COLONIAL PREFERENCE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13779, 18 June 1908, Page 8

COLONIAL PREFERENCE.

Sir,- Mart !) l;ivt I for wan led ii» a friend of mine in Kngland nit article on colonial preference, «»xprc.»>i»K the opinion flint ii-eal reform in Kngland—embracing colonial preference—was bound ty com" soon. By la-t. mail in? replies, ami, as ho stales the position from he Knglbh freetraders' standpoint very strongly, I presume it will Iks of interestto your readers to know how* (lusts things, strike some of our thoughtful men at Home. . As this gentleman has resided for many yean in Australia and is now ft member of dm London -Sto.ek Kxehange, his \iows tiro «*>• tilled to soni« c- n-iderahle attention. H«t nays: " I got your New Zealand newspaper, anil noted the leader was marked toy my perusal. The writer is too parochial: ho overlooks iho point that the world in our market, anil London its metropolis(in; renin' of banking, exchange, and insurance— that our shipping equals in value the shipping of all other countries combined, and. consequently, we arts tho 'Carter Paterson' of'"tlie globe (as one of your tariff reformer* sncerinuly put. it). Why should we put in jeopard} these enormous interests for a, chimera! The \vri(er talks • .about, a 5 per cent, preference 'over the Argentine in men;,, wool, and corn. It. does not concern him that all meat, wool, mid corn imported, into the United Kingdom would ihereby be matin dearer, lake this las! wheat season as an instance of what would happen. The wheat, crops failed move or less? in the United -Suites:, Canada, and Australia: lses-t Jtuissiai* was up to 50,-s per quarter, Australian and. Canadian 41s; bread went up, and tint tariff reformers have been going- about tho country blaming the Government for the rise, Then came tho news that there was a bumper crop in the Argentine, arid down came wheal, in the Baltic and Mark Lane with ft ban;.: to the neighbourhood of 30* it, quarter " Bravo, Argentine! They why i;hould wo prefer Now Zealand to the Argentine? .An a matter of businciyj. certainly not. Tim Argentine has like most new countries, ineluding life colonics— been developed with, British capital. All her railways arc owned' by London eoinnariic| c Iter harbours Lava been made, and her lilies (rained, lighted, .: and trammed by the same enterprise that has also redeemed bo .much of the babitabku globe from barbarism. As for sentiment, ttol'v You should be Bulisited with, and jjrntofiiH for, the protection of the flag, and not ciy for the moon. All the benefits accruing I" membership of the most enlightened and enterprising' commonwealth the world haw ever teen you calmly take as a. matter of! course, and then, after tho manner of that useful and much-maligned quadruped in 'bo parable, turn and rend us because we decline to handicap our trade with tho world, in; order to foster it with the, colonies, whoso total population is only 11,000,000,- by introducing' a. system of preference which wantried 60 years ago with Canada, and abandoned its a failure. Bo content your lot, happy, and prosperous!, as it should bo in ;t new land, with a virgin soil, and deleclablo climate, and do not neck further favours, the granting of which would add to the burden of the poor of this country. Wore you* colony German, French. American, Dutch, Portuguese, or attached .to any other old country, you would be part and parcel of it, and not permitted to impose a tariff on tho produce of the mother country. How would you like that? Personally, I think there i-» something _to_ be t.aid for it. Willi free ports, like the United Kingdom, you would have to raise the greater part of your revenue by direct taxation, and probably most of iS would come from the land, which, in my opinion, is the natural source of Governmental revenue, fti the same paper you sent me 1 noticed a little par. about Baldwin'.* locomotive works having to discharge 10,000 hands on account of slackness of trade, arid the Telegraph's correspondent stated last week that tho estimate of men out. of workin the -States was 3,000 000. Germany iV in. much tho same parlous conditionyitneiy, the unemployed riots in Berlin. Now) thisf» two countries-—according to all the theories of the protectionistsshould be in a much better position than the United Kingdom Ui withstand a turn 'if bad trade. You know the old era about having their homo market* . protected and keeping their works running and men employed by dumping abroad! "Well, i: there i- anything in (he theory hern has beets an lirirxauir/lctf opportunity -of test* jut; it. I should like your leader-writer to spread himself out a hi: upon it when rir-\l lie , tak"s in hand the teaching of the Old Country Low- to manage her business. .Did they keep their mills running in tho State-, or bank* open? Not a bit of it! Th"v dosed both. The ,Steel .Trust shut clown 7C per cent, of their works, and now, after six motif h-;-. are only operating 50 pep le-it.. Baldwin'.- and ail others did the same. Bel the States - (lumped all right, but what'. The very tilings we wantcotton, wheat, copper. lead, and every other- raw materia! ■for which wo have ,-r use. Down came price with a j'uin and our manufacturer.' and traders are now well stocked up with cheap raw materials, which' th« producer-, in' tieStates had been holding back. 'J.'ho finished article.? will later be shipped in our own bottom* to every port in the world, including the States and Germany, and the ships will in due course return (not in ballast t, but laden with the produce of even- clime." I siir.ll be pleaded if you cm) find this extract room in- your valuable paper. •I. Tkoii.N'M,