THE NEW TARIFF

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 10012, 25 December 1895, Page 6

THE NEW TARIFF

la all that can bo desired— ft Government point of view. It is also all wrong and ill-advised—from an Opposition point of view; and it will be generally conceded that the rnau has not yet been born that can construot a tariff whioh will not provoke ridicule from the common or garden observer, However, something had to be done, and it was only to be expeoted, after tho provincial tour of the Commissioners, that it would be something funny. But it was really touching to follow the said Commissioners on their round, and watch the sublime self-sacrifices offered by the "successive BUggestori." One man would come along and say that he was "running a factory" (we will say) for the tinning of «iirfi»b, and while not wishing anything out of the way, would suggest a duty of 350 per unit, ad vol. on tinned Dsh of all kinds. It iB only natural that this should be followed by another patriot who had a largo stock of second-hand coffin-plates, and lu the pure lore of his country, and for the sake of *iie revenue, he would think it desirable that a tax of, say, seven shillings an ounce should be put on all this class of imports. Anything apparently for their country's good, while one of the main sources of revenue last year was derived from the duty paid on the large and ever-increasing shipments of Vanity Fair Cigarettes, which have steadily m»do their wry into public favour.