COMMERCIAL ASPECT OF FEDERATION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 11162, 7 September 1899, Page 6

COMMERCIAL ASPECT OF FEDERATION.

AJraklC meeting convened by the Mayor was held : it Invercargill on August 22 for the parpen of considering the question of federation. At the conclusion of the speeches, the following motion, proposed by Mr. J. F. Watson, was carried unanimously " That is the opinion of this meeting the time has irri-. Ed when the attention of the people and Pax: jment of New Zealand should be earnestly directed to the great question of federation." In the course of the proceedings Mr. J. E. Watson addressed the meeting on "the commercial aspects of federation." We give the more important parts of his speech. It was a pity that any sarcasm or sneers should have been passed on the commercial side of the federation question by dealing with it as a question of a few sacks of potatoes or onions, because the country that neglected its commerce was a country that very soon dropped out of its place among the nations. We had received an object lesson quite recently on the value of a nation's commerce when England was on the point of going to war with Russia, in order to maintain the right of her traders to share in the commerce with China. He felt confident that the proportion which the trade of China bore to the total trade of Great Britain was not equal to the proportion that the Australian trade of this colony bore to its total trade. I". was true that the figures of the trade looked small alongside the trade of New Zealand with the world. But the figures were considerable, and he would aik them to bear in mind that the exports which comprised our trade with Australia were the produce of the small traders of this colony. That being so, it shewed a much larger proportion of the population than rid the trade with the re-t of the world. Squatters undoubtedly had I to look to the Old Country for the dispell of their wool an meat; but email settlers were iiepeii'.t»r,t on the trade with the Australian colonies for a market for their proi Ce \r, t!,e fi-ww were small, he would n were they small? It was simply because ot t,.e hostile tariffs imposed bv- tl/e neighbouring colonic, If there lmd'be.m an imercojonial system of freetrade, he ventired to say thai the figure- would have been enormous, merged. 11,, total trade t ,™' ar " ilh tl,e Australasian colonies fo r L 93 vu £ -,' 022 He found that Captain Russell, spiking in the Hon* of rr!' tS,!V "? m l,r, gave the value of I 7 trace ? 5 , t!:-n £3.352.830. Did that difee a satisfactory of affairs? Where it [J, lia, e be-".i exjiectfd that trade world have expanded ii had decreased, and this was entirely due to the operation of the hostile , tanfti ? the neighboring colonic. This lolom had also a mol . important trade '.villi he Iriji ?r,d other I'atitie islamk For 1397 ihe ali 0,,,,' was £400.953. and, added to the r:r-- n ! 1 t ' av,> a tota! of over "V'i'i " ' i" r "* tw,!e » a ,- fo,lrth a: '<! -fifth Ho to,, trade i ° J "i" colony with Britain 1 H- wouh.l ask whether that trade was not one that was worth watching, protecting, and Cultivating. He maintained that if inter (olornal freetrade was established, there woul 11 he enormous . mansion, and that without r"tTf ,'l n? the trade,°f the colony with the ■M , the world. I-xpansion would benefit ' y.l <*"««"> this colony: producers, small 1 !nTlh?'e e " r |'' Cm " r? wharf labourers, i It ;' l !l:Kl 111 t,ie -carrying trade, i It «oultl JSC an increase of prosperity! and reflect | upon tl,e trai,e " "id art leans of the ° njr - 1,1 the WW wav | *-tead of expand t a e "ar^; P di :;;:ii ]\" n < 11,I 1 , would indict a hardship Zr I .he whole population, a harddiin thai I H u i r rr ; he pf,p " ia!ion adU'a'll r;., ° dnMr aUPnti °" to the dis. «he sa.no people K'S under down ' the samo people sov,„ colonies settled down "dvosTo'h arUfina , barricr3 r,, ond them' a- itUb' Um, 'n !,n V M r d '™ as ">«ch h'.,. !. T J I ho*? '"" 1 " tariffs wo** the I'-'s'jit Of unintelligent selfish '\y )at I ' '; a i" '™ lll( ' <ult if in America there ' If it ? (iihorent tariff f„ r dfi different States" ' froltrKh-Tor tii' 1 "' C ' To' hat ,l,er " M >*" n ' I-,. ' ' ' r '' !0 l )3 »t 1,0 years between the not hive it™' i'" n, " n ' Amor,V ' l wuuld , was toda, Tl l " '""'""H in "hid. she! fJermam- uh, T lie nt '. remarks applied to! .ormany i who,e prosperity had increased by : front ™ 7"" ' Until he l, '" i reaH "''' the ! ront rank of commercial nations. What had ' » thewu,. „ Canada; ' n spite ,f the ! ec ™ raised !lt the time, it Wtt - ? estab 20 vlr y n,n'V'" ! ' K t • il ' l ,lurin '- lllC pru-t : S 1 V St " Wl , th Britain had in A h •"ledt 'n'V f <> 9. lo 'iy waj Perfectly en- 1 wi h , W» r T'' 4r re ; ulti if il federated | f.' i,' • I'Tups of Australia. \.«\v- ! W s"]ony «>•« declined knew i - V V" ''"!? ', nlon ' an(l everyone! 1 ll . that Newfoundland was on the verge „f j •■ru Vl' 1 .' 2,1 'hat '"' Government had i - lam to a ." out department of ti, (Jo- • eroincm. nder the present system of ho--- ! tile tanns there was an enormous waste of xTreTrvin t ' Uca ' ljtff ' ro,,t colonies ere tn ing to ="' produce that nature never intended them to grow. If tho tariffs were -moied it would '« found that every kind ! of product ton would receive the greatest po--. I Mble development under the most favourable I i n "™,r ,La , 1 ? s to "s"' that Production ! would follow the line of least resistance, and ! money' nf'? 1 I "? vin * in " th time an,] i nonej. Ho would quote a few sentences from speech by ,Sir John Hall, who had op- ! irVewT l' n: , " Ithinkit is "doubted that New Zealand ' WV,n '-; to its el.mate and I - 111. facilities for producing many articles ' which Australia can only produce at a di<aovantage; and, if we had freetrade, or even moderate duties in the Australian colonies, it would redound very largely to the advantage of th, colony No doubt, as a general rule, and in the long run. we must chiefly n-pend upon the Mother Country—that must be our chief resource; but, nevertheless it .'.ouict lie an enormo.is advantage to this colony if we could send our produce such as corn dairy produce, potatoes, oats, and so on, 0 the markets of the Australian colonies, t hat is one of the advantages claimed by the advocates of Australian federation, 'i do not say that it is enough to tempt me V, eecept it, but I think it is an answer to the Colonial Secretary, who contended there was no prospect of New Zealand benefiting by invercolonial freeirade." He now came to the question of leriorocal jar', • r " people w»r ■ told that New Zealand could get all the bench's of intercolonial re-trade without fining the I'nion. This "l as the policy of heads I win tails you lose; -New Zealand was to share the profits without j-nrrying (lie share of the burden. It was highly improbable that the other colonies were going to tiiiow their ports open to this colony TK M / nd . did not enter the L'monthe .Melbourne Age, writing on this subject. IdtL t l W i Ze ,? land . httt ! Inuc ' l to gain and little to lose by throwing in her lot with her neighbours on the Jt-ier side of the Tastnan i Sea. It dismissed any idea of a reciprocal tariff as impossible, and said: "It is hardly likely (hat when all the ports are closed by a Federal I ornament, pledged to protective principles , as the only enlightened policy of the future I they will be opened to the competition of the I producers of New Zealand. The only chance ! or the producer-- of that colony is to e nu ; ! the Commonwealth as citizens of an original ! Mate. Otherwise they will stand in peril of losing for ever the Australian market." It was sometimes said by some who opposed ' federation that the Australian colonies could i not do without the produce of New Zealand 1 As a matter of fact, Victoria had shut out the produce of New Zealand. Many vear; ago she put a protective tariff on the produce of this colony, but found that it was not sufficient to keep it out. Victoria imposed an additional 50 per cent., and in a year or | two the trade died out. and a large trade that ' was formerly done between tho south part of ! New Zealand and Victoria had "ceased. further, the droughts from which Australia suffered rarely affected the whole of 4us- 1 tralia, and therefore, by protecting them-I selves with tariffs, the unaffected parts would I be growing produce (which it would be much I better if they left to this colonyl with which ' they would supply the affected parts. But I that was not the only point. If New Zea- ! laud stood out of the union she had to enter into competition with the whole world. Itwas known that California was an active competitor with New Zealand. But there was another country which would shortly be a strong competitor—ho referred to Siberia Russia was constructing a railway from one end of Siberia to the other, and it pa«ed through some country of extraordinary fertility. When the railway reached the Pacific coast, Russia had the summer sea open all the way to Australia, and New Zealand would have to face serious competition from that part of the world as well as from California. He would now turn to the Pacific trade. He had been speaking of a trade that affected the small settlers in the North and South Islands. About Auckland they were growing large quantities of maize, the bulk of which had found a market in Australia; and Taranaki was looking to the same olaco for the disposal of her dairy produce. Last year the colony sent £70,000 north of butter and £50,000 worth of cheese to Australia. Now, with regard to trade with the Pacific Islands. The trade of New Zealand was valued at over £400,000. He was going to quote Captain Russell to show that New Zealand ran a considerable danger in regard to this trade in standing out of federation. Captain Russell had made some proposals in regard to an extension of the powers of the Federal Council of 1885, by which the ' trade might be conserved, 1 but that Council 1

had since perished of inanition. Captain Russell had said:—"The Federal Council has power to deal, for instance, with the relations of Australasia with the islands of the Pacific— there at once is a subject which one might dilate on at length; because I venture to say that the Pacific islands are of very material importance to New Zealand, both from her geographical position and from the fact that in the course of years her population must be largely a maritime one, and seeking its living in the commerce which is to be carried on with the islands of the South Pacific. I maintain that any legislation dealing with the South Pacific islands is a matter of very great importance to New Zealand; and that, unless we endeavour by some means or other to take a part in the framing and administration of such legislation, the trade of those islands will naturally gravitate to Australia— unless we ally ourselves with the continental colonies, there may be a danger of our being shut out from the trade of the Pacific." He ventured to say that Captain Russell's prognostications were correct. and that, if New Zealand stood out of federation, it would lose the Pacific island trade as well as the Australian. Federation would also lead to expansion in all kinds of industrial enterprise throughout the colonies. because, at the present time, manufactures were struggling against harassing disabilities. They were now restricted to local markets. How much better would i: be for the manufacturers of all the colonies. if they had a population of over 4,000.000 with which to do their trade* Manufactories were, naturally, established wherever there were raw products, and in any industry for which this colony had the raw materials at- her hands, she would be able to compete with the manufacturers of Australia. He had heard it said that if this colony threw open its ports, competition would enter from Australia. This colony had not a monopoly of care for the labour system. He had been told that in Victoria labour was classified under a "log" system, as in New Zealand. And, therefore, the working classes in New Zealand would be perfectly well able to take tare of themselves if federation were adopted. j It was said that the advance New Zeai land had made in labour legislation woild I be nullified. But they could be certain that I federation would not involve a levelling down of the highest to the lowest, but a Wiling up of tho lowest to the highest. The same conditions would apply to all colonic--. and if. under these circumstances, New Zealand industries could not stand, they would be better shut up. He had tried to show that federation was I a question that New Zealand could not | afford to. set aside as one affecting a few bags lof oats or onions: one section of the community rould not be injured without injury Ito t'.e who'". Perhaps the people of the colony were inclined to dismiss the idea of I any groat importance attaching to the Aus- ! tralian trade because the figures were com- ! paratively small. But. as he had pointed out, j what the colony ought to consider was what il.e-e figure- might grow to. The expansion ■ha'. he maintained, would result from federation, would increase the value of the trade to an astonishing amount. So far as he knew, history did not tell of any single federation that had been unsuccessful. On the contrary, they had for guidance the examples j of Switzerland, of Germany, of the United j •States, of Canada; and it was only a question I of time when there would he a federation in I South Africa. There would then be three noble federations of English-speaking peoples, | one in Canada, one in Australia, and one in , South Africa. That would be the fulfilment ! of natural law. It would be well that New i Zealand should enter as an original State. i She could get in on equal terms now. but. if , "he stood back, it would serve her right if ; Federated Australia asked her own terms, ! and made them pretty stiff.