PROTECTION.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 2029, 25 July 1868, Page 5

PROTECTION.

This is one of the things that •ordinaiyEnglishmen have made up' their minds about, and they want no further evidences They are content to believe that protectionist countries are simply ignorant of what is good for themselves, aad that time and the example of England will, ia the end, wean them from their errors. Lt England entitled to take this- dogmatic position 1 Democratic America is protectionist on principle, and she is decidedly not less populous^ educated,, orj nourishing, than England. Why should. ; a young colony, seeking a policy,, value example more than American? Under any circumstances, there are as many Anglo-Saxons opposed to free trade ; as-there are of the opposite opinion; therefore the question is not altogether settled. in all the Australian Colonies there are strong advocates for such a system of tarifis.as shall practically excludeforeiim manufactures and productions. In NeW South Wales the war-cry of parties isproteotura and fsree-trade. It was the same •m Victoria, for year's,, and has ended in. that Colony m favor of protection. What isi it that leads- these young demoeraciesso. unswervingly towards protection? Ifc ls-notignorance of the theoretic views.of political economists,, for the' Colonial papers of opposite sides produce, comment upon, and make plain for the mass, everything on. the subject pro- ' curable from living and dead writers. It ia : not want ©f practical experience, .for the majority of voters in Victoria are emirgrants from England, and form a class ■■tkat has persistently opposed .protection. vi the mother country. The projectionist& of Australia are mainly mechanics ; and tradesmen; they ask that, all things, possible to be made by them shall be admitted into the colony only oh payment of? heavy prohibitory duties. Victoria has yielded to these demands, „ and New South Wales and the other colonies? may do the same sooner thaa they at present think These mechanics,- are but a* minority, and yet they are backed up by laborers, diggers, and men ,of miscellaneous employment, whose interests are in cheap clothes, tools, and other imports* In the manufacture of most articles, these mechanics would simply be mad to waste money and time in attempts Xp competein price with European goods. On account of the high rate of wages, certain, articles wpuld never be produced in the Colonies, were their manufacture not fostered by protection or bonuses. Hence the mechanics, in urging protection, doin effect ask to be permitted to earn breast in the manner, formerly customary tot them in England, and the general public: is asked to pay an extra price for Colonial, workmanship, in order that those skilledlaborers may do sach work as they have been trained to. The poiijtacal economise would at this point decide- that the mechanics, being bat a minority, must turn their cunning into other channels or goto; the wall, and that the mass of people would best consult their own and the national interests, by taking* full advantageof the poverty of the mechanics of Europe, and so buying manufactures at the cheapest rate. Just where .tb& correct course seems so clear, the grea&bulk of laborers refuse to take it. They,,,ha,ve first a strong instinct that every nation ought, in caseof need, to , "be self-supporting; ought not in years of danger, calamity, ok panic, to be :short qf/Joootsj gunpowder,, blankets, nails, an&^sach things, . hecause no ,one has .beeis taught or encouraged to make tjienx A people, bypursuing the orthodox: way to wealth* may, like the Confederate States, become surprisingly rich } 4 _. but a blockading squadron may make^ibem pay dearly, in. the end, the penalty, fessr neglecting the social arts and manufactures. 'Whetherantagonistic. 0r..,- not to enlightened politics, the Colonists, will submit to collateral grievances,, sudi as extra duties, if they can. thereby make themselves independent of:-, for.eag.Et aid. Scarcely go. any other- subject, than- on. that; o£ a new; manufactory- starting, can'the press of the^...Colonies be found sowaad.— ing forth in .uaioa praises and, eon— gratulations v The; man who makes the first Colonial shaet of paper, yard of cloth, ploughshare,, or bucket, pleasantly excites th§,prid.e; of Ms fellow Colonisfe, and gives them, hoi>e of a great -future. There .is,..secondly > this fact to bo* notedProlsablyVhajlfth© l&bpfers in ,Victeriat have som^ .frjend or relation Greafe Britain,, who,is. a shoem«oker, carpenter, weaker,,, shipwright, or artisan> of som& sort., The.-position of these Eaendn England. Is. .sp.tf eruviable ; no esertious oir ability can^enable many of them; to. counts plenty in old .age. Their 1 reiatipn^-iji, Ai&erica and Australia kno.^ pi thi&toAweJl; an<i many a^youngman,. grimy, with the dirt of -the.: diggings* Griteßcßng/sljeep in the u-ngihabited and. lonely; runs, of the squatters,, thinks more Of hoji&he oan get his kiao^it of* England, and., secoire them a coujpeteney ia. Ausfcja]ia, than he does, of ; what he himbejf" shall eat or weaa?. r N.one know so* well aft these Australian,Jabpj-e?s how ujxfit ; are artizans for 3sa.aii.ual: la or on or; lindigr-the soil, and a^e. therefore better^ ]i,p.ow the folly of rgcpjnmencling emigrato men in England, who have but ! tjbej£ one trick of We,''_ and- iibat trick not, practised in Australi^.. If, say these laborers, our relations. and friends are de-

tsrred from emigration, because we offer; no work suitable..to. tlista, let us create, employment artificially, and so get them; those, who preach, in England on politics ha^.neye,r, been in our po~ sition, haye,./n.Qt- laad lying waste foe want of zcgn i: .tQ take and own it, fruit going to. m.anure.■ tor want of hands, to pluck it^iueat goiag to tallow works foir want of ; iiungry p.eople to devour it. Sos long as .we cari ; £eed and clothe all who-

coma to uSi -rce need only increase the--number of coaisumers and "workers, but w^.decreas(j: thereby the rate of taxatioa per. head 1 for the same establishments tha,t we .n.ow maintain, for half, a mitiioit .peoplej." Tvo,uld be fitted, without additional" expense,. to rule six times thafr ■nuinb.^Pv. What; we lose by paying extra^ duties, at present } .would be'boimtifiiliy repaid tb-ius. in a few; yeaF&. The samo a^gmneatsijhaye-.led. the people of Victoxta .to Qbnseafctoa srelid tax. The tax on andl oih^r" agricultural produce is toleratecl by two di2erent classes. Those, iii: iavor of- protection to manufactures vOife for- the food tax; insecure the agricultural vot^e. for protection, in general. Others yote for it wilier thebelief that 3^o r way ,cai;^i aW'|bg xoaa. or a small. c)vpitalk| ixjs^e; Usm. pa^

during the first two or three years of occupancy. Chili, California, and South Australia cause the wheat markets to fluctuate so suddenly, and generally keep prices so low, that unless a man has some foreign source of income during the two or three years in which he is breaking up his land and making it fit for culture, the probability is that he will be starved out and have to leave his land and take to working for wages. The Government has lately broken up large runs into small allotments, and offered them on easy terms to any who will actually occupy and cultivate . them. To stimulate these small pioneers of agriculture, the country has by its' tariff put itself in the position of consenting to eat their produce' in preference to-that of neighboring colonies or foreign countries. It is hoped that a few years of protection, "while the land is being cleared and brought into working order, will do much towards making Victoria an agricultural country and less a mere grazing Colony for sheep and cattle. A few facts of this nature should be borne, in mind by English freetraders, or they may utterly lead themselves astray in trying to account for Australian protectionist tendencies. The people want population above . all things, and they believe that protec- . tion will keep in the Colony those that are there, and bring from Europe those who under any other system would be unwise to leave their homes. There is not a production of Southern Europe that cannot be produced luxuriantly in Victoria ; yet the silk growers and oil producers of Italy, the "wine makers of Portugal, Spain, and others who understand the peculiarities of tobacco, sugar, raisins, currants, figs, oranges, and such like productions of warm . countries, would be very unlikely to get employment in Victoria in their own particular line of life. The populalation is too thin to make any speculation profitable that, like silk or wines, requires a swarm of cheap laborers like the hop-picking in England, just at a critical period of the year. Many of the resources of Victoria are. hence lying undeveloped, waiting for population. Victoria, by keeping out foreign competition, gives the English artisan, the French and Italian silk grower, the German and : Portuguese vintagers, and all other manufacturers and skilled workmen a chance, of making a fair start in a new land. Nothing said by English statesmen, papers, or magazines, will affect the course of the colonists. From experience they have grown to adopt the pardonable creed that England knows much too little of Australia to make its advice worth asking or receiving. The Australians will work out their schemes to their practical results, and act upon their own deductions, and upon nothing else. Sudden changes of law have no terrors for them. If they once clearly see that protection is a mistake, the whole system will be abolished as rapidly as it was adopted. In the meantime let •?•■■■'• it be.understood that free trade and protection are not on the same footing in Australia, as in England. . England, with all- its machinery erected, and its business in, working order, thinks only of how she can make the most out of the present, how she can reap the largest commercial harvests. Vie- ' toria knows what she loses by protection, and deliberately accepts the loss, that she.may in her youth lay the of certain industries, which she believes ; could not be laid without this ■ temporary : sacrifice." We have quoted, so largely that we have no space left for the eulo- "' ■; glum on our loyalty with which the article concludes; but two short sentences will suffice to show the spirit of it:—" The Colonies are quite contented with, their' present relation with. England. While they are virtually republics, and -left to rule themselves, xliey are likely; to retain' " their attachment to England, and to be , proud of the prestige of being portions of . a great empire." " . • . - .