FREETRADE FOLLY.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 12991, 4 June 1904, Page 14

FREETRADE FOLLY.

TO THE EDITOR.

Sib,—l sco from your columns that the groat apostle.of tlio single tax, Mr O'Regnn, and another correspondent have been vilifying Mr: Chamberlain. Wo!], it is.consoling to know that most men rognnl Mr Joseph Chamberlain as one ol tlio beet of statemen, and that he is eincerely working for tlio good of ike Empire. As for Mr O'Regan- and his single-tax fad, .the scienco of the world has refused to apply or try it. What would it do for us if wo woro to remove all other taxes except that on land? Our industries would almost bo destroyed., Tako that most important ono (the boot trade. Notwithstanding a 23 per .cent, tariff, America is capturing it to such an extent that ■' hundreds' of men who h'av'o served their tamo at tho trade hayo given it—or ratlior it has given them—up. Then there is'the woollen industry. Loss than one-half of-tho cloth wo-wear is.manufactured in tho seven or eight mills in New Zealand; and .this with -a 20 per. cont. duty. If t'he duty was removed, how would tho' mill-owners and their workpeople got their lidiig? "Mr O'Regan will say, "L«t them go 'on 'the land." Why not tiko' this, advice himself, and the .others; who believe in his Utopian fad? No;'it-is oasiw for such politicians to say than to do. There is another unanswerable objection to tho abolition of tlio Customs House: the certain and fearful consequences of frootrade in whisky, beer. etc. History gives tho proof of this assertion. Some, time after tho introduction of spirits into tlio United Kingdom the people drank to such ail extent as to become a plague of the most terrible nature. There was no duty on the vilo stuff.; consequently, it was so cheap that on tho signboards of some tivorns were tho words, "Drunk for a penny, dead drunk for twopence, with clean straw in the collar." Would Mr O'ifegan like a return of those times? No.' Woll, let ltim'give up vilifying" Protection, . for it was'that saved our nation from being poisoned. Protection' is .a. -virtue if .it- is wisely, administered, «o as to becomo effective for the purposes for whioh it 13 intended—namely, tho employment of our own people at a living wage. A Freetrado nation • is—if I

may bo pardoned for using Scripture— "worse limn infidel," for it does notprovidc for its own people. Is it not galling, to a colonial, or even a British, nianufac-' , hirer to se-o his own market, taken from him and captured by foreigners? Some time ago (hero was a. great JJ'reatnu'.e -meeting in Liverpool. Lord Gosch'en had spoken, and carried the nieHiing- on...the glorious policy of Frcotrade .■ Question's being allowed, jl working mail made- his'way up to the-platform,' and ■■■Held above his head a canc-bottpmed chair. All' eyes were turned upon him. Aildrwsiujr- the chairman, ho said: "Sir,' you isoo. this chair? For tho last 15 years'l Have made a living for myself and family. Three months ago my employer told .ms he was sorry he had to discharge-, me, but the fact was that ho could , import each chair for 3d less than ho could make them for, and- as that was a good part of his profit he had to compete in a keen market; eo I have lost my living." After he liad thus, spoken there M-a-s sticli an oiitlmr.it of approval timt tlio Froetrado advocates felt small, as it became thorn. : It is a fact easy of proof that the Froetrade folly of British statesmen lias built up German and American, industries at the. expense- of their own'. In,discussing this question several times in the press and on Hie platform'l have given one example to show the soundness of Protection and the folly of Freotradei Say wo send Home a shipload of wool, valued at £100,000. ' It is made into cloth, shipped back to us at the reasonable price of £300,000, or, allowing for duty, £250,000. Now, where- does the £150,000 go but into the pockets of the hnglish manufacturers and their employees? At, α-nyratojt goes out of r.ur pockets.. Would it not ho wisdomj as tho Americans and the Germans do, to put on a.50 per cent, tariff, so that instead of importing the work we would; import -'..the workers, who would help us to-carry tho crushing burden of our national tlobt. which lias beon partly piled up by Frcotrail-o folly? ' Not wishing to occupy too .much of your space, I shall nn-tsh by voicing tho conviction. of most o£ our people that it is-utterly impossible for the land to pay all taxation.-I am, etc., J. Neii.