IMPERIAL PREFERENCE

Evening Post, Volume XCIV, Issue 18, 21 July 1917, Page 11

IMPERIAL PREFERENCE

TO THE EDITOR,

.Sir,—l see by recent files that a very distinguished member of the House has been so unfortunate as\to cite the sugar bounties case in favour of preference. It is quite true v that Germany, France, and Russia were foolish enough to tax themselves in order to supply cheap sugar to other nations, England among the rest. It is also true that the German sugar industry, which is, I believe, the largest of the hind in the world, has helped to keep thousands of Germans at home, but so also has the German system.- of insurance agaiust sickness, unemployment,, and old age, together with a thoroughly scientific treatment of the Prussian soil (which is far poorer than the English soil) and tho_ extensive employment of up-to-date agricultural machinery, winch has enabled an increase of up to 30 per cent. m wages and an increase in the yearly value of crops to about three hundred million sterling more than it, was worth twenty yeais before the war. Some ten or hyelvo years ago England induced tho Continental sugar-growing countries to oVrop tho system of bounties. This meant to the colonial .planters an extra profit of between one and two millions a year, but it also meant that John Bull's sugar bill mounted up some eight million a year higher than before. That is to say, tho publio of England had to pay that sum extra every year in order to put a littleover a million a year into the pockets of the West' Indian sugar planters, who mostly employ coolie labour; and we have never heard that they were generous enough to part with some of their gains to the aiorosaid coolies.

It should bo remembered that most of the sugar used in. England before the war came "from Germany. That is why sugar is so scarce in Enghmd now, and why the British public has to pay so dear —a foretaste of what the British" public will get when they havo it all to themselves. That is instance No. i of how preference is going to benefit the Empire. No. 2 is as follows: It was enacted at the time of the, abolition of tho sugar bounty that Russian sugar was not to be admitted into England at ,«& Well, the Russians «old their sugar at about 9b per owt. to the Swiss confectioners, who again manufactured and soM the confectionery m England at prices (owing to the cheap sugar) that the British confectioners could not compete with. This is how 'Valourawe ' and "unfavou*ablo" treatment worked a few years ago. We assume that «rapes will not grow on thorns now any better than they did then. What does preference mean to us here in Now Zealand? It means that our white labour will have to compete on. almost level terms with the teeming millions of the coloured half-civilised labour. It means that wo will be restricted to only one direct market—London. It means that our surplus product that the British manufacturer cannot handle will be charged with an intermediate profit between us and tho foreign consumer, and that profit will go not to the colonial producer, but to the British merchant. It means that goods bought abroad for our surplus produce will also havo an extra profit to pay before it reaches us; that js—we shall be charged with two profits, both of which we could avoid if we were allowed to deal direct with the outside world.. It means that We shall liavo to surrender all, or nearly 1 all, bur fiscal independence, and submit to taxation by an executive located not in this country, but in London. This executive will limit our trading- rights so that we shalTalwaya have to sell in the cheapest and buy in the dearest market. We shall not be allowed to trade how- wo will, nor where wo will. In short, "Preference" is only a by-path back to the stupid colonial policy that led to tho-sequestration of tho American colonies. The thin end of tho wedge that wrought such havoc then was this—that the Americans were prohibited by law from trading with Holland and Spain. This gave rise to an illicit trade, because the Americana had more goods to sell than the London, merchants could dispose of in England. The smuggling brought on a collision with tho English authorities. Then came the Stamp Act .and the tea duty. Thai-was tie last straw on > the. camel's back. Of course, such things are not going- to happen' this time. The colonials won't have to complain about taxation without representation. We are going, to be represented in London this time. Yes; but will thistles produce figs in this year of 19i7, seeing they refused to do so in 1775 ?

In conclusion, I would earnestly aak tho Cabinet and the Parliamant of this country to pausa before committing themselves to such a, far-reaching and momentous change as tho one contemplated. It is in the power of tho Legislature to in a sinjrlo hour tie a. knot round our political liberties that generations will not be able to undo.—l am, etc., : .W. C. THOMSBN.