THE New Zealand Times. (PUBLISHED DAILY.) MONDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1896. THE RECIPROCITY CONFERENCE.

New Zealand Times, Volume LVIX, Issue 3008, 21 December 1896, Page 2

THE New Zealand Times. (PUBLISHED DAILY.)

MONDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1896. THE RECIPROCITY CONFERENCE.

With which are incorporated the Wellington indevendcnt, established 1845, and the Hew Zealander,

" Can any good thing come out of Nazareth ?” The Seddon Government is the Nazareth of the Opposition, and, therefore, no good thing can proceed from it. It matters nothing how wise the proposal, how excellent tho scheme; let it but emanate from the Liberal Government, and the Opposition press immediately proceeds to curse it with the most dreadful of curses. To those who understand and appraise this sort of criticism at its proper value the carping and querulousuess of the Oppositionists ate rather amusing than otherwise ; but the trouble is that many accept as gospel these misleading and oftlimes malicious utterances, and outside our own borders the unpatriotic conduct of a section of our colonists is accepted as representative of New Zealand public opinion. Thus a great deal of harm is done, not so much to the Government as to the Colony, and it seems vain to appeal to these bitter, unreasoning and vicious opponents. We can but leave it to time to justify the Government and bring confusion to the Colony’s detractors. In the end the truth will out, and when the completed stbhy'coraes to be written it will reflect badly upon the men who ought, before all other things, to feel it a duty, nay, a privilege, to safeguard the interests of the Colony to whose bounty they all owe so much. Let us take as an example_ of the so-called criticism of the Premier’s actions the article published on Saturday by our evening contemporary. It commences with a snarl at the Premier, adds a sneer

at the Hon J. G. Ward, and proceeds on topsy-turvy and crazy lines in an endeavour to prove that Federation must precede Reciprocity. It is enough for our contemporary that Mr Seddon is the promoter of tho Reciprocity Conference. For that reason alono it must be condemned. But in the condemning it the Premier’s critic has displayed crass ignorance of the principles which guide men and nations in their dealings one with the other. If there is one thing more than another which stops the way to a Federal Australia it is the Customhouse. If there is one anxiety greater than another to the statesmen of England, it is the “ war of tariffs ’’ between, the colonies and dependencies of the Empire. The Eight Hon Joseph Chamberlain, than whom no more earnest Imperial Fedorationist lives, has himself moved in the direction of the extension of the reciprocal spirit, and at th's moment there is no question the Secretary of State for the Colonies has nearer his heart than tho building up of Imperial Reciprocity. For that way solid union lies. It is this same statesmanlike view of tho question which Mr Seddon takes with regard to the Australasian colonies. "Do you want Federation ?” ho asks ; “ then let us to the work of Reciprocity.” Once remove the barriers which Governments have erected to block each others’ trade, and the first and greatest step has been taken in the direction of an United Australasia. For the Post to declare that Federation must come first is the height of absurdity, or worse; to speak of Reciprocity as “ a side issue ” proves as nothing else could the unfitness of the Government’s opponents to consider any question great or small in which the Government itself is concerned. Before many months are over New South Wales is to learn a useful, if expensive, lesson on the folly of taxing breadstuffs, and there is not a day passes that tho tariff war between the provinces of the Continent does not afford examples sufficient to furnish a Reciprocal Conference with a sheaf of texts. Naturally Mr Seddon would, prefer that the Premiers of the other colonies should come to New Zealand to discuss this great question; but it matters nothing where the meeting takes place, so that it makes in the direction of reciprocal tariffs for Australasia. Once let the basis of an agreement bo settled and the rest will be comparatively easy. . Tho Australian Premiers realise this fact. They are well enough aware that so long as there exist rows of Customhouses on their borders so long will there continue an antagonism that is distressful, not to say suicidal. Remove the cause of the reprisals of one colony against another, and the bond of unity will soon be complete. It will then be a union of interests—and to men of the world that bond is recognised •• as greater than the bond which is often gushingly referred to as the union of hearts. Sentiment is a good thing when it is a healthy sentiment; it ofttimes controls our goings and comings j but selfinterest is, after all, that which dominates countries in their dealings with each other. The Premier of New Zealand de. sires to lead the way to mutual help and > mutual advancement; to an alliance that can have finality only in a Federation which will place Australasia in the van of that movement that is destined to result in the linking together of the Empire whose possessions reach round the globe.