THE ADVANTAGES OF FREE TRADE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIV, Issue 7975, 15 June 1887, Page 5

THE ADVANTAGES OF FREE TRADE.

The Rev. J. S, Hill delivered an address last night in the Y.M.C. A. Rooms. There was a large attendance. After devotional exercises Mr. Hill began his address by defining free trade as being the right of every man to exchange the produots of his labour without the disadvantages of unnecessary State interference; protection, as increased taxation for tho purposes of supporting the supposed interest of some special class. He laid down as a general principle the division of labour and an increased power of distribution, created wealth, and a corresponding demand for labour. Protected industries, rightly understood, meant the substituting of unprofitable for profitable labour. Ho instanced the salt duty in France, costing that country oiio million sterling per annum. Import dnliea were paid by the consumer and not by the exporter, he instanced the case of a tariff of one penny on sugar. Imports are paid for by production, by an exchange of goods for goods. Sometimes tho exports are miscalculated, the amount stated not including the cost of freightage, as in the case with imports—imports exceeded the exports in England by fifty million a year. Free trade supplied cheap raw material and cheap living. That country had the greatest demand for labour where wealth is most rapidly created. He stated that freetraders in England on arriving in this colony became sometimes protectionists. In England protection waa a tax on the coat of food. Here protection was a tax upon unprotected labour. Mr. Hill then raised the question, can employment and wages be increased by protection ? In England during the protection upon wheat, when wheat wa3 80s per quarter, the farmers received no extra profits, and the labourer 9s less per week than now. The working classes in England were 100 per cent, wealthier now than with protec» tion, the average wealth of the workingman being £44 then and £S6 now; while wealth was better distributed, the wealthier classes being 11 per cent, less wealthy. The hours of labour were less, being 72 then weekly and 56 now. In America the one hundred thousand protected iron traders received £62 Ss per man, while the 600,000 unprotectfd men employed on the railways received £90 per annum per head. The average wage in protected cotton manufactories was less than in unprotected England. The worst paid tradesman in Auckland was the protected bootmaker. He stated that the 938,000 domestic servants in America were being taxed to support the 100,000 iron traders, and they were practically living upon the charity of these domeatic servants. Protection closes profitable industries, and substituted unprofitable industries. The protection of home industry from foreign industries is the same as protecting manual labour from mechanical labour. There was the same opposition to the introduction of machinery as to the introduction of foreign productions. He asked, are scarcity and poverty better than plenty and riches? Increased wealth means increased power to produce, and the increased power to produce an increased demand for labour, and an increased demand for labour produced increased wages. He stated that some working men actually believed that the destruction of houses by fire improved trade. An animated and interesting discussion took plaoe. It was evident that a very large proportion of the audience were in favour of protecting looal industries. The meeting was closed with the Benediction.