THE TARIFF COMMISSION AND WHAT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 10306, 13 March 1895, Page 3

THE TARIFF COMMISSION AND WHAT

TO BB TAXED. to Tire Eiiixon, Sik, —Tho Tariff Commission is sitting for the second time in Dunedin, and the problem to be decided is, What additional taxation can bo imposed which will have the effect of bringing prosperity to the colony ? That prosperity comes by taxation in a political dogma not at the present time to be questioned—it is proven by the fact that no country was ever prosperous where taxation did not exist. You, Sir, will of course see that the logic which supports tho dog ma is at leßst as good as that used by ludividualisto when they affirm that all government means a limitation ot persoual liberty, therefore the less Government the better. But it ie sometimes said wo do not wish to increase our revenue, we only wish to protect our industries. The question then, is, What industries is it most necessary to guard againßt outside competition ? At tho present time it is unquestionably true that as a colony we aro sick even unto death. We want medioine badly, and fortunately we can grow the very stuff we require in our own fertile valleys. Why should we allow the deleterious infusions of foreign hsrba to enter our ports and compete in our markets with colonial-made dandelion pills ? I say no colony can be expected to prosper which shows itself indifferent to she health and lives of the people and which turns with contempt from the wealth which a bounteous Providence has planted in such abundance at thair doors. The public health lies at tho basis of all prosperity, and tho public health demands do less than our financial necessities that we should look to the dandelion for aid in these times of paralysing depression. We are a selfreliant people—at least so the Premier says— and I hold it is our duty to develop the natural resources of the colony in order to cope with disoitso, physical or political—some forms of mental aberration may be allowed to exist for the sake of variety, especially when they aro of a harmless kind. This world ig dull enough, ■goodness knows, and we want all the fun we can get. I said tha public health formed the basis of all prosperity. This is true, but it is true only in a sense; in another and very fundamental sense all prosperity reßts on boots. Professor Huxley defined » civilised man as a man that wore boots, and certaiuly whea boots disappear the last stage of wrutchsclness has been reached and man is ou the down grade towards animal existence. Let us by all means look to our feet and endeavour in every possible way to protect the colony from dire dinaster ! How is this to be done ? I say by putting a hsavy protective duty on slippers ! Excuse me, Sir, if I have no time for logical quibbles. I wish to bo practicable. I cannot stand on triflc3; I can on slippers. They may not be exactly the staff of life, but they are in a very real sense my sole support, and, next to taxing daudelion pills, the only way to bring plenty to our houses—the only way we can surmount our difficulties and put our poverty under our feet —is to tax slippers and all shoes of little value which are made beyond the colony. If we do thin we will give employment to our colonists. We shall have a batter article, and will, therefore, »3 a colony, be on a more assured footing than over before.

It is little use of you making vulgar interjections about the whole argument being slippery and that the shoe is bound to pinch m some other quarter. That is an old argument, and is nob now heeded. The new way to deal with a shoe of that description is to inorease the tax on it, and that is jujt what wa are doing at the present time.

But if it is desirable to foster industries which provide the necessaries of life, surely it is no less so to encourage those which minister to our love of the beautiful. As a people we shall never rise to eminence if the aesthetic sense lies uncultivated. It is quite right that we should look first for the necessaries of life, but a continuous gaze on the utilities cramps the sympathies, hardens the heart, and ultimately brutalises the nature. Refinement in tasto ia absolutely necessary to higher life. It is difficult for us to estimate how suoh a striug of sharks' teeth around the neck of a savage helped him in hi 3 upward course; and if a string of sharks' teeth helped him, how much help would we receive from a string of greonstono ornaments ? In these monometallic times we cannot afford gold, but who shall say what a power for progress reposes in the greenstone axe of Te Kooti's grandfather wben operated on by tho artistic lapidary! And what v wealth of raw material in greenstone we have! Our course is clear. We should not allow a greenstone ornament to corns into tho colony or anything to which greenstone is affixed.

We, it is true, may run some risk of having ill-natured remarks thrown at üb. We may be told, with a. nasty emphasis on the word "green," that ornaments of that colour are exceedingly appropriate for us, that thsra is a slight tinge of it in our eye, or we may be told that no greenstone can add to the verdure with which Nature has already endowed ns.

I trust, however, jeacs of this sort will not deter us from putting a tax on greenstone ornaments sufficiently powerful to keep out the foreign and foster the native article. Anyone who affirms we have a greenish hue utters a vile slander and couviefca himself of being colour-blind. A man of good judgment and clear eyesight would perhaps say of us at the present moment that we looked a little blue. Of late wa have been very careful about right colour, and I feel very certain, whether it is blue or not, ours is a good, etanding colour, and will yet shed a glory over the land. All that is wanted to haaten that happy time is to tax dandelion pilla, chsap shoes, and greenstone ornaments. As the Frenoh say, Vive la bagatelle —l am, &c,

March 6.

Patriot.