FARMERS AND TARIFFS.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4492, 21 October 1901, Page 4

FARMERS AND TARIFFS.

Although it has been asserted that tie federal tariff will have tho effect of contracting the produce trade between this country and tho Commonwealth, our farmers are regarding- any change with the utmost equanimity. Indeed, it . would appear as if the producers of this country look upon the imposts of the Commonwealth with philosophical indifference. Reading between the' lines, they see clearly that the impossitiou of duties, which practically prevent their produce entering Australian ports, is a great compliment to tho farmers of New Zealand, inasmuch aa .it demonstrates the inability of the Australian farmer to compete with the producer of this country were tho Austra. lian markets as open as that of London. Again, the New Zealand farmer knows that the value of his produce is practi. cally fixed for him by a lav/ of supply and demand, together with the extent of competition in tho world’s market. No matier how great the- local • consumption, the value of his surplus produce is what it will bring at Home. He also knows that only onco in ten years or so will he find it more profitable to send produce to Australia than to London, and that occasion only occurs when the farmers oif the Commonwealth have experienced the destructive effects of drought. Our producers have also discovered that. Australia as a market is not to be depended upon, and that it would be well to establish markets further afield, and by tho superior quality of -the produce exported obtain the best prices available. Tho people in Austra,. lia will only take our farm produce when they have not sufficient supplies of their Wn, and, tariff or no tariff, the price obtainable in all Commonwealth ports will then bo suoh as will warrant our produce being shipped to Australia. Strange as it may appear, many farmers in Australia, even in New South Wales, urged upon the federal Government the adaption of a protectionist tariff. At a recent meeting of farmers at Tamworth, New South Wales, resolutions ' were carried to the following of. feet: (1) That all revenue required by Iho Commonwealth bo raised through Customs duties; (2) that heavy duties bo imposed,, on New Zealand products until that country federates with Aua. tralia; and (3) that the sugar industry bo protected sufficiently to enable it to be carried on by white labour. It seems to us that the idea of forcing New Zealand into the Commonwealth by imposing prohibitive duties upon her produce is as absurd as it is fallacious from the Australian farmer’s point of view. Were-New Zealand to join the Commonwealth to-morrow, the federal tariff, in so far as it would be a protection to the Australian farmer against competition from this country, would be annulled; and our farmers are not likely to display a keen desire to enter a federation that has imposed a tariff calculated to take more out of their pockets than the tariff under which they now live. If tho federal tariff were designed with a view to compelling Now Zealand to join, it has lamentably failed in its object; and it must sooner or later come home to Australian fanners that the proposed tariff will increase to them the cost of living, raise the ti. pengos of production, and render them less able to compete with tho producer of this country in the open markets of tho world, where the surplus stoota of bath countries must meet in competition, as they now do. Will it enable the Victorian farmer, for instance, to obtain as high a profit on his btittir, when it has to be exported in

made of New Zealand wood that been raised in value by 20 per cent.,’ ttfl amount of the duty? Again, with .v duty, of 15 per cent, on separators, will tho Victorian butter-maker bo able to compete advantageously against tho Now Zealand producer, whoso dairying machinery is all admitted free?- And, uu.. der such and similar conditions in other respects, is it likely that the Now Zea, land farmer will offer himself to bo taxed by tho federal Government? It is not reasonable to expect that the producers of Australia will as a whole submit to being taxed in the way tho federal tariff proposes. On all agricultural machinery, which is free in New Zealand, the Australian farmer will have to pay a tax of 15 per cent. Dairying machinery and implements are similarly affected. Reapers and binders, and even binding twine, are taxed. Every article used in the building of tho farmer’s house, from it s corrugated iron roof to its flooring boards, is rendered dearer by the Customs duties imposed; and while tho farmer in New Zealand will burn kerosene free of duty, his Australian neighbour must pay threepence per .gallon duty. All this must militate against the farmers of the Commonwealth being able to compote success,, fully in the world’s market with those in this country. At the same time, tho facilities our producers now enjoy might bo enlarged so as to enable them oven to compete at their own doors with tho Australian farmers. In endeavouring to protect their farmers against the New Zealand producers, Australian Ministers have heaped upon them many disabilities. They have protected them -with one hand and taxed them with the ether; and tho taxation will so increase the cost of production that the com* paratively free producer in Next Zealand will be able still to send Australia of his produce at a price payable to himself. The federal tariff will raise ro. venue, but it will create many unreal and vexatious conditions. The impost, tion of duties upon articles naoesgary to primary production must seriously hamper all rural industries, and under such circumstances the Commonwealth offers no inducement to our producers to sue for an entrance to the federation. If our trade with Australia should bo in any way contracted, our producers will be placed in a better position to compete with the exports from the Commonwealth in the world’s markets. At all events, our producers’ profits aro likely to bo greater, since thoir taxation will be considerably less; and there is therefore no need to protect our farmers against the proposed federal tariff. •