THE FEDERATION QUESTION.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXX, Issue 3825, 22 August 1899, Page 3

THE FEDERATION QUESTION.

"MORE OPINIONS FROM MEMBERS

• Below wo. .give tho ,opinions of Sony more of the' members' of olie House on llm question of federation from tin; New Zealand point of view. Mr Millar (Dunedin City) said he was strongly opposed to New Zealand joining the Commonwealth, and failed to set; what benefit would accrue to the colony from such a course. If .New Zealand were to federate, she. w old, he thought, occupy a similar position in regard to Australia as Ireland now does to England. He believed a, reciprocal tariff could he arranged, and he had no • great fear that the federated States would tax our products to such an extent as to close their markets against us. Further, our manufactures would suffer very considerably, ,and any advantages that would be gained would be- completely nullified by the disadvantages under which we would labour. His idea was that in time to come New Zealand would occupy the same position in "regard to 'Australia as Great Britain docs to the

Continent of Europe. This will be the great producing colony, as far as cereals are concerned, and the Australian colonies would he the manufacturers. He did nob see any necessity for inquiry being made. Mr Dntliie (Wellington City) 1 ad not given the matter sufficient consider# ■ lon, and was therefore not in a position to express an opinion. Mr Hunter (Waipawa) thought the matter should he fully discussed, and not dealt with hurriedly. A Parliamentary committee should be set up to make inquiries and ascertain first of all the tonus on which New Zealand would lie admitted to the federation. Beyond that they should not go this session; hit that would bring the matter prominently before the country, and no doubt at the general election it would become a .natter of considerable importance. By that means the representatives would he able lo discover the mind of the people on the subject. If the House was given an opportunity for full discussion of the matter this session the time would be well spent. Major Steward (Waitaki) said until the last recess it. had never come home to the minds of public men that federation was going to he immediately, nr almost immediately, an accomplished lad. and the consequence was that neither eh the part of the House nor the public had the attention, boon given to the subject that was necessary to enable them to come to a sound decision on so wide a question. While his mipd was open to weigh ihe evidence on both sides, he could not s-ay lie had decided to advocate federation—rather the other way. Take the analogy of history. He did not think : her? could hi l found any example of one country being successfully governed by an idler which was separated by a wide space of water. Our insularity, said Mejor Steward, makes for our imlepeinle ice. Again, in New Zealand we are developing a different typo to what is being de e'oiled on the Continent, and there is growing up already a nationality of New Zealand; hut if our identity is lost and we are merged in the great nation dity of Australasia, he was afraid it would militate against that. Supposing a piaelieally freet.rade tariff was set iip,_-mr duties would lie reduced by about t'/’iO.(Kid a year, and the onestion then would have to lie faced of how that deficiency was to he made up. In a Federal Parliament. too, the interests of New Zealand would ho the interests of a minority. He thought New Zealand made a mistake in not taking part in the conferences on the subject; and as to setting ip a Parliamentary committee to inquire into the matter, the time of the leading uv ihers was already tool fully tak in up to all.ow of that being done this session. He thought the question was one for the leading statesmen of the country to go

into during the recess, and the matter should also he gone into liy candidates and by the press of the colony.

Mr Rawlins (Tnapeka) was a yic-it believer in federation, and had been watching the matter very closely. Ho was, lie said, for eighteen years in the various Australian colonies, and lie know the enormous advantages that would he derived Dy them from taking such a step. As to our distance from Australia, i.c pointed out that wo are not so far away as Western Australia is from New Suith Wales. Federation .would resmt in i niformity of legislation for all tho c.lonics, and there would he a free inn rcliange of products, which would he i f great advantage to New Zealand. A Parliamentary committee should he -et up to inquire into the matter this session; and the question should ho p't before the people for their opinim, so that the House could come to a decision on it during next Parliament. Any tost which federation entailed on New Zealand would he fully justified hv the benefits which would ho derived by 11 is colony through file expansion of trade, consequent on the free interchange of commodilics between a large poiini.i.mn occupying a semi-tropical country, and a rich agricultural country with a tempo’’ate climate.

Mr Field (Otaki) remarked tha; an Australian Commonwealth commercially opposed to New Zealand would very seriously retard our expansion and deprive uS of much of the trade we now enjoy. On the other hand. Now .Zealand as a member of the CommonweaFh, with all interprovincinl tariffs removed, and enjoying all the-greater' adv-mieges in the markets of tho world tint Lie federation could command, should in (he near future he able to dispose of almost all the products that our climate ; ml soi 1 enable us to supply at the highest ruling value, without "fear of over-prodm-imii or over-stocked markets. The fiscal aspect of , the question ho left .experts to deal with, and expresses no opinion upon it. except, to say that ho thought the increased facilities, better ma fleets and greater volume of export conmqiu ut upon the removal by federation-of trade restrictions, would enable us to piovide by other means for tho Customs revenue which we -should lose. Ho did not think we need fear the transfer of portion of our government to the federal capital in Australia. Wc should send our rcpiesentatives there to legislate in tee common good with others whose interests would be nearly identical with our own, so far as the outside world is eoncsviu-d, and they would probably guard our privileges as jealously as we should ourselves. As to a reciprocal tariff in place of federation, Mr Field’s impression vss that a Commonwealth whose hit-vests would be to some' extent, so far as a portion of their dominions was concerned, antagonistic to New Zealand, could no'- he expected to give ■ neh good terms as if we joined the Commonwealth. He thought we should carefully watch tho march of events, and only join the federation after the most .mature nnsiderafiou has convinced us of tha wisdom of doing so. On tho other hand, if we delay too long, fear of competition from us oiv thd part/ktf Victoria (.whose climatic conditions most nearly resemble our own) might possibly arouse some opposition to our accession to tho Crmunniwealth on tho host’terms.

Mr Moore (Kaiapoi) said this was a matter to which- he,chad given some consideration, and latnfche beginning of the session lie gave notice of a motion to have a committee set up to inquire into the matter. That motion, however, had not yet come before the House. We bad to recognise, he remarked, that federation was an accomplished fact on the other side, and if New Zealand stood out, he fully believed wo should have greater difficulty in making satisfactory arrangements. While, personally, ho should prefer free trade, he tween the colonies without federation, the tradewith Australia was of so much importance that he was almost in favour of New Zealand joining the other colonies rather than be left out in the cold. After the matter had been thoroughly gone into by a committee, he thought it should he submitted to the people, and a vote taken.. His opinion was that if pnee the tariff was arranged by the federated colonies, New Zealand wouldf'have difficulty in coming into the federation or of getting any system of reciprocity that would bo favourable. The. peoiile who would suffer from a hostile tariff would be the small producers, and'as: the New Zealand Parliament is now-legislating for that class, it would seem- hard to put them on the land, and then, deprivtj them of their markets. For years, Mr Moore went on to say, I have,been engaged in trade with Australia, and I know something about iWand my opinion is we ought to use every effort to bring about a good feeling between New Zealand and Australia, so as to keep an open door for our produce.