NEW ZEALAND INDUSTRIAL ASSOCIATION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIII, Issue 7784, 2 November 1886, Page 3

NEW ZEALAND INDUSTRIAL ASSOCIATION.

TO MB KDITOB, Sir,—My attention has bean called to an article professedly written by a working man, commenting on the address given at a mtoting of the Industrial Association on Monday, the 25th nltimo. Kindly permit me to say a few words in reference to the so-called working man's remarks. In the first place he says that the burden ef the production (as he terms it) means or is protection for oolonial industries. In that is keen observation is quite correct, and I do think that there are very few working men indeed in this oolony who will not rejoice to know that steps are being taken to promote the industries of their adopted country. Working men of all classes, at the present time, are driven to their wit's end to know where to get em« employment so as to be able to find, bread enough to eat, and that mainly in consequence of the over-done free trade polioy of this country. I am quite sure, therefore, that this so-called working man is not much in sympathy with his fellows. He seems to think there is something rather remarkable that there were no names mentioned in con* nection with the production ; bat, if he had spent an extra penny and procured a oopy of last Tuesday's issue of your valuable paper, he might have seen that there was no need for names being mentioned, as the short address was delivered by the chairman of the meeting. He is quite astounded at the statement that Mr. Gladstone had remarked that free trade notions have pauperised the masses in Britain until human life in the majority of cases is a struggle for existence. Now with all due deference to the ability of the so-called working man to prove the contrary, I firmly believe that the exPremier of England did make suoh a statement, extraordinary though it may appear to be. And his doing so is to his credit, for it must be patent to all men of oommon sense that the days of the Freetrade policy are fast drawing to a close. England's statesmen, at the present moment, are puzzled to' know what to do with her millions of unemployed, and they will be compelled to face the difficulty. Freetrade in the past may have been the correct polioy for England when she had the whole world as consumers of her manufactured goods, and it was to her advantage to open her ports freely to , all nations, who at that time brought their raw materials to her and took away with them her manufactured goods until she has become the most wealthy nation under the sum But things are now changed, and the foreign countries that used to be large consumers of her manufactured goods, having obtained the knowledge of the arts and manufactures, have started all kinds of industries of their own, and wisely have encouraged and promoted them by their protective tariffs until they are now not only able successfully to supply their own wants, but to make much more than they require, and are now sending their goods produced under protective tariffs into the ports of England, and her colonies, to the injury of local . industries. This must not be allowed to go on. The free trade policy of the past will not suit the present times. For the information of the so-called working man I will quote a few lines from the Marlborough Times and Wilts and Berks county papers :— "It is only a short time ago when Mr. Gladstone, l.ord Salisbury, Sir CharlesDilke, and Sir Stafford Northcote weremetaphorically speaking—flying at eaoh others' throats on the question ef the redistribution. Now they are closeted together as the best of friends, discussing redistribution for the good of their country. This is the unforeseen. What brought it to pass ? The strongest instinct of mankind, ' selfpreservation,' and it is the same unanswerable argument of ' self-preservation '—-the presence of a common danger, that is now causing all olasses, manufacturing and agricultural alike, to discuss the probability of a return to protection. It is the old story, ' near is my shirt, but nearer is my skin.' Free trade is a beautiful theory, bub one must live. ' Primo vivere deinde philosophare.' In the meantime freetraders are very wroth; there is a rebellion against their sacred dogma, and they are pre* pared to sacrifice any number of industries, weak or strong, sooner than allow . the rebellion to triumph," Yes, air, w« have got a war, as the American humourist puts it, "and the true patriot has to make a sacrifice ; I have given already two cousins to the war, and 1 stand ready to sacrifice my wife's brother rather than not see the rebelyn krusht ; and if the Wnss comes to the wuss, I'll shed every drop of blood my able-bodied relative has got to prosekoot the war." I am inclined to think that the so-called working man is so circumstanced that he does not feel the pinch of the bad times* There are instances here where a fortunate few will get into a position so that for their services to the public they may get twice or thrice as much remuneratien as they would get in the old country } but, having so much selfishness about them, they do not think, of even care, that their fellow-workmen should enjoy similar privileges. Their whole idea is to sell their own labour at the very highest price, and buy what they require at the very lowest price, even if it is ruin to the producer. The so-called working man says that there are none but the msit lncorrigible wooden-headed, or half-civilised Maori, would ever think of returning to protection. That is the talk Of selfishness, and if the author of it has not a head and a heart alto; as hard as oast-iron itself—if, in short, he has any discernment of the times at all— must see that free trade will very shortly be a thing of the past. In Conclusion, I would Buggest that as the soicalled working-man seems dissatisfied with there being no names attached to the production, as he terms 'it, he might favour other working-men with hie name, and possibly they might interview him. Apologising for trespassing so much on your valuable spaoe.—l am, Ac., Geokgs Frasek, President Industrial Association.