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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 15

Protection v. Freetrade

Protection v. Freetrade.

"We are not going into detail on this subject, but shall refer to it broadly. The question is one that agitated England for many years, and has been settled there long ago in favour of Freetrade. With page 8 many the audacity of anyone daring to question the application to ourselves of the theories of Bright, Cobden, Stuart Mill, and others is looked upon as rank blasphemy. Notwithstanding this we do so; and one great incentive arises from the fact that we are not in England, but in "New Zealand." That is the great error our Freetraders fall into; they talk and think as they have been taught, under circumstances wholly different. We ask them now to throw aside the prejudices of their early education, and try and look at this matter as it bears on our own particular case.

The theory of Freetrade broadly stated is this—

"That each country shall freely produce that which it can naturally "produce best, and that all countries shall freely exchange."

A splendid theory, but inoperative. The "world" has not adapted itself to it yet, and we in New Zealand are not prepared to wait till it does.

America, by high protective Duties, has built up Industries that are competing with England at her very doors; American cotton goods are to be found in Manchester, and American cutlery in Sheffield; she comes to the Colonies and rushes some of her surplus stock into our markets, and one instance comes right home, when we find that in consequence of extensive consignments of Carriages and Buggies glutting this market, our Coach Factories shut up and 100 men walking the streets, who would otherwise in all probability have been employed, and when we say 100 men, remember that it means 400 mouths, you must take into consideration their wives and children. And again we find, in the matter of Timber, our markets glutted from "Oregon" and other countries, and our mills and wood-working establishments, who might have been fairly busy, also in a state of collapse. Had the Duty that was taken off last season remained on, this Timber would not have been imported, for New Zealand possesses splendid forests of various kinds. Now let us reverse the picture, what does America take from us? Except Kauri Gum, absolutely nothing. She shuts out by Prohibitory Duties everything else we could produce; she gluts the English market with her Wheat, and competes with us there, and Freetraders will argue that this is Sound Policy, we differ. Is New Zealand to be a receptacle for the surplus manufactures of other countries, and, like England, a Football for the whole world to kick at, or shall we adopt the same selfish policy, object to be kicked, and endeavour to retain within ourselves the life blood that is now flowing from us? We call Protection selfish, and so it is, but can we afford to page 9 be otherwise? What are we here for? As patriots to uphold the commercial supremacy of England, or with a view of building up a nation and raising an industrious happy population; the latter certainly. People left England to better themselves, and we are not called upon to sacrifice ourselves, much as we may love the old Land. But was there nothing selfish in the Freetrade of England? we think so. She said send us your raw produce, we will manufacture it and sell it back again at a handsome profit; this was done, England constituted herself the work-shop of the world, and grew immensely rich; but other countries have grown tired, and have decided to manufacture for themselves. America, France, have high Duties, and we see "Germany" adopting the same Policy, also the English Colonies, Victoria, and "Canada." Mark the difference to America—7 years ago her Imports exceeded the Exports by £100,000,000 sterling annually; now the Exports are in excess by £100,000,000 sterling, making an annual difference in favour of America of £200,000,000 sterling; hard facts these, and they speak for themselves. Let us examine the experience of "Canada" who has adopted Protection within the past few months. Her Duties now run from 25 to 35 per cent.; she has been driven into it from sheer self-defence, and this with a Young Country is exactly what Protection means, A Weapon of Self-Defence.

Canada saw 500,000 of her young men driven into protected America, and were employed in increasing its wealth, and also from the knowledge that goods were actually cheaper there than in free England.

And this emigration from Canada to protected America illustrates what will take place in New Zealand unless we alter our policy. In a conversation with a Freetrader in this City, he brought this forcibly to our mind. In reply to our queries, he said: "Yes; I am a Freetrader—have been so all my life. I believe that unless we can manufacture as cheaply as in any other part of the world, we should not do it. If I cannot get my living as a cobbler, I should try tailoring." "And if you could not succeed in that, what then?" "I should try something else." "And if you could not obtain that something else?" "Then I should leave the Country," was his reply, "and go to some other country where work was more abundant." Splendid! The very process that is, and will go on. But we have no desire to leave the Country; in fact, we mean to stay.

Another argument used by Freetraders is: "Wages are too high," and they at once quote the prices for odd jobs. We believe that there page 10 are thousands of men in the place and growing up who would be quite content to work for a fair wage, and we hope never to see the day when a steady man cannot earn sufficient to maintain himself and family comfortably.

We have only to continue our Free trade policy long enough and wages will be low with a vengeance. We believe the people will become so poverty-stricken that they will work for anything. God forbid that we should live to see the day. Surely in a new country we need not follow the old beaten tracks—there should be some room for originality of thought.

But it is the Prospect of the Future that Strongly Urges us to a Change. Vital Statistics prove that without the aid of Immigration New Zealand can double her population in 16 years, the excess of birth-rate over death-rate being the highest the world ever saw. How is this enormous natural increase to be utilised? Look at the thousands of boys in the various schools of the Colony, and say what are you going to do with them; for even supposing farming did pay, every boy or man is not physically adapted for that kind of life. In view of the wonderful natural increase, can we sit down quietly and wait for things to adjust themselves? We could better have waited for our Railways to develop themselves than to neglect this question.

We contend that the matter is so pressing that no matter what party may be in power it is their urgent duty to solve the question at once. We believe one great solution will be found in our oft repeated phrase—

Develop by protection if necessary the natural resources of the Country, and foster by protection also all the Manufactures that would have a fair chance of success.

We do not advocate prohibitory Duties, but sufficient to give a healthy stimulus to enterprise, and to protect the Industries in their infancy.

We give a list of some of the Imports as taken from the Blue Book for 1877:—
£
Agricultural Implements and Machinery 120,000
Apparel and Slops 180,000
Basketware 1,500
Biscuits (fancy) 2,000
Blacking 3,000
Boots and Shoes 200,000
Bricks (fire) 3,000
Brushware and Brooms 15,000
Candles 96,000
Carriages and Carts 20,000
Chaff (Victorian) 5,000
Chicory 1,400
Coals, 156,000 tons 240,000
Confectionery 20,000
Cordage 17,000
Doors and Sashes 5,000
Earthenware (not including China and Porcelain 40,000page 11
Fish (potted and preserved) 40,000
Fruits (bottled and green) 45,000
Furniture 62,000
Gas Plant 24,000
Glass Bottles 9,000
Hats and Caps 60,000
Window Glass 21,000
Hops 25,000
Malt 10,000
Iron, bar, rod and galvanised 250,000
Iron Pipes 10,000
Jams and Jellies 40,000
Leather 60,000
Machinery (other than agricultural) 80,000
Boilers 3,000
Marble 2,000
Matches and Vestas 50,000
Maizena and Cornflower 6,000
Oils, Linseed and Colza 30,000
Paper—Bags and Wrapping Paper 15,000
Do. Printing 50,000
Pickles 6,000
Portmanteaus and Bags 2,000
Pipes (drain) 3,000
Saddlery and Harness 50,000
Seeds, Grass and Clover 75,000
Slates 4,000
Soap 5,000
Starch 8,000
Stationery and Account Books 60,000
Sweets (potted and preserved) 2,000
Tinware 5,000
Timber 50,000
Tobacco and Cigars 120,000
Vinegar 10,000
Woodware 11,000
Woollens 85,000
Woollens Blankets 24,000

Without going into detail, out of this vast array of figures surely there is scope enough for home production.

We do not anticipate for a moment that such articles as General Drapery, Hardware, Groceries (with a few exceptions), and many other articles, could be produced here, and we advocate a Discriminating Tariff to protect those Industries that would have a fair chance of success.

We cannot close this without a reference to the Free-traders' great standing objection, viz.: That Protection means Increased Cost to the Consumer.

It seems almost a pity to attempt to destroy about the only rag of an argument they have, but we are prepared to assert that it does not necessarily, in the long run, mean Increased Cost, and, in support of this, we quote the remarks as made by the Canadian Finance Minister when introducing his Tariff:—

"But cry the Freetraders you are considering the producer only, and injuring the" consumer, who has to pay the duties you levy upon imported goods, in order to "support native industry. The price of cotton fabrics, steel rails, wood ware, tools, "machinery, &c., is very low in America, and the few articles that have been protected in Canada prove the same thing. Vinegar, manufactured tobacco, and "agricultural implements have had high aunties upon them, and at present each "of these trades is flourishing, and not at the cost of the consumer, for vinegar "is sold at less than the duty upon it. Tobacco is as cheap as it is in Virginia." While agricultural implements are sold at lower prices than in other countries."

page 12

That is the experience of Canada, and similar instances can be quoted here.

Consumers can rest quite certain that competition will be quite keen enough to prevent extravagant charges, and with goods locally-manufactured, the buyer will be able to purchase the description he requires; whereas, with imported articles, he has to take them whether they suit his requirements or not. We have only to draw attention to the ploughs made in Dunedin and "Christchurch," they are preferred to the imported ones. One effect of an increased duty will be, not that the consumer will have to purchase the imported article with duty added, but it will shut those importations out, and he will simply have to use Colonial made goods instead of foreign ones.

At some future date we shall, if necessary, be prepared to prove that supposing Protection does increase the cost, it is still the right policy to pursue. We are firmly of opinion that the different industries once fairly established, and following the example of "America" in using labour-saving machinery, will stand and become prosperous, creating wealth and affording profitable employment to thousands.

We conclude by summarising our points.

1—That as the Exports are now below the Imports, and Two millions in value annually of those Exports have to be shipped to provide Interests due in England, we are not in a position to Import at the rate we have been doing.
2—We believe the future of wheat-growing for Export is a gloomy one, and our Farmers must have a large population employed in other ways than farming to create a local market for their other products.
3—That a country can never become rich by Importing, and we must endeavour to create wealth within ourselves, and this we can only accomplish by Protection and developing the local industries and productions.
4—Our present population and the wonderful natural increase cannot possibly be employed without manufacturing.
5—We claim the sympathy' of the farmer, the mechanic, the parent who desires to see employment created for his family; the capitalist who is interested in seeing an industrious prosperous people growing up. We claim the protection of our Parliament and support of every right-thinking man throughout the Colony, and we ask all to throw aside their prejudices and party feelings and dispassionately consider this most

Important Subject.