The Demon Protection.

Wairarapa Standard, Volume XIX, Issue 1822, 19 April 1886, Page 3

The Demon Protection.

Colonel (1. F. Pearson publishes (he follow mg letter which he has received from a French gentleman holding a high official p isuion in Burgundy —” What is the conunion with you ol the agricultural and c mmercial interests ' In France we are going down the lull at a terrible rapid pace, owing in my opinion, to the stupid tampering of our Government with protectionist measure-,. H-wv on earth can commerce thrive when day by clay some new fetters are placed upon it J We want also terribly some confidence in the future, as well as some economy in the Government expenditure. You do not suffer in England as we do from these three scourges— Protection, want ot confidence, and excessive public expenditure. But I should much like to know how your are getting on in England Here we had a good harvest and fair vintage yet the wheat sells for next to nothing, the x;:.e is nearly as bad. and the hay crop is a failure ; rents are unpaid and the catte are without nourishment , land has lost its value and, in fact, unsaleable ; the value of forest property is just half what it was five years ago, and almost the same may be said of the house property, for house rent has fallen or to per cent., and one pays hut Soo fratma for an apartment that a short time ago fetched iq.ooo francs, (me of the directors of the Chcminde For de 1 list who was staying with me the other day, told me that the P.L.M. had a diminished receipt of nearly fio.ouo francs per day, an<l that the revenue of the Chemin de Eer de FEst had fallen already during the current year y.noo.uoo francs department (forest) good oak and good fir timber have barely half the value they had seven years. G who came to see me a sh .rt time ago from (‘bateau Salius, told me that the farm at Solival (AlsaceLorraine) which formerly let at from 50,000 to-..,0,,0 fiancsa year, is now without a farmer, and the proprietor is obliged to cultivate it at a loss. Ncvet the’ess there it is n <t the heavy taxes we have to pay in France that rum., th« people. f..r the country nuw belong, to Germany. But she, like ourselves is a prey to the demon Piotection, winch imp-'vetches the country and people.