery least, a million and a half a year is thus sent aAvay from a colony which already is paying aAvay millions a year in the shape of interest on its local, public, and private debts. Fancy, says the Times, buying preserved milk from" SSvitzorland, employing and paying SAviss laborers for their Avork Avhen our OAvn milkmen can barely pay their way! People actually buy peaches grown and preserved in America, and neglect thoso grown here. All the money sent out of tho colony for salmon, lobsters, herrings, oysters, honey; clothes pegs, and a host of articles besides, is money vanished—clean gone from us— and Aye might have kept every penny of it in this money-hungering colony. During the past five years we imported blankets, 1 tweeds from Great Britain, and many thousand boxes of candles from Europe; yet from the Three Kings to the Snares everyone was Availing over the scarcity of money in the colony. At a time Avhen money was so scanty, when so many people wanted Avork, Avhen our industries Avere starving, Aye often ignorantly, but always foolishly sent away sums of money amounting to nearly £1,500,000 in- solid cash to England, Europe, America, and clseAvhcre, thus intensifying the dearth of money, stagnation of trade, • and loAvncss of wages. Had every man and every woman, when shopping, thought over these things, lioav much better it Avould havo been for tho colony. A resolve on tho part of the great Napoleon and his people not to benefit England by using her sugar led to the firm establishment of the huge beetroot sugar trade in France. A . like resolve on our part Avould confer immense bonefit on our struggling young industries. If tho. people want to see our local industries llourish, let them henceforth determine each and all to support loyally and zealously such industries. Our Wellington contemporary says every housewife, when shopping, can ask for Mosgiel or Kaiapoi blankets or flannel. She can buy Noav Zealand soap, and New Zealand candles* Every woman Avhen buying dessert should chose New Zealand grown cherries and strawberries and apples, rather than imported figs, or almonds and raisins. Every man could ask for NeAv Zealand stuff for hi- clothes, and colonial made shoes and slippers for his feet. When Wilberforcc and other good men were making a crusade against slavery, many of their warmest supporters formed a league, and swore that they Avould not buy nor"consume slave-grown sugar. Tho result was a falling off in the demand for such sugar. Every man and every Avoman in these colonies should resolve that, as far as lies in his or her power, he or she will buy colonial products in preference to those imported from elsewhere. This simple mode of "protection to hatiA 7 e industries" will do more good to them, will more mightily aud practically and immediately bless and prosper such industries than all the blatant oratory which men, Avishful to catch the public ear, continually pour forth, far. more than all protective legislation. • - ;'"