The Politician.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 361, 11 January 1879, Page 8

The Politician.

THE PREMIER AT THE THAMES. Severe criticisms of the Premier’s late speech •were to be expected from the Opposition papers, but even the Government organs, such as the Otago Daily Times and the Auckland Herald, are unable to do more than apologise for its weakness. The latter in a leading article in their issue of the ‘ 4th says :— £; The Premier’s speech at Grahamstown has been commented on by the principal Southern papers, and the tone prevailing is, in most of the articles, that of disappointment. Of course it was only to be expected that the organs of the Opposition should attack the speech, and seize every occasion it offered, or that could be manufactured out of the topics or allusions dealt with, to cast reproach on the Ministry, and especially on the Premier. is the fact that the dissatisfaction to which we referred has been expressed by several influential journals which hitherto have given the present Government strong and independent support, which is significant. We do not suppose that this shows a change of front on the part of those journals ; and indeed what they have said will prove more salutary to their friends than long strings of praise. There was a general expectation throughout the country that the Premier, when he _ addressed his constituents, would do something in the way of pulling his party together, and setting forth a programme for next session ; a programme of measures in a direction in which some movement has already been made, but less extensive than that of last session, and more practical, having eliminated from it those subjects as to which the House and country have shown such entire apathy that no Ministry can expect to do anything with them. . A public man may advocate changes, respecting which he stands almost alone, but a Minister must do the work which the country expects of him. It was thought that the Premier would dwell on the achievements of the Ministry, which were unquestionably great ; would make a point of their vast and enduring importance ; and seek to arouse interest in the matters which the Ministry purpose to deal with in the future. It is not to be wondered at that disappointment should be felt when it was found that a large part of the Premier’s speech was occupied with the discussion of subjects in which the large mass of the people feel very little interest.’*

A COLONIAL WAR MINISTER ON THE ART OE WAR. (From the Australasian.) Whether some wag has been hoaxing the New Zealand newspapers, or those journals have been hoaxing their readers, or, finally, whether Colonel Whitmore, the Defence Minister, has been poking fun at a respectable deputation, we cannot undertake to say, But we are willing to accept any explanation rather than believe that that Minister was in all seriousness talking to an important deputation on the subject of defence of the ports of the colony in a style which would be discreditale to the reasoning powers of a poll parrot. We will give a few extracts from the remarkable speech delivered to a deputation of citizens of Christchurch and Lyttelton, in which Colonel Whitmore undertook to expound the whole defence policy of the Government, and then leave our readers to adopt whatever explanation they please. We may just observe that in his speech Colonel Whitmore disclaimed the idea of his desiring to assume any superiority over his hearers on the score of his professional training, but long before he ended any notion of such superiority mxist have vanished from the minds of everyone who listened to him. In the course of his remarks Colonel Whitmore said, “ With regard to any ironclad visiting «ur shores, that was an extremely remote contingency the reason for this conclusion being that “ these vessels cost about three-quarters of a. million of money each,” and “ no foreign Government would care to risk so valuable a vessel on so long and dangerous a cruise.” This proves that no ironclad would ever come, and as “ no other vessel but an ironclad could hope to make its way into our harbors, no ship would come at all. The obstacle to acy yessel but an ironclad coming is the “ guns and torpedo lines of defence we should have before long.” Not that the guns and torpedoes are of the slightest utility, as we shall presently see. At present there are neither guns nor torpedoes, but they will come, and the ships won’t. Still they were “ to consider that stress of weather might drive a vessel into harbor,” so that there was a chance of a hostile cruiser coming, because she might . not be able to help it. Then, again, there was another chance.. “They (the commissioners) proposed to protect the Heads, it was true, bnt what good would that be to the town or shipping if a cruiser once got inside, and it was quite possible one might slip in, at night time, or in a mist ?” But “he was not one of those who thought that an intruding enemy’s vessel could do much harm.” Let us see now how far we have got. None but ironclads can get in. But no ironclads will be sent, because they cost too much. Still one mio-ht be blown in by stress of weather, or might slip in during a mist. But it could do no harm if it came. “ Why,” continued Colonel Whitmore, “ Captain Fairchild, of the Hinemoa, had said should he find a vessel [of the enemy] in any of our ports he would crowd all he could upon her, and run her down, for it had been proved during recent collisions that the vessels rammed were the sufferers, the others getting off very cheaply.” So that there is no danger at all. However, concede the worst—that a vessel got in, and commenced to shell the town. This is what Colonel Whitmore tells the deputation for their comfort “ This question of bombarding was, in his opinion, altogether over-rated. With the big ordnance and projectiles carried now-a-days, a. very few hundreds would soon exhaust a vessel. And they must not suppose that

every shot would be destructive ; they might fire a - hundred before they did any harm. Though probably alarmed at first, the people would soon get accustomed to them, and a very large number might be fired before the town was set fire to. For his own part he considered the danger greatly exaggerated.” So that the only inconvenience that would result from a bombardment would be a slight increase of the rates of fire insurance and trifling damage to silk umbrellas. With what object the enemy would bombard at all is not clear, inasmuch as this Defence Minister assures us :—“ With regard to the coming to the town and levying mail upon it, no captain of a man-of-war of a civilised power would think of doing it. Modern warfare was totally opposed to that.” And now, having laid a few specimens of this remarkable deliverance on modern warfare before our readers, we leave them to decide whether it is all a stupendous hoax or more than stupendous imbecility.

FREE TRADE AND PROTECTION. (From “Fraser’s Magazine.”’ From an article entitled ££ Colonial Custom Houses,” by Edward Langton, contributed to the above-named periodical, on the effects of protection in Victoria, we make the following extract : But Mr. Michie further undertakes to show that the protective system in Victoria has been a success. ££ That these duties,” he says, also gave an impulse to manufactures in the colony cannot be doubted.” For evidence of this he goes to Mr. Hayter’s ££ Victorian Year Book,” for 1876-7, and cites some figures, of which only the following are material : SUMMARY OF VICTORIAN MANUFACTURES, WORKS, ETC.

Is anyone expected to believe that the 1)82 manufactories in 1867 were all brought into existence by the tariff passed only in the previous year ? If not, how does Mr. Michie reconcile the fact that so many existed, under free trade, with his previous representation that digging, bullock-driving, and kindred occupations were the only ones available during the pre-protection period ? And if we ask for proof that the increase shown in Mr. Hayter’s tables is due to protection, where is it to be found ? It is a fact that a large number of industries were acclimatised prior to 1866. It is reasonable to suppose that, without State meddling, the same causes which led to their introduction would, as the colony became settled and the population grew, lead to their increase. What would have happened in Victoria may be inferred from what has happeued in New South Wales. In the following table some of the principal trades are selected which protection was designed to encourage in Victoria, and a comparison is made between the number of factories belonging to those trades in Victoria and in New South Wales during 1876 :

It will be observed that in only two trades out of this list has Victoria outstripped her neighbour, and, miraltile dicta, those two are protected in New South Wales as well as in Victoria ! In regard to all the others there is perfect free trade in New South Wales. It is necessary to add that the population of Victoria was, in 1876, 540,300, and that of New South Wales in the same year 629,776. If it was, as Mr. Michie alleges, the protective system which gave an impulse to manufactures in Victoria, to what are we to attribute the greater development of similar manufactures exposed to unlimited competition in New South Wales ?

To show how customs duties have affected the demand for British manufactures in Victoria, Mr* Michie gives a table, from Mr. Hayter’s “Yearßook,” of the value of imports and exports, both in gross and per head of the population, of the several colonies of the Australian group. On this table Mr. Michie remarks : “ It will thu3 be seen that the value per head of the consumption of imports in Victoria in the year 1876 was £lB 18s. as against £22 13s. l-Jd. per head in the colony of New South Wales: .... As the habits and modes of life of the people of the two colonies are much the same, "Victoria would appear to be supplying herself with her own manufactures to the extent of £3 15s. a head, spent in the colony, instead of its being sent to England.” To both the facts and inferences of this passage exception must be taken. Mr. Michie has compared the imports of Victoria in 1876 with those of New South Wales in 1875. By this means he has managed to compare the lowest year of Victoria for the last five years with the highest of New South Wales for the same period. A gain, he has rested his case on. one year, instead of on an average ; a proceeding which is always more or less deceptive, and is therefore eschewed by statists. If we take the five years from 1872 to 1870, both inclusive, we have this result:— IMPORTS PER HEAD.

By this wider and more trustworthy induction, Mr Michie’s “ three pounds fifteen shillings” is at once reduced to £1 3s. 3d. So much for the facts : now for the inferences. Are the imports alone a reliable means of measuring the domestic manufactures of a country ? Must not the imports in a large degree depend upon the exports 1 And can a country which produces a large quantity of exportable articles conduct a profitable business unless it imports largely also ? The average exports per head for the five years ending with 1876 were as follows : Victoria. New South Wales. £l3. 5 G £2l 7 3 Instead of coming to Mr. Michie’s conclusion, that the smaller imports of Victoria indicate larger domestic manufactures, would it not be somewhat more rational to conclude that, as New South Wales has more to export, she naturally receives larger imports in return ■ For, it must be borne in mind, there is no question here of payment in coin. Both the colonies are exporters of coin and bullion ; and the imports and exports of the precious metals are included in the per capita calculation upon which Mr. Michie proceeds. Again, may not the consumption of commodities be greater in a country where their importation is free, than in one where their importation is clogged with heavy duties ? It would appear from the statistics to which the writer has access, that in Great Britain the poorer classes manage to consume about three times as much corn as they did before the Repeal of the Corn Laws. Why should not the people of New South Wale 3 consume more manufactured goods than those of Victoria ; at least, of such goods as are free of duty in the former, and subject to 20 per cent, duties in the latter ? The duties levied in Victoria on articles which are free in New South Wales amount to upwards of £500,000 per annum. The sum is probably increased by the profits of each person through whose hands the goods pass to £750,000 by the time it is paid by the consumer. Here we have a burden on the people of nearly £1 per head. Would it be very astonishing if, in a neighboring country, where the people are altogether free from such a burden, they expend the sum thus saved on manufactured goods ? All experience goes to show that cheapening a commodity or a service increases its use ; and what has happened in regard to bread and postage in Great Britain might not unreasonably be expected to happen in regard to boots, woollens, and agricultural implements in New South Wales. The larger imports of New South Wales, therefore, may not afford the slightest support to Mr. Michie’s theory that protection has given an impulse to manufactures in Victoria ; but may only be an indication that, other things being equal, the people of one country, where an article is cheap, will consume more of it than the people of another country where it is dear. But let us apply Mr. Michie’s argument to some of the other colonies —to Tasmania for example. The average imports of that colony for the three years cited by Mr. Michie were £ll Bs. per head ; that is £8 11s. 2d, per head less than Victoria. Are we to conclude, with Mr. Michie, that Tasmania ‘ would appear to be supplying herself with her own manufactures to the extent of ’ £8 11s. 2d. £ a head spent in the colony, instead of being sent to England ?’ Yet, if Mr. Michie’s conclusion in regard to Victoria be sound, Tasmania must be supplying herself with seven times as great a proportion of her consumption of .manufactured goods as Victoria, and this with a tariff but slightly protective, and adopted only for revenue purposes. This case of Tasmania, in fact, points to the conclusion already suggested, that the imports are influenced chiefly by the exports. Tasmaniahas but £9 6s. sd. perheadto export, and she gets back £ll Bs. Victoria sends out £IS ss. 6d, and receives in return £l9 19s. 2d. per head. N. S. Wales parts with £2l 7s. 3d. per head of exports, and imports in return £2l 2s. sd. There seems here a natural proportion between the outgoings and the incomings of each colony—a proportion which we may safely conclude would be pretty well preserved even if the exports of Victoria were doubled. In the latter case not even Mr. Michie would be satisfied if the imports did not increase in a somewhat similar ratio ; unless, indeed, he is a believer in the old bugbear called “ Balance of Trade,” and thinks that the surest indication of a country’s prosperity is that its exports exceed its imports. Mr. Michie thinks fit to taunt Sir Henry Parkes, of New South Wales, with having advocated protection in 1860. This was eighteen years ago, and the very year of Mr. Michie’s lecturebeforereferred to. Time, which should make all men wiser, has enabled Sir Henry to grasp the truth which Mr. Michie then insisted on ; while Mr. Michie turns his back upon the light, and reverts to the economic system of the dark ages—to. the system which he himself so forcibly and skilfully exposed, and belief in which Mr. Grant Duff recently described as having become, in England, “ the creed only of incapables.” Truly, when one recalls the clear view and vigorous description of the truths of free trade which Mr. Michie exhibited in 1860 ; when one considers that it is quite impossible for any man to divest himself of knowledge once obtained, one is enabled to appreciate to the full Mr. Michie’s declaration : “It is certain that free trade has no more dangerous or formidable enemies than are to be found much too plentifully among Free Traders !” Edward Langton, Member of the Executive Council of Victoria, Honorary Member of the Cobden Club.

Year. Total Number of Number of hands Establishments. employed. 1867 982 11,330 1872 1,740 19,468 1877 2,302 31,478

Factories. Victoria. New South Wales. Agricultural Implemerits 4G 4S Boot3 G7 S< Clothing 53 53 Coach and waggon .. 11G 144 Jam s 4 Soap and candle 42 32 Feather.. 00 11S Woollen cloth.. s 8

Year. Victoria. N.S. Wales. & ft. d. £ s. d. 1872 17 13 10 17 9 3 1873 21 3 9 21 9 10 1874 21 4 7 21 11 0 1S75 20 9 0 22 19 2 1876 13 IS 1 22 2 4 Ayerage £19 19 2 £21 2 6