FREETRADE v. PROTECTION.

Evening Star, Issue 7414, 9 January 1888, Page 4

FREETRADE v. PROTECTION.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir—Your correspondent " Australian " is a moot ingenious gentleman ; he tries to mystify ua with a lot of figures, not one of which disproved any statement made m my letter. I fcUimoM) the public will be able to understand air his juggling with fojjr ycare, five years, K.uvon yearn, and so on. I most decidedly object to tl.iu statement in '> Australian's letter: "My lettem have been written to (mow, and 1 think have clearly demonstrated, that it la quite poHHiblo for a country to progress without a Protective policy ; and further, that it is quite possible for a country to have Protection and yet not progresa so rapidly as one free from the coddling policy." I thought my letter clearly showed that Victoria is now year after year enjoying a surplus revenue, and that New South Wales, with three times the size of territory, is o» the verge of bankruptcy. I do not understand ''Australians idea of prosperity. I refer the gentleman to a paragraph that appeared in the Stab mat after;his fetter. Sir Henry Parkes says , "It would be verv easy by one stroke of the pen to wipe out the New South Wales deficit by breaking up the land into big blocks of 1,000 and 1,500 acres and offering them in the English market. He was not altogether against auoh a method. They must either employ some such method or gradually wipe off the deficit by the surpluses." Does this look like progress ? a What * state3man-like idea the first sentence; and as for the surpluses;a piece of bunkum. This rubbish haa been talked by Sir Henry for vpara When Burns took the Tre&surerslnp he estimated the surplus for 1887 at LMfcOOO*. the deficit was L 156.051 Is lid. He now estimates the surplus for 1888 at L 266.339, which I have not the slightest hesitation in saying will never U reafeaty H in S l uito sure that

the deficiency will bo over L 200.000. I quite agree with tlie Sydney people. The correspondent of the 'Evening Herald' says ".Sir Henry is thought by some to be in his dotage." When in the full vigor of his intellect, these were his words on the fiscal policy of a young country: '"History records no instance of a young country being able to establish local industries without the aid of a judicial fiscal po'icy." In my last I drew attention to the enormous annual land revenue of New South Wales. I now wish to show your readers ihat land revenue is the cause of the seeming prosperity of that Colony, and not her mongrel Fivctradc policy. New South Wales has, since. 1880, received and spent thirty-two millions more from loans and land sales than Victoria. From 1871 to 188G nc less than L 30.181.092 was received from land. Nearly twenty-five millions of this tame from actual sales. Since 1802 New South Wales sold conditionally no less than twentyfive and a half million acres, or three and a half millions more than Victoria has sold altcgether. Altogether, she has parted with f< rty-one and a quarter millions, or double that of Victoria. For fear " Australian " may attempt to show your readers that Victoria gets a large income by this tax, allow me to give you Hayter's returns for 1880. There were 1,057 estates liable to the tax, comprising 7,092,431 acres. From this Victoria only receives L 125.839. I now give you an extract from the Treasurer of New .South AVales' Financial Statement, delivered last month : " He next came to the estimates of revenue for 1888, which had been revised ; with much care. From land sales, Li,222,000; I from interest on Land conditionally purchased, L.110,000; from pastoral occupation, L 791.000 ; from mining occupation, L 10,000; from miscellaneous receipts, L 30,000." T0ta1L2,193,000. In spite of this enormous revenue from land, and the iniquitous proposed tax to raise a large revenue from the reserves and deposits in the banks (which I do not doubt will be carried out), I am prophet enough to predict a deficit in the revenue for 1888 of over I say again, I do not understand " Australian s idea of prosperity. Two most important factors in this contention must not bo lost sight of—viz., age and area. The first settlement of New South Wales took place in 1788, that of Victoria in 1834, or nearly half a century after; so that in this respect New South Wales has an immense start. Add to this that Victoria had not the management of her own affairs till 1851, and it will further increase the advantage. I have already admitted that Victoria received great advantages to her settlement during the years of the gold fever, but it should be borne in mind that New South Wales has had, and has, her goldfields that have attracted tens of thousands to them, who in like manner aided in the settl anient. Who cannot remember Gulgong, with its 30,000 inhabitants, some few years ago, and of mining generally '! Look at tho varied fields of employment this industry affords to the miner in that Colony: Gold, tin, silver, copper, lead, iron, antimony, coal, bismuth, diamonds; in fact, nearly all the precious metals. With this material wealth, and the advantage of half a century's start, surely New .South Wales should be in the best financial position. During the few years Victoria lias had—if I may use the term—a national life, she has built up institutions the grandest in the Southern Hemisphere. No one can question that the area of a country is one of the greatest advantages In the settlement of large populations on the yet with this great advantage in the possession of New South Wales for nearly 100 years, the population of both colonics are to-day about equal—some 2,000 odd remaining to the ciedit of New South Wales. But the population of the chief cities, taken from the returns of 1885, give the following result: Nkw South Walks. Sydney 252.843 VICTORIA. Melbourne .. •• 3-15,350 Ballarat . .. •• -11,110 Sandhurst .. •• 30,570 Here we find industrial enterprise fostered by Protection-building up noble cities as evidences of the country's growth and prosperity; while on the other hand the other stands alone with but one large city to its credit, and that one favored by nature with one of the best harbors in the world. During the few years Victoria has been in existence as a colony she has built 1,070 miles of railway, erected 1,384 post officer, has 9,017 miles of telegraph wires in operation (receiving anil despatching 21,080,000 telegrams annually), built 1 820 State schools, brought subject to the plough 2,405,107 acres. While the populations of both were equal, her public debt in 1880 was a little over L 30,000,000, whileN.S. Wales's wa5L35,504,259. Since 1871 this Colony has received from land L 30,181,992, borrowed L 28,346,599; total, 158,528,591. And now there is a deficit of L 2,750,510. Again. I aay that J do not understand "Australian's" idea of prosperity. I should have sent this lotter earlier, but was waiting for my friend's second letter that he promised.—l am, etc., J. H. Richardson. DunetHn, January 4.