LANDLORDISM AND PROTECTION

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

LANDLORDISM AND PROTECTION

TO THK EDITOE. Sir, — With reference to the letter of your correspondent "Protectionist,"' in reply to mine on the above subject, the figures which he quotes in order to shnv tbat the "small minority" referred to by me is 5i per cent, of the population, indicate in addition what I have already shown, viz., that the l majority of the .people are working in the interests of the minority. The labour of the workers of this colony is taxed — and "heavily taxed — chiefly in ,the interests of those who have most to nain ftora 4 Protection, viz., 'employers of labour! "Protectionist", asserts that England is not a Freetrade country. This is news. To any one- who knows anything about England, his -^assertion will come ns a surprise and a shock. England, to all mtbnts and purposes, is distinctly a L'reetrade country.. ■ The duty on sugar, mulasses, and dried fruits mentioned by him is imposed for revenue purposes • only. "How can there be fair competition under Freetrade in this colony when employers and manufacturers have to p»y at least double the amount for wages, rates, and' taxes,- and rents, compared with -what is paid in England, America, and on the Continent?" asks your correspondent. Tho most effective reply to this is that although English manufacturers pay more Iwages, more 'rent, mtca and taxes, work their operatives less hours, and have o feudal land &y«teni to hamper industry, they are able* to successfully compete against German and other Continental nations, so much sothat England to-day -is the first commercial country of the world. Why is this? Because she accepts free of dutj^ from other cuuntnes' those products which she is least adapted to produce, and exchanges therefor those products which' sho is "best adapted to •produce. Freetrade - in New Zealand would have the effect of putting our industrial con* cerna upon their merits, - upon which would depend their success or othenvist. Protection' retards rather than advances industry, as ,1s shown by the fact that when the people get a good article cheap they can afford to buy more of that aiticle. Take, for instance, clothing. If we could buy cheap clothing ot good quality wo should be able to get more clothing. Industry, therefore, would not b« limited aa at present; 'but would

expand considerably. As regards popuSr°?Vrf- C ° Uld get this at °* cc if b«ter facilities wt te given f vi the land. With the adoption of the single-tax and Freetrade the& *ould bo arapid influx .of population- from Great nt ??.. and , other countries, and we should then heur the last of tile popuk! tion question. r * •Landlordism and Protection are responable in a large measure fur the. declining buthrate. ihe pinch of those two evilt is more felt in our cities and towne. uhero tho birth-rate ia nothing. like what it ought to be, because people cannot afford to have children. But in the countiy what a different picture is presented'! ■The farmer's large family is a big asset to him, but if the city man has a large family he usually finds it a millstone about bis, neck.' I repeat what New Zealand urgently needs, if it is ever to be a great commercial country, with n prosperous and contented population,- is the single-tax and TYeetrade. One is as necessary as ( the other. Join the SingJe-Tax League! is my advice to the workers. Those who have not studied the uingle-ta^ or the important gu6&tion of -taxing out rent, should do so without delay. It would open their eyes to the way in which they have been and are robbed of their earnings by piratical • landlords, who ' have already robbed the workers of many millions, and who will cbctinue to do so juat so long as they remain like sheep and submit to be shorn. — 1 am, etc., FREETRADER. Wellington, 15th June.