THE

AUSTRALIAN

PROTECTIONIST.

BY

FRANCIS GOULD SMITH,

PROFESSOR OF POLITICAL ECONOMY, SYDNEY, NEW SOUTH WALES.

七

Melbourne:

PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR.

1877.

CR

UB

Più Robertson & Mullen's 1/6

2 APR 1926

Industry and Frugality" are the "Pillars of Wealth and Progress:" "Luxury and Prodigality" the "Sink of Iniquity and Ruin;" of Nations as well as of individuals.-F. G. SMITH.

"A Nation, whether it consumes its own productions, or with them purchases from abroad, can have no more to spend than it produces. Therefore, the supreme policy of every Nation is to develop its own resources."-BYLES, Barrister.

"The most profitable sales to a NATION are those made from one producer to another within the Nation: that is to say, from the agriculturalist and pastoralist to the manufacturer; and from the manufacturer to the agriculturalist and to the pastoralist."-J. B. SAY, of France.

PREFACE.

In the following matter I will endeavour to explain my calm and unprejudiced and fully matured researches, considerations, and final convictions relative to the state of New South Wales, in connection with her present (1876) policy of "Freetrade," "Emigration," and "Land Laws;" with this unflinching confidence in the soundness of my conclusions, the integrity of the colonists, and the imperative necessity of a change in our polity, that after these principles have suffered the usual persecution of tongues and pens which naturally and constantly accompany all new proposals-especially those of an unpopular political tendency for a while, they will ultimately, the most of them, if not all, come to be generally received, and honoured, by a discriminating public, with the sanction, power, and effect of law. Nevertheless, I am fully conscious of my own want of ability to effectively grapple with these subjects, as they undoubtedly merit.

I desire, most sincerely and respectfully, to assure you, dear readers and fellowelectors, who may hold opposite opinions to mine, that I have not dared to thus come before so enlightened a people, till I have been forced, from practical and studied experience in these colonies, extending to and during a period of over twenty-six years.

When I began to write this book, I did not intend to enlarge upon so many matters or particulars; for the reason principally because nothing can be said or done for the public good, but will cross the particular ends as well as opinions of many private persons; and the more is said the greater the opposition.

INTRODUCTION.

IN contemplating the affairs of a nation, it will be found that the same principles and rules will apply as those to which individuals resort on all emergencies, where in extensive and complicated transactions, recourse is had to an accurate view of the resources in possession, and to the means of rendering those resources as productive as possible. The resources of a nation are derived from the productive labour of the people, and this labour is augmented or diminished according to forms of government and the intelligence, ability, and zeal, or the want of those qualities, in those of our parliamentary representatives who, from their ability or other causes, are chosen to direct the affairs of a state or empire. The earth, with its oceans of water and of air, forms the great storehouse from which we draw the means of support and employment. The animals and plants upon its surface, and the produce of its teeming rivers, furnish us with food and clothing; the stone, the metals, and the coal laid up in its crust supply us with the means of shelter, with various tools and other implements, and with fuel. Several facts connected herewith are part of our earliest history and experience. Firstly-There is in the world an infinitely large number of substances adapted for our service in health and in sickness. Secondly-These substances are distributed so as that every region has its special treasures. Thirdly-The inhabitants of any one region may, by exchanging, become possessed of the abundance and variety of all other regions. If, for instance, the South Australians have plenty of wheat and flour, but a scarcity of coal and iron, and thus find themselves possessed of enough bread, but without either coal or iron to enable them to successfully manufacture their own implements of agriculture and their own domestic hardware, &c., while the people of New South Wales have both coal and iron to spare, but want wheat and flour, each may interchange, and both become well supplied with said articles. In writing of the natural resources of any country, reference is intended to the ore in the earth, the stone unquarried, the timber unfelled, the native plants and animals, horses, cattle, sheep, pigs, goats, &c., to all those latent elements of wealth only awaiting the labour of man to become of use, of value, a source of wealth and revenue, and finally of the first necessity to the independent existence of a most prosperous nation. Raw produce has another and an extended meaning, and, therefore, brings in tillage of the soil, cattle-rearing and sheep-breeding, &c., &c., which procure a greater abundance of corn, fruit, and flesh food than the natural state of things could possibly supply.

:

We measure a country's civilisation by the extent of its productions and diffusion of knowledge. Barbarous tribes pass their time away in providing for their recurring appetites only, and cannot be said to fully enjoy their existence, at least in the sense of mental enjoyments. It has been said of old, that he who makes two blades of grass grow, where only one grew before, is a benefactor to his fellow-men. Though Corinth produced what may be called Birmingham and Sheffield wares, and Athens was the centre of manufactures which we now find divided between Leeds and Staffordshire and London, yet coal was not known to the Greeks or Romans it was not used even in England till the 16th century, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth. This one product has been the main cause of a complete revolution in our national industry. Now, every civilised country has its railroad, its gas and coal, and iron has changed the character of our ships and our mariners. Before coal was discovered for steam and smelting purposes, the sites of our manufacturing towns were seen only by the side of mill-streams, and forests were the seats of smelting operations of those days. Those forest fires are now extinguished, and the fabrication of iron machinery and all works in iron have travelled to the coalfields, which have now become the most densely populated parts of the kingdom, and scenes of the busiest industries, and the sources of immense national and individual wealth, Wool was once the staple industry of England, but now it is nominal only in comparison with iron and coal. The introduction on the Continent of the silk-worm, more than one thousand years ago, gave rise to the unrivalled manufactures of the South of France, and originated one of the chief elements of the wealth of Italy and Greece. The Chilian potato has provided food for many millions of people, and in three hundred years has reached a perfection in Europe, to which the lazy Mexicans would never have brought it.

THE STATE OF NEW SOUTH WALES IN 1848-50.

I desire, most particularly, to impress upon the minds of my readers, that I was at one time a staunch "Free-trader" in 1848-9-50-51-52: that I signed the petition for Free-trade between Great Britain and New South Wales at Parramatta in the year 1849.

I know from my own experience that trade was then depressed to an extent never before known in Australia, that wages generally were low and money exceedingly scarce. We Australians could not see the source of this undesirable state of public affairs, and we were made to believe it was owing to the want of wise legislation on the part of N. S. W., that an enactment of Parliament to do away with customs duties alone could save the colony from perfect ruin. We were told that as money was so very scarce, and wages consequently low, there was not any other way by which we could improve our present circumstances but by PURCHASING our clothing and every other necessary of life in the CHEAPEST MARKET. That by these means we should be enabled to live comfortably and absolutely save money for old age! Gold was discovered at the Ophir, near Bathurst, in 1851, and this accident prevented many from seeing the suicidal consequences of our rashness in permitting our markets to be glutted by foreign nations with articles we could ourselves produce. I had my senses whetted on the goldfields of Victoria, in political discussions with men of MANY NATIONS, including the Americans. I now gave myself up to study the cause--for I saw the effects of our depression in earlier days. I soon found out the absolute cause to have arisen with the emancipation of New South Wales, and consequently the withdrawal from this colony by the