Wanganui Herald. [PUBLISHED DAILY.] FRIDAY, JANUARY 6, 1888 FAIR TRADE.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXII, Issue 6406, 6 January 1888, Page 2

Wanganui Herald. [PUBLISHED DAILY.] FRIDAY, JANUARY 6, 1888 FAIR TRADE.

The news has just been received (hat the Argentine Republic has offered an export bonus on the shipment of meat on the following scale . — 250,000 dollars annually on cattle and beef, and 50,000 dollars on frozen mutton, The effect of this action will of course be much the same as the export bonus on sugar, on which a conference lately deliberated. As the bonus on sugar closed up the English refineries, and tnrnedjthe work-people out of doors, the tendency of such acts as that of the South American Republic will be to complete the ruin of the British farmer, and render his position unendurable. Other countries will probably follow the example.and England as an agricultural country will probably enter into a state of liquidation. The spectacle of theorists and statesmen babbling of Free Trade in the presence of such facts is perhaps unprecedented in history. Lord Salisbury thinks a return to Protection would mean Revolution. To some at this side of the globe it appears only too evident that if they do not return quickly to Protection they cannot avoid a Revolution. Emigration cannot save them. The increase of population in London alone is about 350,000 a year, and the absorbing power of the United States and the Colonies is not equal to one-third of that number. No cheapness of food will provide (lie means of purchasing it when the great industries of the kingdom are once destroyed. The colonies will also feel the blow. In New Zealand the foreign meat trade is in a precarious position. Prices have already gone down below paying point, and but few of the companies are paying their way. The Gear Meat Company — one of the most prosperous — has just declared a dividend of 10 per cent, but every well-informed shareholder knows that they lost money on the refrigerating part of their business, happily more than compensated by their business in Wellington. Nor will our farmers continue to receive the same figures for their stock that they have been doing. Many of the companies a y :\r or two since, when there was strung competition for cargo space in the direct Bteamers, entered into contracts for periods of one, two, and three years to export a certain quantity of meat. These contracts are expiring by effhmon of time, and the companies, no longer compelled to fill up space, will offer the farmers prices which will leave them a certain profit. The farmers may, of course, determine to do their own exporting, but experiments in this direction have not been encouraging in the past. All this has happened as the result of simple competition and where tho destructive agency of the bonus system has not been at work. What will be the position

when South America floods the Home market with meat on every pound of which a premium has been paid by the exporting country? The prospects are certainly not of the brightest, either to the English or the colonial farmer. It is, however, somewhat fortunate that Great Britain and her colonies occupy common ground in this matter, and that they may find it necessary to take joint action for their mutual protection. The question is one of Fair Trade and real,asopposed to sham federation. The Argentine or any other State can immediately be brought to its bearings by a duty on their exports equal to, or greater than, the amount of the bonus. There is no doubt that the Act in question is in one sense a declaration of war. It raises the whole question of defence, and brings the Mother Country and her colonies into line more completely than anything else could possibly effect. Are ourstatesmen equal to the occasion 1 1f they are, they can teach the world a lesson it will not be likely to forget. Not only should a countervailing duty be imposed equal to the amount of the bonus, but a differential duty of at least 5 per cent in favour of colonial produce. And what would such a policy as this meant An immediate federation of the Empire based on mutual defence and common action, alike in war and commerce. The colonies would reciprocate by a corresponding duty in favour of British productions. To us it appears clear to demonstration that there can be no other federation than one based on the mutual and reciprocal interest of the parties. A theoretical or paper federation we have an illustration of in the farce enacted every now and again at Hobart, We place in contrast the proposal we have submitted for a confederation of every part of the Empire based on mutual protection and commercial advantage to the whole. Within the next few days the Agents-General should submit terms, taking for their text the unfair andruinous policies of foreign Governments, and in particular the latest attempt to destroy British and Colonial industry by means of the bonus system.