PROTECTION AND FREETRADE.

Evening Post, Volume LXXI, Issue 142, 16 June 1906, Page 9

PROTECTION AND FREETRADE.

•« ■ TO THE EOITOB. Kir, — Mr. admits that the farming and mining industries of this counii.i jiK 1., 0 ol IH-3 most important, but . would den} that by protecting other industries we would endanger the prirn--ary ones. Let me point", out to him j where -the injury to lliis most important industry wouid first bo felt. In taxing the imports that come, into this- colony, we must r-eoessarily icduce ths volume ,of trade dont in imports; if not, the'object of the tax would be void, and the local manufacturer would ' bo no bettor oft than before Shipb coming with hMf cargo ■to New Zealand will rais« tho Homeward freight to, make good ttie loss on the outward one, and -the result will be'thafc the farmers are in a worte position than befor*!. Tho coastal marine* ■sei'Vace will then feel the loss suuied by .the .- decline" iv the volume of transhipments from the ocean-going steamers 'coastwise.' It will thus be seen that M-e- must bo careful how wo tinker, v.uh the tai'ili, because commerce is the bfe-blood of the nation. If wo want to throw mom men — such as coalniinsrs, farm labourers, seamen, waterside workers, ■ shipping clerks, and men in t/M> parrying trade— into the ranis of the. unemployed, then let us have more Protection. Ihe manu-factui-ers in the protected ndustries arcall doing f well according to the returns ■ they furnish, and one would naturally think that they wouid know how sensitive the market is, and let well alone. Mr. Black will 6eo in this an answer to his question. • Whum would we protect' the woolgrower, the graingrower, , aud j bulk-produpars against? i will pass over the greater part of his ltstter, as it is a repetition ol his former one, and ask Mr. Black to carefully study what T ; said, was tho vilai jioint — of wiiat importance aro tho farmers and miners as primary producers compared with the producers in tho secondary industries. .Mr. Black &*a\s that I aid uot suujjurt my contention by one single argument.. This I <admit.. I did not think that; such a self-evident truth wanted any argument. Any one can see tlmt the wealth * produced in the primary industries is gieater than, in the secondary ones. What is the use* of Mr. Black (saying thab I claimed that ' the * vital point, iv Protection v. Froetrade was the importance of the fanner, (numerically) as ..compared with the producers in the | secondary industries. 1 quoted the numbers of farmers and miners (110,000) a*> against 12,000 odd in the protected industries that I earned. Mr. Black could not have accepted this as-the vital point, on his own frhoviing, otherwise he would not have said' — which I have admitted — "he has • not supported this contention j by one single argument." He, also says that I strike a strange note when I say I that no law prevents the ironioucders, etc., from making farm implements,- it may be strange, but truth ,• docs seem srtrange at times ,It is conceded hy protectionist manufacturers that- they could not. pay the rate of w^jges nv>iiig without prulection ; this 'is- proof that the wages they pay now are tal<?'.i from the pockets of the workers in other • iuduslries' by higher* prices on 'account of protection. Mr. Black is much 'concerned about tho candle industry, and points out the decline in sales. 1 have not had time to look up the returns of the Department of 'Labour for the year, but will accept ■what Mr. Black has said in reference to the output. When Parliament' revised the tariff, the duty on paraffin wax, which is a part of v the raw material, was lid ; it, was reduced to sd, and at the same time the duty on imported candles reduced 30 per cent. We were not told this 'by trie r'enWrt that appeared in 'the Evening Post of 'the Gtb May last. Nothing Wns said about tho duty on raw' material being 'reduced 50 per cent." ' The whole of the duty on kerosene was taken off ; this in it.wi may be responsible for the loss in .the output, and it is very evident by (ho increase in imported candles — namely, American candles — that the people prefer them to the local ones, and are prepared to pay more for what tvill suit them than less for what 'does not. I will not follow Mr. B'.ack into the question of exchange, and the loose \yord "cash" will suit me as well' as "commodity," .as it includes the word "specie. "' — I am, ere.,' , . ■ JAMES BRUTON. Wellington, 14th June, 1906.