The Hastings Standard Published Daily. WEDNESDAY, OCT. 7, 1896. A PILL FOR PROTECTIONISTS.

Hastings Standard, Issue 140, 7 October 1896, Page 2

The Hastings Standard Published Daily.

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 7, 1896. A PILL FOR PROTECTIONISTS.

For the cause that lacks assistance, For the wrongs that need resistance, For the future in the distance, And the good that we can do.

New South Walks has afforded the rest of the colonies in the Australasian group an object lesson in fiscal reform, a lesson which we hope will prove beneficial. Mr Reid, the Premier of New South Wales, upon his accession to power determined to cut adrift the trade barriers erected by his predeeesor, and restore to the mother colony the benefits of gFreetrade. But he was hampered by vested interests, and to conciliate these the duties were removed by degrees. The Freetrade policy of New South Wales has been in operation but a short time, and even in a limited period the superiority of Freetrade over restricted trade is made clear. There is a revival in business, and this revival promises to grow in intensity. So much so that the strike-loving labor-unions, squeezed into pulp by their own mad acts, are beginning to reorganise with a view to obtaining the advantages of the revival of trade.

The working men of New South Wales are fully alive to the brightening prospects. They must surely see that freedom of trade is the best for them; that instead of keeping down wages Freetrade tends to increase them. The avenues for the profitable employment of labor are multiplied, no restrictions being placed on enterprise. Capital under such conditions is willingly employed, and workmen reap the benefit. The fiscal policy of New South Wales is better than a whole budget of harassing and restrictive labor Bills. The working-classes of New Zealand will one day realise the folly ol Protec-

tion; but the awakening will not be due to the efforts of the land-owning classes. It will not be to the interests of the latter, for the day New Zealand cuts adrift from a policy of Protection, the revenue she would sacrifice must be made good by a readjustment of taxation in other directions, and in the shuffling greater burdens are sure to be cast on land. While the working-men choose to pay the bulk of the colony's taxation, it is not the business of those who pay the smaller portion to discover the inequality of the sacrifice. What have we gained by our years of protection ? How many new industries have there created'? and have those that have been established thrived and prospered under the fostering care of heavy import duties '? Have the working-men received any equivalent for the enormous taxes they pay through the Customs. It is a popular fallacy that the outside manufacturer pays the duties and not the consumer in New Zealand. All traders know that to the cost of the commodities is added the duties and profits calculated on the increased sum. When twine manufactured from New Zealand hemp was subject to protection our agriculturalists were paying more for locally-made binder-twine than the same article could be purchased by their competitors in Victoria. They were being fleeced in order that Victorians should have the benefit.

We hope it will not be long before the other colonies follow the lead set by New South Wales. There is no mistaking the beneficent effects of Freetrade, and the proof is afforded by the mother colony. Victoria on the other hand is an " awful example ' of fettered trade, low prices, general depression, gaunt poverty, chronic deficits anil a shrinking revenue. New Zealand would do well to take note of the effects of Freetrade in New South Wales. The matter rests with the workers of the colony; and if they did the right thing they would send two or three competent men to New South Wales to examine into the changes, to prove by actual contact with the workers there whether Freetrade is as good as it is made to appear ; and if after such an enquiry their delegates report in favor of unfettered commerce let them insist upon a reversal of our fiscal policy. New South Wales has found it good, and we shall find it good also. The working classes across the water realise the benefits, and their admission that business is improving sufficiently to affect the labor market is a strong point. On the eve of a general election it is useful to discuss the relative merits of protection and freetrade, and the experience of New South Wales is valuable at the present juncture.