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New Zealand Herald, Volume III, Issue 687, 26 January 1866, Page 4

We have ever considered it an imperative duty on our part to protest against the public money of this Province being scut to other countries for articles that can-be obtained here, either of native growth or manufactured from our enterprising citizens who, at very great expense, have imported themost modern" and most perfect machinery for working in various branches of maiiiifacf lures. The ITrilu.d has been alone in its ' endeavours to protect the interests of the I taxpayers of tho Province in this respect. C We hear no sound from other papers con- ! demnatory of our paid officials and public - bodies sending the money contributed I through the taxes of the Province, whenever ; at all possible, to Sydney, or Melbourne, or , England, for articles that wc either growhere oi- that our own tradesmen can supply ' us with, as good in quality and at as low a - price as they can be supplied by the foreigner. The ITkua r.D, too, as we well know, has had I the honour of obtaining, and wc will can- : didly say of deserving the auger of those ' whose evil practices, so fraught with injury t to the people of this Province, it has persisf tciitly exposed, but as we happen to be i entirely independent of either Governments ■ or parties, or of officials, wo care not for ■ the frowns of either, and we will never pros--1 litute on" pages by crying out peace when ' there is no peace, by winking at corruption ! and mal-practices of any kind, by whom or ' wheresoever practised among us, nor yet by eonstantly burning the iucense of flattery ' under the noses of those who may be iu- , elined to do the amiable towards us. Our * first duty is to the people of this Province, ' and we will not sell them in order to buy , the favour of anyone. One of the latest pieces of mismanagement of the nature to which wc have ' referred is, as we understand-, a proposal of the City Board, above all other people > in the world, to send to England for some iron urinals. Are the members of the City Board so grossly ignorant of what au iron urinal is, and of the appliances and means ot our two iron foundries—-Viekery and Masefield's, and Eraser aud Tinne's—that they really do not know that either of these two firms are just as able to make one of the articles referred to as any foundry or firm in the British dominions. And if they will not plead guilty to this ignorance, will any member of that Board tell us why the taxes of the city of Auckland should be transmitted to England, and give employment to English workmen, and assist in fostering I'nglish trade and commerce, instead of being paid anions? Auckland workmen aud firms from where these taxes are derived, and so assist in fostering the trade and commerce of Auckland. There must be some blindness, some more than Egyptian darkness, or some gross carelessness, ignorance, indifference or corruption, which prevents the merits of the general question being seen, which causes lnCl . l 5° persist in the suicidal policy of draining the country of its capital by sending it forth in every possible way to pay for things that we either grow or can manufacture, and curtailing the amount of employment for our own people, the amount of business done in our own shops and stores, ami the power therefore of the tax pavers of Anclclaud to pay those taxes tiie proceeds which are so generously but so wickedly sent out of this Province. What is_ this policy but sawing away the branch of the tree on which we are sitting undermining the building in which we live and securing its downfall. It is free trade and generosity gone stark raving mad. We have also heard something of iron buoys for the harbour being recently ordered from Melbourne or Sydney. Will either the City Board, or the officials of either city or Province, or tho Provincial Executive tell its that neithor these urinals nor buoys could be made here, or that if made, they could not be made in as satisfactory a manner or so cheaply as they could be made elsewhere. If they will tell us this, wc then can know the grounds ou which orders and the money winch then- execution will cost are sent away, and we have no doubt but tho proprietors of one or two iron foundries will then ether plead guilty or defend themselves from the imputation. Further, we will ask were cither Eraser and Tinne, or "Vickerv and Maselield, or anybody else, were asked tender for these articles, and if so were their tenders any higher than the price which must be paid for them to the stranger ? We believe wo arc right, in believing that

110 tenders have teen asked fof" from thcsa firms for the work in question. _ And we again ask, what mental hallucination causes this line of procedure to be constantly adopted? That wicked individual, «the <c man in. tlie street-,"' thinks there is some good reason for it. He has a vague idea, though we have certainly heard it very plainly expressed, that it is just possible there may be _ • golden considerations for our practices in this respect, and perhaps ho may be right, though we cannot assert that this is the ease. There certainly must be some cause, but instead of supposing that commissions are given and received ia° connection with these orders, and that persons here profit by work being sent; to and material obtained from other places, which ne d not be, we would =. •. ry < rather believe that it results from prejudice in favor of other places and ignorance of what our own tradesmen can tio. And wp would hope that as light. is poured on tlie minds of those who govern us in these mattors, whether they be Provincial Executive, City Board, or the officials of either, they will cease being so exceedingly philanthropic | as to deny labor to and refuse to expend our money among our own people, and ship it off to other countries. Talk of a drain of o-old, of interest getting up to usurious rates, whv we make the drains ourselves through which the gold is carried away, and then we sit mourning the fact that it is gone, that money is scarce. Surely the force of stupid folly could no further go. We think it would be well if firms engaged in the endeavour to make our own manufactured goods had a book of patterns to distribute among official persons, architects, and the public generally, or that they would adopt some way at least of informing the people of the work that can be done here, and so remove the plea of ignorance. Thus we understand the order for the water-stand pipes and taps in the streets was very nearlybeing sent outof the Province. Fortunately it was not. The tap is of a novel self-acting "kind, and was designed, as well as madfc here, by Mesr--s Eraser and Tinne. | It acts perfectly, and only wilful destruction v/il! put it out of order. Again, we understand that the cooking-range fitted up here on board the Siam troop ship, and abie to cook for 400 people, gave the utmost satisfaction to Captain Spain, who was surprised and pleased that suc'n work could be so done by n, local firm. And as to cheapness, it is at once evident that the more work a largo firm with extensive machinery can get, the cheaper the work can be done. Por tli6 interest of money for buildings and plant, is just the same whether that plant be wholly or partially employed, and the wear and tear is almost as much in the one case as the other. So that sending jobs away that can be done here tends to cause high prices and very low profits, and it is our advantage, both in our individual and governmental capacity, to increase the work oi our local tradesmen as much as possible by retaining nil the work we possibly can in the "Province. The " drain of gold" for the cost of a tew* urinal's may not be much, but then" every little makes a muckle the ocean is composed of tiny drops of water : and it is by attention to so-called trifles that disaster and ruin are prevented