Evening Post.

Evening Post, Volume LX, Issue 119, 16 November 1900, Page 4

Evening Post.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 11 00 THE AUSTRALIAN TARIFF. « The future fiscal policy of the Commonwealth is q, subject tha,t deeply concerns the producers of this colony. An article published i# these column yesterday explained the, value, qf the Australian trade, and pavticulaiiy that of Freetrade New South Wales. The question has been asked frequently" of late whether the Federal tariff will be> hostile to New Zealand or not. "As yet, ' ife is too soon to predict with any approach to certainty what form the Australian tariff will assume in -the hands of the, Commonwe.alth Parliament, but it is, becoming more and more probable every day that the chief issue at the coming Federal elections will be fiscal. The Protectionist manufacturers and their sympathisers were the first to perceive this, and they immediately set to work to ivam& a, tariff, and organise the supporters of their views. On the other side, the ex-Premier of New South Wales has taken the lead, and plunged boldly into the fray. He has made powerful Freetrade speeches at Melboux'ne and Adelaide, and evidently intends to appeal to the Commonwealth electors under the same banner- that formerly brought him. victory in New South Wales. He does not hesitate to declare that the Federal elections must turn upon the fiscal quest-ion, 'and he is doing his bsst to prevent the people from casting their votes in ignorance of the real issue. Mr. Reid's energy and tactical skill are well known, and' when he has once thrown himself heart' and soul into a struggle the cause he adopts- must have at least a fair" chance of success. New South Wales, too, has undoubtedly prospered under froetra.de, tps since, intercolonial freetrade is ojie of th,e most prominent features of the Federal Constitution there is reason to believe that Australia, as a whole, may sec fit 'to • abandon "scientific protection '•'• when the uniform tariff comes to be, framed. At Adelaide Mr. Reid poured contempt upon the idea that what, is. sound truth qn one parallel of, latitiule }s unso.un.d on a,npther. How, he asked, co\ild a. man who shouted for Federation and intercolonial f,RSQtrade consistently advocate protection in Federal politics? On the other hand, the Protectionists ai?e a powerful body, especially in Victoria, where the Labqur Party makes common cause with the manufacturers, and the fight may possibly be severe and close. Mr. Reid and other Federal Freetraders frankly recognise that the, freetrade ideal is , at any rate for some years to come impossible of realisation. The revenue of the Commonwealth must be i raised almost entirely from indirect taxation, and of the Customs duties levied for several years only one-quarter can be retained by the Central Government. There must therefore be a hea-vy list of dufrjfrble articles, but the Freetraders urge" that the duties should, be imposed for revenue purposes alone, and not with a view to the protection of special Australian industries^ In the end protective duties kill revenue, or they would have no legitimate reason for existence. The object aimed at in levying them, i? not revenue, but the prohibition of foreign imports. Thus the issue at federal elections will not be duties or no duties, but duties fqr revenue purposes alone, or duties for both revenue purposes and the. pro.teption of industries. New Zealand would naturally prefer to see the freetraders gain, th^ day, for she would not then have to fac^ the vantages of a tariff deliberately hostile to hei producers. But apart from this question of immediate interest there is still anothei reason why this colony should desire a freetrade policy in Australia. .Protection, as the United States indicate, leads in large commercial communities to the creation of trusts and combinatiqns of dangerous magnitude. It is " highly probable tliat such results would follow upon' the adoption of a protective policy' by the Commonwealth, and Australia is sufficiently near and sufficiently preponderant to make these possible "'combines " a real menace to New Zealand trade and industry. Freetrade in Australia would therefore be greatly to tla.e future as well as the present benefit 'of New Zealand, although, since there mu^t be Customs duties for the sake* of revenue, New Zealand produce would still be handicapped as

against Australian produce in Austra- ( lian markets. From the* commercial point of view, while Australian free trade would, be better than Australian protection, inclusion within the Federal Zollverein either by incorporation with the , Commonwealth or by the terms of a reciprocal treaty would be best of all. Much light will, no doubt, be thrown upon the respective effects of a protective and a revenue tariff by the Royal Commission which should be set up by our Government shortly, but in the meanwhile New Zealanders will watch with interest the fiscal struggle now pending in Australia. The battle must in a. measure be fought before the Federal Parliament meets, for the first Parliament of the Commonwealth will have to draw up the uniform tariff, since under the provisions of the Constitution it must come into operation within two years.