FREETRADE v. PROTECTION.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13209, 16 February 1905, Page 10

FREETRADE v. PROTECTION.

TO TIIE EDITOR.

Sin,—ln- the race for supremacy amongst tho different nations of tho globe it has always been understood, and that any country having a desire to bo great and prosperous must cultivate and encourage her • manufactures first and foremost for her own people, and secondly'to become an exporter to other countries. Such has been the history of England. Sho had tho wisdom in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to develop and encourage her manufactures by putting a duty on all foreign-made goods imported; consequently she has become, and is now, the .greatest manufacturing centre in the world ; and now we find that tho United States, Germany, France, and other countries are diligently following her example by putting duties on other countries' produce, and to what extent tliey are succeeding we have indisputable statistical proofs: in fact, it is generally supposed that these mentioned countries will soon eclipse the real mother - of nations. Australia and New Zealand have seen it wire to follow in the footsteps of Ureal Britain • by encouraging their manufactures through thoir Customhouses. and oven by subjecting English-made N goods to an import duty, so as to oncourago their ov/n industries. What a pity, therefore, that the younger branches of the pioneers of New Zealand, above all others, should seek to oppose that policy. I observe by the Otago Daily Times of Thursday, February 9. that Mr Percy Harris, member of a New Zealand firm, is offering himself as a candidate a3 member of Parliament for an English town, unfortunately as a Freetrader.'. He thinks that Mr Chamberlain's schemes would Ire injurious to both England and tho colonies. Mr Harris would have us believe that sentiment- holds the colonies'arid England together. T : 'c colonial, he says, does not want the English poor to suffer oh his account, and he would only accept preference if he were sure that tho people of En-eland would welcome it. "Once weaken the bond of sentiment and affection by which tho Empire is held together, and you will find that the common interest, which is the salt of patriotism, will be lost in the clash of self-interest,; and .the disintegration of the Empiro will bo tho rosult." If this is corrcet. according to\Mr Harris's views, compare it with the previous paragraph, which X quote in full:—"Do you suppose that the British farmer draws a fino distinction between Canadian or American corn, or between New ,Zealand' and Argentine mutton?" Wliero is tho patriotic sentiment of the Britisher as sltown in this sentence? If the colonies are supposed, to havo patriotic sentiment, the .' British farmer has none! Considering Mr Harris's views, I am afraid the British farmer will not care to have Mr Harris aa : an exponent of their views,—l nan, etc., ( Dunedin," February 10. Junius. 'j