FLOTSAM AND JETSAM.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXII, Issue 86, 13 April 1888, Page 3

FLOTSAM AND JETSAM.

A Salanio: Now wlat news on the Rial to. * SilaripO : Why, yet itV liveß thers on. ohecked 1 that 'Antonio hath a. ship of rioh ladiog wrsokad ou the narrow fe*s; the Goodwioe I think they call the plaoo, a very dang*roaa fl*fc and fatal, -where the carcases of many a tall ship lie buried as lh*y say. B&esanio: Bat is it true Silarjno? Hare nil his ventures failed? Wbat not one bi* :•', from Tripoli, from Mexico and England, from Lisbon, Barbary, aad India, and nob one vessel escape the feuoh of merchant marring rooks. l " 1 Shakapeare or fiacoa ftbe Honorable Mr I , Donelly, United States Senator, thinks . BaoonJ, who wrote •Tho -Merchant of Venioe" h»s given us hew a succinct ao- : count of the commerce of Veniae. I suppose it is not of much importance who wro e it. Shakspeara has had the nama and been worshipped so long th<»fc it is hardly worth while dethroning him. And b'B'dfs Bacon is so rioh m fame as the father of Indaotive Philosophy that if bis good name is filched from him as the nu'hor of " The Merohant of Venice'' and the reft of the plays called Sbakspeare's he fs by no ra^nna made pcor ind ed. Bu l . if Shpbs. eire is robbed of his good name it will not enrich Bioon, bat n»ke the Bard of Avon a pauper without any name but that of a poaoher who lent ;c ■ his name to Baoon for a consideration, and > played minor parts in that genleman'a matchless ptoduotior. By whomsoever written Venioe has lost no re of iis interest from being w shrouded in the pages of the book called Shftkßpeare'e. Venioa free by lha might of the Archimedean lever of commerce was raised from being ialetß of fisbertnen to be the queen of the Adriatic, the merchant city of the world, with her ships in every sea, and whose oitiz'ns could sing Let India boasb her palme ; nor envy wo • The we>ping atnbew,' nor the spicy tree, While by our ehips these preoioua loads are borne, And realms commanded which those trreß ■■'- 'adorn, Veriioe^nslaveJ by P«pe and Kaiser loses her commeroe and becomes a place of interest to antiquarians. Strange it is but true, far-reaching civilising commerce carried on by nations or cities with the smallest of natural resources (like Venice) makes them the mo?t oootinuowly abundant in nil tfiafcTconstitu'es waalth, while the ta'ion or city, no matter how rioh in natural r?Bjuroee, without commerce is in danger of ■ petiodioal reonrriogr famines. "There is something in the pride of a peop'e that , jnakes commtrqs fasoinating, f«r ib lays the "world uadrr contribution and brings the treasures of other dimes to oar doors," (.Playful?), "For their merchants ar» then venaportfy and if they flourish not a kingdom may have gaod limbs but will have • Mnpry.veinß and nenrish little. There be bat three things which one nation selleth nnto another, the commodity as nature yielieth it, the manufacture, and the vesture or carriage, bo that, if these three wheels g<\ wealth will flow as a Bpring tide. And it cometh m»ny times to pass that the work and carriage is more wor'h than tha material, and enrioheth a State more, as is - notably seen in the Low Countrymen, who have the best mines above ground in the world (Bacon.") Yon cannot get rebind such lopfo; it is unanswerable. Yrt (here >re no en who are trying to strangle commerce t>y fair trade and protection under the grossly mistaken idea thnt th#y are helping the nat'on. Howard Yinc-nt, ex-head, of the Criminal Investigation Department, who to Australia came, saw, a*d was conquered from Liberalism to rank, out and our, Toryism, in a congress at Oxford of 1000 »fftred the following r solution, " That the continusd depression in trade and agriculture, the increase. in the Boarcity of employment, and the consequent distress among all olasses, render speedy reform in the policy of the United Kingdom as regards foreign imports and indigent foreigners a matter of vital necessity." And only twelve hands were held, up against it. Shades of Cobden ! Is this the educational effect of 40 years of Freetrade, of the decrease of pauperism, of the uprise of the working olasses, of the cheapening of food and clothing? This is the apparent effect upon Howard Vincent and ids " protectionist men -inbuokiam " so called by "The Times," which adds, " the Oxford resolution has missed fire and the leaders of both sections of the Unionist party hare done their best to spike the gnus from which it Wil discharged." If Howard Vinoent is an expert in the invf&'igftiion.of crime he certainly is not in the invr Btigation of the U we of trade. ' To strangle commerce by imposts on Merchandise in order to find work for the mnemployed and relUve agricultural depression is worthy of the darkest of ages. I; is like the Irishman's rise from 30a to £1 10s, er the cutting a pitca off the bottom of a ladder to put it on (he Up to moke it longer. If a duty is plaoed on merchandise it either shots it ont and that amount of Bhippiug to csrry it, and Bbipwrightg to bnild the Bhips, and dcokmen to land it are thrown ont of- employ, or ib ralßfs the price Bind lesß of ib is consum«d, and again there is a loss of employmenb Says Bacon with Wisdom far before bis time: — " Taxes and • imposts upon merchants do seldom good to the King's revftnue. For that which he winrifcth in the huftdr^d he loseth in the ehire, the particular rates being increased, but the bulk of trading rather dedreased." Here is a remarkable illustration of this faot. Before Freetrade four 41b loaves cost 3s 2d, 21b meat Is 4d, 4 pottles of potatoes Bd, lib coffee 2«, 81b sugar Is 9d, lib Jam Bd, Jib butter 3d, total 10s. Now 12 41b loaves 4s, 21b meat Is Bd, 8 pottles . potatoes Bd, 21b coffee 2s, 61b sugar 9d, 81b jam Cd, Jib butter 9d. Total 10s. Is it a Wonder with this indisputable faot that with to increase ' «f wages to the wage earners and this drop of 60 per cent in prices, raising with' lees labour the standard of comfort in _fcfrery'- working man's home in Britain immeasurably, John Bright should say "The Tory is apt to be like a dog and return to his vomit." The effect of carrying i^ Oxford resolution in the British Parliament if onld be to throw the commerce of the world into new channels. The British nierehantii are afraid of the Germans, who are making desperate struggles to extend thsir trade by paying bounties to their sugar producers and subsidising their Ocean steamers. Antwerp, whjqh "SI the time of Charles V, Emperor of the Knropean world, (almost with the exception of England and France) had 600 «aU of ships lying at her quays, is coming into competition with London, and Hamburg is trying 1 to win back its commercial prestige. These Germans and Belgiums are from a good old stook. The parent Of ike sturdy Anglo-Saxon, they have equal Industry and are more thrifty, and there would m real danger to British oommeroe from that quarter. But the impost placed by Germany on all foreign merchandise that can by any means be produced in the country tedaeei the danger to a cypher. Commodities are the materials of exchange, and if you at one end of the exchange tax goods by Customs and prevent or leisea their import, you effectually limit the export by' just the equivalent of the lessened import, There is no getting out of this, Says Lyon Flayfair, "Last year the excess of imports" (into Britain) "over exports amounted to 81 millions, 1 ' but ths excess of gold exported over that imported amounted to only £300,000.. That small excess probably represents our .foreign investments, as England is a great money lending nation ' y What does this mean but that the excess of imports was paid for by the interest on colonial and foreign loans ? If the signs of the times are rightly read, the danger to the . Empire of British commerce comes not from the German quarter but from the United States, if the policy of President Cleveland passes the Senate and becomes law, and Freetrade in Britain- is met by Freetrade in the United States* "When Greek meets Greek then comes the tug-of-war." " When

once the Protectionist leech begins to draw blood he becomes like the horse leech of the Bible who had two daughters crying 'give,giye.' If you doubt it, look at the case of France and Germany, who have failed to restore agricultural prosperity by duties on food. The French duty on corn was 5s 3d per quarter, it is now 8s Bd. The German duty of 6s 6d per quarter did not produce the result expeoted, and the German Council of Agriculture now asks for 13s 6d" (Playfair). This is the kind of policy that is proposed as a blessing to the colony ; the horse leech's daughter is to have free course, her cry of " give, give" is to be followed by "granted, granted." The oloth workers want 20 per cent., the bootmaker must have his quota, the engineers and boiler makers must not be left out, the iron founder's requirements must be met, and of this cry of " give, give " there is no end. But the bootmaker and the cloth worker want cheap engines, and the engineers want cheap castings, and the ironfounder doesn't want anything cheap in the way of castings, so it is " give, give," and no one is ever satisfied with the giving. One of the most perplex* ing things is that Protection is good for a nation, but it is not good for cities or provinces or States individually to be proteoted, and so the individual State of California is forbid by the late decision of the Supreme Court of the Union to set up a Custom house against the State of Maine (this is a reversion of Maine law with a vengeanoe). Yet Maine must erect a Custom house against Britain, and California against Australia, It is right and proper to protect England against France, distant two hours journey by sea ; it is not right to protect the South Island against the North Island, four hours distant. Canterbury is a great agricultural province : we import wheat, and bacon, and flour from France, why is it not right to protect our farmers from competition with them ? The only answer is because we belong to one nation. And so Victoria protects against New South Wales, and South Australia against Victoria. That's the logio of Protection. "All that political economists insist upon, is that oharity shall be r«al charity, and shall not injure those whom it is intended to aid." The present prosperity of England is greatly^due to the science which Adam Smith gave to the world in his Wealth of Nations. He taught the value of free labor and free trade, and now a hundred years after there ought aot to be so many mistaken people vainly aoting in opposition to his lessons. It is certain if people do not' understand a true political economy they will make a false one of thtir own (Stanley Jevtna). PISCATOB,

The following extract from an Indian paper has been sent to the London Times by a neat relative of one of the players mentioned in it : — " Has any whist player ever held the 13 trumps in one band ? The phenomeaon was Been at the United Service Club, Caloatta, on the evening of the 9th instant. The players— we trust they will forgWe ua 'naming' them, but whist history mast be above suipioion — were Mr Justice Norrig, Dr. Harvey, Dr. Sanders, and Dr. Beeves. Two new packs were opened, and were ' trayed' and shuffled in the njual way. Dr. Sanders had one of 'the packs cut to him and prooesdad to deal. Ho turned up the Enave of Clubs, and on sorting his hand found that he had the other IB trumps. The other three Buits were unevtnly divided in the other hands, but in the excitement of the moment no record was taken of them. The fact was duly recorded in writing, the six gentlemen signing their namea to the document. The odds against this combination are, we believe, according to Dr. Pole, 158,750,000,000 to one ; the probability of a given player holding 13 cards of a particular suit, named before the deal is concluded, is pat by the same authority as once in 635,000,000,000 deals." Mr and Mrs Lewis, said to be Americans, have been travelling for three months through Europe on a tricycle, and they say that their joint expenses are only 25s a day, sightseeing expenses included. Mr V. Fjke in one of his letters from Melbourne to the Dunedin Star says : — " The land ' boom ' promises to be of longer life than its silver sister. There is something solid about Mother Earth, but even that dear old dame may be appraissd too highly. Land in osntral Melbourne is selling at rqual, if not highor prioca than in London City. It is all the world t« a sucked orange against snob prices being maintained. Bab possibly nay probably, this game will b» kept up until the doors of the Exhibition are cloeed. Only last; Saturday a vineyard at Moonee Ponds was out up into allotments and offered for sale. High priots were paid for corner aUttmcnts^ — owner allotments at Moonee Ponds, six miles oat of Melbourne I— to muob, indued, *>s £21 per foot frontag*. But it is significant that only one-fourth of the property was sold. The faofc is, this businasß is overdone and languishes, Tha way in which jsuoh sales are gob np is as thus :— A " syndicate " buys some lucky man's estate at a good round sum, and then the surveyor, tapeliner, and peg driver march into the property and " out it up." We have seen something of the sort here. Mendacious advertisements, flaming posters, free carriage?, men and women to fill them provided gratis, and whan the pnblic have been xoased to tha necesiary pitoh of exoitament —a champagne and brandy inflated sale. And thus the merry-go-round is kept in motion. If .this sort of thing oan be kept up till the Exhibition there will be a revival. Bub thereafter — Amen t