THE RANGITIKEI ELECTION.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XVIII, Issue 2689, 5 March 1875, Page 2

THE RANGITIKEI ELECTION.

{To the Editor of the Chronici.k.) Sib,— Last night" s ' Herald ' (3rd inst.) contains another instalment of Mr J.B.s "advice gratis "to the Rangitikei electors. Mr Bounce on this occasion undertakes to criticise in detail the inerit3 of the three candidates. Let us see what he makes of it, Ist. He objects to Mr Hutchison because he is not a Rangitikei man ; " his interests are directly and essentially Wellington interests, his livelihood depends upon the people of Wellington. If the interests of Wellington and Rangitikei should clash, it is only in human nature that Mr Hutchison should prefer Wellington." Well, in what respect does;; Mr Ballance, Mr Bounce's candidate, differ in thiß respect ? Is he a Eangitikei man ? What property has he there, what stake, what co Inection ? None, except, I believe, a quartet , acre section in Marton, and the circulation of a few copies of the ' Herald.' As regards theformer, it gives him a very feeble claim to jja>present the district; and as regarde the

latter, if this "self -asserting political adventurer," as the ' Post ' calls him, were elected, and had the offer to make himself useful in some Government berth elsewhere, how long would the ' fcveniag Herald' form a link of connection between him and Rangitikei ? Further, if Mr Hutchison is disqualified because Kangifcikei interests may conflict with those of Wellington, does not the same objection apply to M.v Ballance and Wanganui ? Suppose any question to arise in the framing of the now local government machinery as to the proportion of -the Piovincia.l debt to be borne by Wanganui and .Rangitikei respectively, or the contributions to be made to the maintenance of. Wanganui river, where will Mr Hallance be then as representative for Rnr.gitikei ? One of the strongest objections to him is that liangitikei knows him not, except as the proprietor and editor of a very abusive little, evening paper, which has its chief ch'Ctila'tlon and support in Wanganui and the Paten, districts.

2nd. Next Mr Bounce hauls Mr Watt's qualifications over the coals, and in doing so he insinuates' what he dare not say He says "it is desirable th.^t Ru.:igitikei should be represented by a man of high personal character, great intelligence, and position. On Mr Watts character and position (he says) I will not say one word. Mr Watt is well kuown in thoss districts, and the people of Rangitikei art qulLa able to estimate his character, position, and intelligence without any assistance, &c.' Now the candid Mr Bounce really means acre ; that if he chose to discuss Mr Watt's character, &c, he could do so in a very damaging way ; but, in a spirit of noble foroearanee, lie won't do it. Mr Watt's character needs no defence from me ; but I may remind Mr Bounce, how, when it was mercilessly assailed by Mr Ballance in the * Herald ' a year and a-half ago, it was entirely vindicated before a tribunal consisting of the Attorney-Gren€.val (Mr Prendergast), the Hon. Mr Fox, and Mr John Bryce, M H.R., the latter of whom, though the arbitrator appointed by Mr Ballance, had to do homage to the man he had shamefully assailed, and to join in the infliction on Mr Ballance of the punishment' he merited. When Mi* Bounce insinuates that he spares Mr Watt the discussion of his character, &c, he should call these little events to his recollection. The electors of Eangitikei will not forget them. 3rd. Then Mr Bounce comes to his favorite candidate, Mr Bullanee. The object of his *' advice gr:it : .s," of course, is to help this lame dog over the style. He is obliged to confess that his candidate "has made enemies." Wdii, that is about the truest thing he has said, though by no means new. The article in the ' Evening Post ' -which you reprinted yesterday tells us how he has made them ; by his tmscriipulotis and vindictive personal abuse of thyse whom, he is pleased to make enemies of ; and by the manner in which he first licks the hand which holds the dish, and then rends that hand when the dish is no longer in it. So says the ' Post ' ; and I think it is about right. . It is no credit to a man that he has made enemies in this way, and I suspect he is likely to find a good many of his enemies' black balls in the ballot box. But the most amusing claim put forward by Mr Bounce f,or his friend is that "to the consistent opposition to Provincialism offered by the Wanganui 'Herald' (acting in conjunction with other journals similarly situated), the present position of "the Provincial question is mainly due." Well, this is the " three tailors of Tooley Street "' with a vengeance. The 'Evening Herald' is about as tnucti known and read in New Zealand beyond Wanganui and surrounding districts as the * Eatanswill Gazette,' or'~ f Potsyille Mercury.' In those great centres of the anti- Provincial movement where it really, has its support, the ' Evening Herald ' and other journals similarly situated (whatever that may mean) are about as much known as the edicts'of the Emperor of China, or the writings of the philosophers of Japan. What its influence has been in. the Assemoly (where I don't believe, except Mr Bryce, any one ever read a page of it), may be gathered by the fate of the Litter gentleman's Separation Bill, Vhich great effort of statesmanship was the adopted chllil, if not legitimate offspring, of the ' Huj-id.' and supported by its advocacy to its. utir.Ti: s- etch. / So !:o.- h for Mr Bounce's letter No. 2/ I wait in • \ .epless expectation for the appearance o: r..s next. — I auu, &o. X.Y.Z. /

(To the Editor of the Chronicle.) Wanganui, March 3. Sir, — In his criticism of Mr Fox's speech tko editor of the ' Herald ' remarks, " The hon. gentleman's reference to the relative ".mounts of the imports and exports of the colony is a subject, of too much importance to receive only a passing notice, and we are not a little surprised to hear Adam Smith's admirable overdrawn to such an extent as it ha^ l-eeu by Mr Fox in his speech before the electors of Rangitikei. Since Adam Smith exploded tue theory that if a country imports more than it exports it is in a bad state, the commerce of the world has risen to such an extent that even the man who then reversed the theory would no doubt be astonished to see the result. But we find nothing to prove that there is not a limit. In fact, a limit, as near as that is possible, has been laid down, and the theory now known to be the correct one is, that the imports may exceed the exports by a limited amount, but not to such an extent as to amount to nearly double the sum total of the exports, as has been the ease during the last financial year." Thousrh tolerably familiar with the writings of the political economists, from A.dani Smith to J. S. illll, I confess I have never heard of this " limit" and thiß "theory now known to be the correct one," before, and I should be extremely glad if the • Herald ' would define it •!".<! H~e us the authority relied upon. " The balance of produce and consumption," says Adam Smith, " may constantly be in favv.ur of a option, though what is called the halance of trade may be generally against it. A nation may import to a greater value than it exports for half a century, perhaps, together ; its circulating coin may gradually decay, &c, * * * even the debts, too, which it contracts in the principal nations with whom it deals may be gradually increasing ; and yet its real wealth, the exchangeable value of the annual produce of ita lands and labour, may, during the same period, have been increasing in a much greater proportion." Now, if this is true, as it undoubtedly is, the impossibility of fixing a "limit" is obvious, for the socalled balance against a country, if it continues, must be cumulative. For instance, it has been pointed out that were this branch of the " mercantile theory " assailed by Adam Smith, sound, England would in the three yearsjj ending in 1831 have accumulated specie to the extent of 88 millions sterling, and as * r the same favourable balance has been going on for the last half century or longer, the result would be that all the specie in the world would at that date have been locked up in that island." The truth is, that official returns of the value in money of exports and imports are altogether misleading. Between what is the essential element of commerce, excJiange of commodities, an arbitrary niuaey standai'd of value is introduced, and the comparison is thus made, not between two things, but between two different measures of two things. The fact is, trade is always balanced. Nations, lite individuals, gel what they can pay for. It is true that both

nations and individuals may livebpyond their means, but the excess of imports over exports, officially valued, no more proves that a nation is doing so than an overdrawn account of a wealthy merchant or farmer proves that he is doing the same thing. " The only direct advantage of foreign commerce," observes Mr Mill, " consists in the imports. A country obtains things which it could either not have produced at all, or which it must have produced at a greater cost of capital and labour than the cost of the things whi'jh it exports to pay for them. * * * The vulgar theory disregards this benefit, and deems the advantage of commerce to reside in the exports ; as if not what the country obtains but what it parts with by its foreign trade was supposed to constitute the gain to it." Now, according to the ' Herald ' some iising genius has dis- ; covered that unless this "direct advantage" — this real " gain " — ia " limited," it is an i evil That we may have too much of a good thing, is a popular proverb, but I was not before aware that it was an acknowledged doctrine of modern political economy. The 'Herald' makes what appears tj be a point against Mr Fox when it refers to his having made " no allowance for the money that must necessarily be brought to the colony by the Public Works and Immigration policy, a very large share of which — and we fear too large a share— has been absorbed in imports." No doubt foieign loans are of the nature of exports. A debenture is really a promise to hand over to the lender a certain portion of the produce of the colony at some future time. In exchange for this we obtain a certain quantity of imported products now, and thus in the official statement of international exchanges loans must be taken into account. That borrowed money helps to pay for imports is so much of a truism that probablj Mr Fox did not care to trouble his audience with it, though if he had it might have assisted to i allay the fears of those persons whose notions ! of political economy share in the ' Herald's ' i vagueness. However this may be, no one will suppose that Mr Fox was ignorao t of what is a matter of common knowledge. The colony borrows money and buys what it wants in the cheapest market just as we all do. That too much of the money is "absoibed in imports" seems to cause some misgiving to the ' Herald,' but in reality, whether we pay for articles produced or manufactured in the country or out of it, is of little consequence so long as our money is laid out to the greatest advantage. To draw any distinction between home and foreign produce in this respect, is only "protection" in another form, and it is much to the credit of our Government that it has carried out its public works policy in accor- j dance with the sound doctrines of political economy, instead of upon those misleading dogmas of the protectionists which the ' Herald ' seems disposed to champion. — I am, &c, Economist. [Our. report of Mr Fox's meeting at Marton, though as full as our space permitted, was necessarily in many respects imperfect and incomplete, and omitted several very clear illustrations which were given by Mr Fox of the absurdity of the theery set up that a country must necessarily be going to the bad when her imports are in excess of her exports. — Ed. C .]