PROTECTION V. FREETRADE.

Evening Star, Issue 7248, 27 June 1887, Page 4

PROTECTION V. FREETRADE.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —''/submit that my argument tint increased duties do ;>ot involve increased burdens is not only unanswered but unanswerable." This iB a mere empty assertion, made by Mr W. J. Newall in your issue of June l'i. Facts can be adduced by the spore which conclusively prove such.a statement to be absurd. Auy reductions tint may have taken place in the price of the lines specified by that gentleman is due to a fall in the price of the raw material, anil cannot possibly be traced to a high tariff. Caudles manufactured in Protectionist Victoria ar :• ;yld at Id per lb cheaper in Frcetrade Sydney, at"fcr paying freight, than they are in Melbourne.; but this js due to no tariff at all, of course- as Mr Newall will allow it to lie f-aid that it is due to the ProtcetfoKigt (tariff of Victoria, and ju New South Wales there was no tariff in vogue when tbo spoken of were ruling, s.o that we will tuy t)ip tariff had nothing to do with the price. But it is unquestionably true that as tho tariff s increased prices will also increase, and the following figures prove this statement Taking the average price of steel rails in England during the twelve years 1.871-82, viz.. 43d0l psr ton, and, allowing for expenses of shipment, these rails could have been lauded in America for 48dol poi- ton- In America, however, a heavy duty is imposed, and consequently during the twelve years referred to the Americans paid (iOdol per ton, or 18dol more for their Tails ihan they had any occasion to. The American manufacturers made enormous profit by the aid of their "protection "—IOO per cent, and more was earned by their capital. It mattered Jittlo to them whether the American community had iff pay for'their ateel rails, and, as a necessary consequence, more for their railroads, entailing additional expense for transportation in the shape of higher rates for freight and passengers. They collected a tax during twelve long years of 18dol per ton, in-order to make their " industry" pay. Now f?r copper. During the ten years, 1875-84, tlio per ton (of 2,2401b) ruled LIS higher on an average i;>. .America than the price in Eng'and, and the mining companies of Lake Superior paid enormous profits o'n capital invested. Mflrecve*, they formed a " ring,"and when the production of copper was in excess of the demand, and it was foujad impossible to quit the stick at the eombinatio.i prijje, the excess was shipped abroad at a lower price, As to screws, we have the assertion of the Birmingham manufacturer, Mr Joseph Chamberlain, to the effect that the screw manufacturers in America paid his firm L 5,000 per annum pofefain fiem sending screws into thoir market. And ,tbey took care to take it out of the American o'or.junii-r, for, as business men, thev won'A ujto'i'.e3c';r.c,t'-.iiigfornothing. Then we have tUa statement o f e'ighty-ftve' chambers of commerce in Germany referring t.p the protective tariff of that country; "It has res'ricted trade, and, at the earae time, enormously enhanced the cost of living, thus materially deteriorating the condition of the

people." Sir T. H. Fairer speaking of the German sug&r industry, which is "coddled" by a State subsidy, B*7s: "That the Germans, as taxpayers, lose, ia (fyo?} the Germans, as sugar consumer?, do not gain, for the wholesale German price is regulated by thp English market, and is exactly what the Englishman p\ys with the whole drawback added." The following quotation" from Deputy Gehlert (a Protectionist) is good reading in this connection: " The sugar industry is quite forty years old. . . . Would to God that not a pound of sugar had been exported from Germany if the result has been a loss. People aay again 'But L' 20,000,000 to L 25.000,000 has been invested in sugar factories'.' Good heaven.", what are th*se or L 25.000.000 worth today 1 What wotJd the shares in these factories fetch oil'change.' .' , , The profits of this system have only been reai>d iff England. It is German capital that has enabled Byglapd to give sugar to her cattle; it Is Gemian capital that has so developed the English mamifactuic of sweets, that it successfully competes with the German manufacture in the markets of the world, and in Germany itself. Wo pay one ind a-half to two millions sterling to enable England to consume what would properly he worked up by our German industry. Gentlemen, I fear this system has made us the laughing stock of our English cousins." The following shows the effect of Protection in Victoria on farmers' requisites:—Ploughs were raided in price from L6toLßlos, harrows from I 5 to L 8 10s, chaff-cutters from L 4 10s to L 5 15s, winnowers from Ll4 to Ll9, mowers from L 22 to L2C, reaper and binders from L 75 to LOO. '! hese quotations were furnished to a Dunedin. paper a short time ago by a reliable Melbourne authority. Living is dearer in Victoria than in New South Wales, and consequently during the past ten years mora people havo found it worth their while to pay tfeelr passages from "protected" Victoria into the " freetrade " Colony than entered it under the system of free immigration.—l am, etc, Australian. Dunedin, June 18.