The Temuka Leader. THURSDAY, MARCH 18, 1886. OUR POSITION.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1481, 18 March 1886, Page 2

The Temuka Leader. THURSDAY, MARCH 18, 1886. OUR POSITION.

In our last issue we published another letter from the able pen of Mr W. L. Duncan, in which ho again gushes on the beauties of Freetrade. It would be very easy to make a good deal of fun put of several of th« assertions made by Mr Duncan, but we are not in a lunny humor. We are too much in earnest to do the small wit business when discussing subjects of such vital importance to the colony as are involved in the letter under review. Mr Duncan says we could .not have read his last letter very cnrofully, for in that letter he suggested a better scheme for developing our industrial resources than Protection, viz., " Selfdenial, Self-reliance, and Co-opn'ation." Mr Duncan's scheme has the advantage of not being encumbered with many details. It is hard indeed to pick boles in it, but it is harder still to understand what be means by the three magic words in which he has developed his scheme. We shall take them in the order in which he has put them. " Selfdenial," if it means anything, signifies that we ought to deny ourselves some of of the luxuries in which we at present indulge. That would certainly improve matters, but the question here arises, What are we to deny ourselves, and who is going to make a beginning ? Ist—lf we were all to swear off drinking alcoholic liquors it would keep a good de»l of the money,, we send out of the colony to purchase such articles in it, and we would be better off. 2nd—lf we took to wearing home-made flannel shirts and boycotted imported articles, a large sum of money would be kept yearly ia the colony. 3rd—lf our wives, daughters, sisters, cousins, aunis, etc., would give up wearing silks and satins, and the other fineries in which they look so pretty, an enormous amount of money would be kept in the colony. There is no doubt but that the colony would be the better of such self-denial as this, but there is a very serious obstacle in the way. It would be necessary to make a complete change in human nature to carry out these suggestions, and for the life of us we cannot see that that is very easily done. ! Fine clothes and expensive luxuries are, we admit, not indispensably necessary to the sustenance of life, but our social habits, superinduced by a vain desire to appear well in the eyes of our fellowcitizens, render their relinquishment hopeless. Our vanity is at the bottom of this extravagance. Can Mr Duncan effect any change in this respect ? And then, supposing we did give up these things and took to flax mats and eels, or became vegetarians, how would that foster local industry ? Now, that is what we understand by self-denial. If we are wrong Mr Duncan Las himself to blame in not explaining to us more j fully the ideal policy comprehended in the three words above referred to. Next we come to " f?elf-re!iance." What* does that mean? Taking the whole of Mr Duncan's two letters, we conclude that he means that instead of looking bo much to the Government we ought to depend more on ourselves. In applying the term to a national policy, that is a very limited meaning to give it, We shall take it in its wider sense, and say that the whole country ought to be more self-reliant ; tbat is, that we should cease borrowing and rely on ourselves. Is this possible ? Can we stop borrowing ? are the questions we must answer before adopting that policy. To answer them we must understand our position. Let us then do it, It is tLis: In round numbers we owe to people living beyond the colony publicly and privately between £60,000,000 and £70,000,000. Mr Turnbuli said we owed £94,000,000. Almost all the shareholders in our Banks, Loan and Mortgage Agencies, Public Companies, 6uch as Insurance Companies, etc., live out of the colony, A large number of our wealthy land, owners are enjoying life in England, and getting the profits of their properties sent to them annually. Banks, Mort gage, Land, and Insurance Companies, etc., declare dividends of from 15 to 20 per cent, and these dividends are sent to England annually. The interest on borrowed money goes to England, and in addition to this there is a balance of trade against us of over £1,000,000 a year. Mr lurnbull in his recent speech said wa had to send out of this colony £4,000,000 a year 'in the shape of interest. If that is correct there must be added to it £1,000,000 balance of trade, banking, and other dividends, remittances to absentee land owners, etc., but how much it is impossible to say. We are of opinion that at least £5,000,000 of gold must be found by the people of this colony yearly to send to England. The next step is to inquire, Where are we to get this money from ? We have shown that all the gold and woo) and other things we send to England go to pay for our drapery, silks and satins, tea and sugar, etc., together with about £1,000,000 of money.

There is not. a cent, to be got from our exports ; we get a little from the interest of Sinking Fund debentures invested outside the colony, from people coming iito the colony, and frora reraittnnceg »ent to some of us frora our friends in the Old Country. There are no other avenues of wealth open to us at present. Now, the rnont stupid man that ever lived must see that before we can send £4,000,000 to England every year, we mußt get the money from some ] source. It is bunkum to talk about our property ; we cannot take railways and land to England, and pass them off as money. We have property, hut we have not the cash with which to pay our way. Before we can pay th:s we must borrow it, and continue to borrow until we can get no one to lend to us. What is the good of preaching selfreliance when we cannot get on without borrowing. No one, and no nation, can be self-raliant who must go to the money-lender. Our trouble, therefore, is that as fast as we make money, and as fast as we can borrow it, it all goes away again out of the colony in the manner indicated. Therja. is no getting out of it. This is the real state of affairs. Are we to continue borrowing until we burst, or. are we to adopt a policy of by.producing locally what we now import ? It is useless to ask people not to drink whiskey, nor wear broadcloth or silks ; it is also useless to ask them to buy colonial made goods so long as they can get other goods cheaper. There vis therefore only one way to settle the matter, and that is to put on protective duties that will enab'e colonial-made goods to bo sold cheaper than the imported articles, That and a National Bank will save this colony from bankruptcy, but nothing else can.