CORRESPONDENCE.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 13204, 30 June 1906, Page 3

CORRESPONDENCE.

COBDEN AND COMMONWEALTH.

(To the Editor.) Sir,— l read_^ with interest tlvt advice given by the Cobden Chib to the Commo'n'vvealtih. ]t is a -fatherly piece of advice, and no doubt given with the best intentions. But as to 'the reason why it is 'given, it sedms to 'b« rather weak. England must have cheap loohS, so says the Gabden Club. Ido not see any reason why England should have cheap food any more than Germany, France, Russia, or even these colonies. We all wamt food as cheap as we can get rt. iM'ofet civilised countries mow give, State assisibance to their farmers, but England lagw behind in that respect. Sotme thirty or forty years ago, Ohandos Wrm H'oskyns, a noted English •farmer, complained that the ■> British an'omey-lemder would leord with recklebs lyberali%y to foreign nations,. but 'when fthe Btfiti&h'faKmer applied to him for help ho either shook his head or wanted ' f #lteaitj per chent" for the accommodation. I have read of fanners paying as much as 60 por cen-t. for money. The--Brit-ish Government insists <an cheap fares for working men, bu+, «o far as I ajm aware, takes no 'notice of 'the unequal rates charged on Horn© and foreign produce. I think of all nations in the world, England most deserves to have dear food. I see no great virtue in letting the staple commodities in free whilst this freedom isanadeup for by heavy taxes on poor men's luxuries, such as tobacco, beer, etc. But perhaps 1 fall short of the commanding intelligence of the Cobden Club, and stand sorely in need of instruction. — I am, etc., TARTFF EiEFOBM.