The Timaru Herald. WEDNESDAY, 13th SEPTEMBER, 1907. FREE TRADE AND PROTECTION.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIC, Issue 13394, 18 September 1907, Page 4

The Timaru Herald. WEDNESDAY, 13th SEPTEMBER, 1907. FREE TRADE AND PROTECTION.

Yesterday's debate in the House of Representatives upon the third reading of the Tariff Bill was a very unequal contestbetween the Protectionists and the Freetraders. Among the speakers the. former were ill an overwhelming majority, and ev;n Mr James Allen expressed a desire to accord a moderate amount of encouragement to colonial industries. According to the Hon. J. A. Millar, who explained the Government's policy, one, of the two principles upon which the new tariff was drawn up was the, recognition of the need for building up industries in New Zealand behind the shelter of a eubstantial Customs fence, and' in that object it is evident that tha members of the present House are almost to a man with the' Ministry. We are by no means certain that the country is as unanimous as Parliament in in desiring tha strong dose of protection to which it has been treated. Tariff revision was certainly an issue at the last election,, hut it was revision in the direction of cheapening .commodities, and white the Ward Government has to some extent carried out the mandate- which dc-scendfed to it when it assumed the. control of aft'aim after Mr Seddon's death, it has, to our mind, gone beyond the instructions of the people in piling on duties on other articles which are no less essential to -existence than those* food •stuffs which are loosely described as the '■ necessarkG of life." Mr James Allen made a strong point of the heavy impost that has been placed upon the cheaper varieties of boots, and anyone who takes tha trouble to analyse the new tariff wilt discover nmimwis other items which will inevitably tend to increase Ilia bills of the average family. We are, as a matter of fact, repeating I ho experience of America,

to which reforeii.es was made in these columns a few days ago, and to which Mr Poole appealed' yfsterdny as an argument in support of n protective policy. Protection staiU-d in a ymall way in America, with tli3 necessity for raising mnney to carry on its civil war. Vwv.v cover of that piotection, local industries were established which continually clamoured for more and more assi-.-iame against outr.ide competition until in 1597 the Dingley Tariff carried duties lo the highest l»<j" b ovtr known in the Stat. s. The decade which has elapsed since the passage- of the Diugley 'Tariff ha:, convinced the American consumer that ihe. encouragement of local industries i;. far from being an unmixed benefit. • He has i:een trusts of every description fasten themselves upon the public, squeezing out their weaker competitors", gathering wealth into ;i l*w hands, bleeding tha purchaser, and—not the least evil that llvsy bring in their train—corrupting the polities .of the country. So strong has public opinion grown upon the subject that even such a pronounced protectionist as Mr Taft. the present Secr-cfary for War, who is regarded as Piesidsait Roosevelt's probable successor, recognises the urgent \need of 'reducing the duties which enabled the trusts to get their grip upon the country. "No man," he said, " can win the next election who does not favour changes in the tariff." New Zealand, of course, is a long way behind the etage 'at which America lias arrived, but the' very same arguments with which' Mr Millar, Mr Poole, and otters supported the new tariff in the House of Representatives yesterday, were used to pave the way for the Dingley Tariff in the United Stales. With the experience of other highly protected countries to guide us, it brhoves vm to be very careful lest in a laudable desire to make this a eelf-contained nation, wo pass the point at which protection becomes a .crushing burden to the many, and a means of.aggrandisement for the few. Mr Hogg, in returning to the charge upon the flour duty yesterday, quoted the amount (under £9000), which has been collected during tha last six years upon importations of flour and wheat. It would have been instructive; if he had quoted the sum the colony has paid during the same periods for the protection of half a dozen firms of tanners, or for the six woollen mills which last week secured a, j.-jo per cent, duty ou raw cotton. If • the colony confined ile tariff ' to revenue purposes, and! gave direct assistance to different industries by means of bounties, as was proposed in the Federal Parliament some time ago, the people would eoe exactly what price they were paying for the ideal at which Mr Millar and his cot- . leagues are aiming. . If that were done, we° have very little doubt that vanm of i the indignation, now vented upon theXpri- \ mavy producers in connection with Hie ', wheat and flour duties would! be divertM into other channels, and the people would .recognise ihe cl'anger of drifting into the same condition «s prevails in America, wheiv* in the words'of Mr Maurice Low, prices have risen " so high that tlu overa.cr.B person feels the pinch of prosperity even worse than the pinch of poverty.".....;