£@$> 
 
Columbia itlnilifrsitp 
 
 mrhflftipofJlrtuPorb 
 
 LI BRARY 
 
 the seligman library of economics 
 
 PURCHASED BY THE UNIVERSITY 
 1929 
 
PROTECTION 
 
 -IN- 
 
 VICTORIA, 
 
 An Inquiry into the Influence of Pro¬ 
 tection on the 
 
 Social & Economic Condition 
 
 of the People. 
 
 By MAX HI^SCH 
 
 (Melbourne'. 
 
 Melbourne : 
 
 Echo Publishing Company, Limited, Australian Buildings, Elizabeth St., 
 And 14 and 16 Best Street, North Fitzroy. 
 
 1861 . 
 
PROTECTION 
 
 — w — 
 
 VICTORIA, 
 
 An Inquiry into the Influence of Pro¬ 
 tection on the 
 
 Soeial & Eeonomie Condition 
 
 of the People. 
 
 
 By ]VIAX HI^SCH 
 
 (Melbourne . 
 
 Melboukne : 
 
 Echo Publishing Company, Limited, Australian Buildings, Elizabeth St., 
 And 14 and 16 Best Street, North Fitzroy. 
 
 1391. 
 
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 
 
K R R A T A 
 
 On page i 8 , in table at top of page, read value 
 of imports per head of population in N. S. W. 
 £20 iis. 2d., instead of £'2> i is. 2d. 
 

PROTECTION IN VICTORIA. 
 
 '7THE natural system of trade is free trade, the unrestricted exchange 
 of commodities against each other. That any restriction of, 
 or interference with, trade, within a political entity, reduces 
 the production of wealth and makes its distribution more 
 inequitable, has been fully recognised, and the customs houses which 
 formerly separated shire from shire, county from county, and province 
 from province, have consequently been removed in all civilised 
 countries. The natural conclusion that customs houses erected on 
 the political frontiers, which separate colony from colony and state 
 from state, must have a similar result, has, however, not yet found 
 similar acceptance. On the contrary, it is largely held that the 
 restrictions which they impose upon trade, result in a greater 
 production and more equitable distribution of wealth. This is held 
 to be especially true of frontier duties levied, not for the purpose of 
 yielding a revenue, but for that of restricting or preventing the 
 importation of goods which are or can be made within the country ; 
 so called protective duties. 
 
 This is the contention which I wish to investigate in the light of 
 facts, which a comparison of the economic history of a partly free 
 trade colony with that of a partly protective colony furnishes. 
 
 In order to estimate thoroughly the influence which any particular 
 policy exercises upon the fortunes of a community, it is necessary to 
 justly appreciate the effects of other causes upon the welfare of that 
 community. Thus to correctly demonstrate the result of the policy 
 of protection in Victoria, it would be necessary first to realise the 
 result of every other cause which has influenced the moral and 
 material development of its people. Advances in arts and sciences, 
 resulting in the lowering of cost of production without and within 
 the colony ; increase of population resulting in greater productive 
 power ; alterations in the land laws, resulting in a better use of land, 
 and a consequent increase in the production of wealth ; advances in 
 the methods of government ; improvement of laws and in the 
 education of the people; the rise and power of Trades Unionism, 
 resulting in an alteration of the distribution of wealth ; all these 
 causes must have had considerable influence in bringing about the 
 present condition of the colony. For the purpose of our inquiry, 
 their results should be rully appreciated, and should not be confused 
 i with those brought about by protection. Yet it is manifestly 
 impossible to do so adequately, and this fact materially assists the 
 advocates of protection. For it is the benefits which result from 
 
4 
 
 PROTECTION IN VICTORIA. 
 
 these causes, claimed by protectionists as resulting from their policy, 
 which confound the public judgment and conceal the pernicious, 
 influence protection has really had. 
 
 The effect of the protective policy on the development of the 
 country, cannot therefore be deduced from a comparison of its 
 present, with its ante-protective state. But, when starting from an 
 axiom, which is as certain as that other axiom, that the shortest 
 distance between two points is a straight line ; from the axiom that 
 man seeks the satisfaction of his desires with the least exertion, we 
 arrive, by deductive methods, at the conclusion that protection 
 cannot result in any of the advantages claimed for it ; when, on the 
 other hand, we find that there is no evidence whatever as to its 
 actually having produced any advantages, even when the effect of 
 the other causes which I have mentioned is ignored ; we can then 
 confidently assert, that protection has failed to confer those benefits 
 upon the country which were expected from its adoption,* and which 
 are now claimed as a justification for its perpetuation and extension. 
 We can then even go farther, and are irresistibly led to expect that 
 so far from having acted beneficially, protection has impeded the 
 advantageous action of the causes enumerated, and that without the 
 dead weight of protection, the action of these forces would have 
 resulted in much larger benefits to the country than they have as 
 yet conferred. 
 
 But in Victoria there is fortunately a method afforded us by 
 which an approximately correct estimate of the influence of protection 
 can be arrived at, namely, by a comparison of its past and present, 
 condition with the past and present condition of New South Wales. 
 Both are young countries, inhabited by a population of substantially 
 the same origin. They have substantially the same institutions, 
 forms, and methods of government, and capital and labor oscillate 
 as freely between them as between one English county and another. 
 The only differences between them, except the difference in their 
 fiscal policy, are the start in wealth and population, which the 
 richness of its alluvial goldfields gave Victoria in the middle 
 of the century ; the more compact form of the territory of 
 Victoria, and the consequent greater density of its population ; the 
 more bracing climate of that colony, resulting in a more energetic 
 character in its inhabitants ; the greater fertility of soil in many of 
 its parts, and the more general and more copious rainfall, exempting, 
 it from those destructive droughts and floods which are of regular 
 recurrence in New South Wales. 
 
 It is often pleaded that these advantages are mdre than* 
 counterbalanced by the advantages which the manufacturingindustries- 
 of New South Wales derive from cheaper coal. It is assumed that 
 coal must be cheaper in New South Wales than in Victoria, because- 
 the supply for both colonies is derived from mines situated in 
 the former colony. This, however, is a popular error;-for the 
 manufacturing industries of New South Wales are mostly carried on 
 in Sydney, the same as those of Victoria are mostly carried on in 
 Melbourne, and as the Lost of ocean carriage from the mines to* 
 
PKuTiicTION IN VICTORIA. 
 
 Sydney differs little from that to Melbourne, the cost of coal in both 
 cities is almost identical. 
 
 The economic advantages in favor of Victoria are, therefore, of 
 sufficient importance to lead one to suspect that. Victoria must have 
 largely outstripped the elder colony in the production of wealth, even 
 if its fiscal policy had remained the same. But when to these natural 
 advantages are added the artificial benefits claimed for a protective 
 policy, then it must surely be admitted that Victoria should have 
 largely outstripped New South Wales, and that the distribution of 
 wealth should be much more equitable in the former colony than in 
 the latter. Furthermore, it must be admitted, that if this is not so, 
 if there is not a greater production nor a more equitable distribution 
 of wealth in Victoria, that then we are justified in asserting that the 
 protective policy has retarded instead of assisting the development of 
 the natural advantages possessed by the colony, and has failed to 
 more equitably distribute the wealth derived from them. 
 
 To come to more detailed statements, it is claimed for protection 
 in Victoria, and by Victorian Protectionists only, a claim unsupported 
 by any of the economists who advocate that policy, that customs 
 duties levied for the purpose of protection do not increase, but rather 
 lower the price of the commodities upon which they are levied. A 
 comparison of the prices ruling in Sydney, with those ruling in 
 Melbourne for some such commodities which can be recognised as of 
 the same quality will establish the incorrectness of this claim. 
 
 A comparison of the value of imports per head of the population 
 in 1866, when protection was introduced, with that of imports during 
 late years, as well as a comparison of value of imports into New 
 South Wales with those into Victoria, will dispose of the claim that 
 protection, as far as it has gone, has reduced imports and prevented 
 the competition of foreign goods with Victorian goods. 
 
 A comparison of the value of imports of commodities produced 
 by the principal manufacturing industries, and a comparison of the 
 number of hands employed, will further establish the fact that these 
 industries are receding instead of advancing under the influence of 
 increased protection. 
 
 The democratic character of the constitution of Victoria has led 
 protectionists to claim that the levying of customs duties on a few 
 commodities must lead to an increase of the wages of labor in the 
 production of all commodities. A comparison of wages in New 
 South Wales, with those ruling in Victoria, and a comparison of 
 present wages in the latter colony with those of a former period, will 
 also test the correctness of this contention. And I may here be 
 permitted to say that I hold this to be the crucial test. Protection, 
 I hold to reduce the production of wealth, and to reduce the 
 purchasing power of wages. Nevertheless, if it could be shown that 
 protection did increase wages more than it lowers their purchasing 
 power, that under a protectionist regime there is a real increase in the 
 share of wealth which goes to labour, I, as well as almost every other 
 member of this community, would advocate protection. But, if this 
 cannot be shown, if the only result of protection is a decrease in the 
 amount of wealth produced, and a decrease in the purchasing power 
 
PROTECTION IN VICTORIA. 
 
 6 
 
 of wages, without a corresponding increase in the amount of wages, 
 then I hold protection to be entirely evil in its results. 
 
 There are, however, other subjects closely connected with those 
 already stated, and illustrating the general well-being of the 
 population in both these colonies which cannot well be overlooked 
 in such an inquiry. With these I also propose to deal after having 
 devoted a few sentences to an illustration of the general influence of 
 customs duties on foreign trade. 
 
 The object of international trade is the exchange of commodities, 
 in the production of which a country possesses a comparative 
 advantage, with other commodities, in the production of which it 
 either possesses less of an advantage over another country, or is at 
 a positive disadvantage with regard to another country ; to exchange 
 a commodity produced at the least cost, against other commodities, 
 which, within the country, could only be produced at a comparatively 
 higher cost. International trade, therefore, enables a country to 
 devote such of its productive powers as are not required for purely local 
 purposes, to the production of commodities which give most profit, 
 and thereby to acquire in exchange with the same profit commodities, 
 which, within the country, can only be produced with less profit.* 
 
 The object of protection, on the other hand, is to contrive that 
 all commodities, or as many commodities as possible, should be 
 produced within the country, regardless of the question whether the 
 production of that commodity within the country entails a greater 
 expenditure of wealth than its acquisition by exchange ; regardless 
 of the question whether the country possesses any comparative 
 aJvantage or disadvantage in the production of any of these 
 commodities as to each other, or as compared with foreign countries. 
 
 The contention is, that if any one in Victoria produces grain, and 
 exchanges it with England for furniture, that then the price of the 
 furniture is not increased to him by a customs duty levied thereon, 
 that he has not to give more grain for the furniture than before. 
 
 In spite of a customs house duty of 38^ per cent., furniture is 
 still imported into Victoria, a clear proof that, in spite of that duty, 
 it is still more profitable to exchange wheat or some other produce 
 for furniture, than to make such furniture in Victoria. The cost to 
 me of any furniture for which I exchange wheat, is determined by 
 the cost of production of that wheat. If ^ 90 is the cost of producing 
 wheat sufficient to procure furniture, the cost of producing which, in 
 the colony, is .^120, then the cost of that furniture is £qo ; with an 
 expenditure of £90 the country has received furniture worth £120. 
 The country has therefore been enriched by this exchange to the 
 amount of £$o. If now the state demands from me on the arrival of 
 that furniture, a fine of 30 per cent. I must export more wheat in order 
 to cover this fine, viz. 30 per cent, of £^o worth of wheat, or another 
 
 • By profit I do not understand merely the gain of the employer, or of the employci and the 
 capitalist, but the difference of value between the wealth consumed and the wealth produced for and by 
 any given act of production. When production is profitable, the value of the article produced always 
 exceeds the value of the articles consumed in the process. The latter is composed of the value of all the 
 material converted, of the wear and tear of machines and instruments, of the food and wear and tear of 
 clothes of the workmen The profit here meant becomes divisible between the three factors in production: 
 land which receives rent, capital which receives interest, and labour which receives wages. 
 
PROTECTION IN VICTORIA. 7 
 
 ^*27 worth of wheat. For this additional amount of wheat, I receive 
 no other return than permission to use the furniture. The furniture 
 now costs ^90 + ^'27 worth of wheat or ^117 in all. Still it is 
 more profitable to expend ^"117 worth of wheat in the purchase of 
 English furniture, than ^120 in making the same furniture in the 
 colony. But if the state now raises the duty to 40 per cent., 1 must 
 export as much wheat as will cost ^*126 to raise, for furniture which 
 it will cost £ 120 to make within the colony. It now pays better to 
 make furniture than to grow wheat, but with this difference. The 
 growing of the ^'90 worth of wheat gave to me and to the country 
 an extra profit of ^*30 in foreign exchange. It would exchange at 
 that profit with foreign furniture or other commodities. But the 
 furniture which is made in the colony under these conditions costs 
 ^'120 to make ; instead of ^90 worth of wealth expended in 
 procuring ^'120 worth of wealth, ^120 of wealth expended, 
 procures no more than ^*120 of wealth. The community, as well 
 as myself, have lost a profit of ^30 by forcing me to make furniture, 
 or get somebody else to make it, instead of myself or somebody 
 else producing wheat. The rate of exchange of furniture has been 
 raised ; the rate of exchange of wheat has been lowered. The 
 making of furniture has not been made more profitable, the same 
 amount of wealth is still consumed in making it; but the growing 
 of wheat has been made less profitable, it exchanges for less of 
 furniture than before the imposition of a duty on furniture. 
 
 What is true of the exchange of wheat against furniture, is 
 equally true of the exchange of any other two commodities. 
 Impose an import duty on any of them, and not only do you 
 increase the cost at which the individual can procure that commodity, 
 and thereby reduce the value of the commodity which he offers in 
 exchange, be it wheat or gold (wages) ; but you also reduce the 
 wealth of the community, by diverting production from more 
 profitable to less profitable industries. In no case can you possibly 
 increase the profit which can be derived from any industry. You 
 produce less wealth at the same cost, or you produce the same 
 amount of wealth at greater cost ; you always reduce profit, that 
 is the difference between the value of wealth consumed in the 
 production of other wealth and the value of the wealth so produced. 
 
 In any given country, the industries which can be protected 
 are of comparatively small importance, while those which cannot 
 be carried on without protection are of still less importance. 
 Moreover, the fact that any industry stands in need of protection 
 proves that the conditions under which that industry must be 
 carried on, are more onerous, and less capable of admitting of a 
 profit, than the conditions under which other industries can be 
 carried on in the same country. By exchanging the product of 
 the latter, the more profitable industries against commodities which 
 form the produce of industries similarly situated in foreign countries, 
 the latter commodities are obtained at a similar rate of profit as 
 the former ; profits are levelled up. But by compelling one set of 
 producers, working under more profitable conditions, to exchange 
 their produce against that of producers working in the same 
 
JJ PROTECTION IN VICTORIA. 
 
 country under less profitable conditions, the entire rate of profit 
 is lowered ; profits are levelled down. The same consumption of 
 wealth results in a smaller production of wealth under the latter, 
 than under the former condition ; the wealth of the community 
 is increased at a much smaller rate. 
 
 The claim that a customs house fine on imported goods will 
 enable all goods to be produced within any country at the same 
 cost as in the country most suitable to their production is evidently 
 absurd. Yet it is the logical outcome of the claim that duties 
 neither increase the price of imported goods on which they are 
 levied, nor that of home-made goods, the production of which 
 they are intended to foster. Every protectionist must recognise 
 that there are commodities which cannot be so produced under 
 any amount of protection. They recognise that pineapples 
 cannot be produced as cheaply in England or say Russia as in 
 Queensland, that tea and coffee, cotton and bananas, cannot be 
 produced as cheaply in Victoria as in tropical and semi-tropical 
 countries. But they maintain that there are commodities, such as 
 all or nearly all the products of secondary industries, i. e ., manufactures, 
 which can be made as cheaply in one country as in another, if 
 the state will only help the manufacturer over the first difficulty 
 of starting the industry. This was the claim on which protection 
 took its stand when the policy was first introduced into the United 
 States, and subsequently when it was aaopted in Victoria. In 
 the United States this iiiitiary stage has lasted for nearly a century, 
 in Victoria, about 25 years. In both countries has it been found, 
 that not cnly must the time of protected infancy be extended 
 indefinitely, but that the customs duties must also be raised from 
 time to time. The protected industries instead of lequiring less 
 protection as they grow older, instead of growing stronger and less 
 needful of protection, seem to grow weaker with the advance of 
 time, for they require more and more protection. In the United 
 States, protective duties have been raised from ten per cent, to as 
 much as 250 per cent., and in Victoria from 10 per cent, to 38^ per 
 cent., and in some instances to as much as 100 percent. Nevertheless, 
 not one single industry can be pointed to in either country whi:h 
 has passed out of the nursing stage, not even one which requires less 
 nursing. They all want more protection still. Protectionists 
 themselves have therefore practically abandoned this theory of 
 fostering youthful industries into self-reliance and self-support; for 
 they cannot point to a single industry in which it has succeeded. 
 Yet looking at the conditions, for instance, which govern the iron 
 and steel industry of a country, it cannot be doubtful, that, without 
 protection, that industry would not only be self-supporting and 
 prosperous in Pennsylvania, but that the natural conditions for the 
 production of these commodities are so favorable in that state, that 
 under a system of free trade it could compete in the English market 
 itself, could produce iron and steel cheaper than either Sheffield, 
 Glasgow, or Middlesborough. 
 
 If, furthermore, the commodities which are exported from the 
 United States are examined, it will at once appear, that that country 
 
PROTECTION IN VICTORIA. 
 
 9 
 
 lias made no progress towards enabling its industries to compete 
 with foreign industries. The United States now count over sixty 
 million inhabitants, as against three millions when protection was 
 adopted, yet its exports are still of substantially the same character. 
 In 1887 out of a total export of seven hundred million dollars, over 
 five hundred and ten million dollars are represented by breadstuff?, 
 raw cotton, provisions and oil, all raw material, and the produce of 
 industries which cannot be protected. Moreover, from 1878 to 1887, 
 an exceptionally prosperous period, exports were increased by eight 
 million dollars only, or a little over one per cent, in ten years, in 
 spite of a large increase of population. 
 
 I have already stated that it is not the absolute, but the 
 comparative cost of production which determines the exchange of 
 commodities between different countries. The claim that a 
 protective policy enables a given country to produce certain 
 commodities as cheaply as the country situated most favourably for 
 their production, even if it could be proved, would therefore be 
 insufficient as a justification of that policy. As long as it is not 
 shown that protection enables a given country to produce all 
 commodities at least cost and at an equal profit, that policy must 
 entail loss. It would still result in the production of commodities 
 which give less profit, in the place of those giving most profit. It is 
 only when a country can gain nothing by exchange, that it will 
 cease to exchange; as long as there are commodities of equal value, 
 some of which can be produced at less cost than others in a given 
 country, it will be more profitable to that country to acquire the 
 others by exchange than by direct production, even if itself could 
 produce these commodities at less cost than the country from which 
 it acquires them. The measure of the cost of imported goods is not 
 their cost at the place of production, but the cost of the goods which 
 have been given for them in exchange. 
 
 The circumstances which enables one country to produce any 
 given commodity at less cost than another, are the most varied and 
 perplexing Apart from geographic and climatic conditions and the 
 more or less favourable occurrence of minerals, there enter into it 
 almost all the phenomena which distinguish one nation from 
 another, which distinguish a young country from an old country. 
 But a comparatively high rate of wages is one of the most important, 
 if not the most important factor in reducing cost of production, not 
 only by forcing into use labour-saving machinery, which at a lower 
 rate of wages could not permit of a saving in wages, but also by the 
 greater intelligence and vigour of the workmen, which high wages 
 produce. Consequently, we find a nation’s power in the markets of 
 the world to be somewhat in accordance with the rate of wages to 
 which its workers are accustomed. China. India, Mexico, export no 
 manufactures, Russia least of all European nations, Italy and Spain 
 rank next. Austria stands by itself, Germany and France follow, and 
 Great Britain stands at the apex of industrial power. 
 
 If the “ pauper labour ” argument were true, if it were true that 
 every increase of wages causes a corresponding increase in the cost of 
 Jiroduction, nothing would be more foolish, than for workers to trv 
 
10 
 
 PROTECTION IN' VICTORIA. 
 
 to get an increase of wages. For high wages clearly can buy no 
 more of correspondingly dear goods, than low wages can of corre¬ 
 spondingly cheap goods, and it would not matter the least to 
 wage-earners, whether their wages were high or low. 
 
 The condition ranking next in importance is density of 
 population, enabling production to be carried on on a larger scale ; 
 permitting of the utmost subdivision of labour ; allowing of the 
 establishment of subsidiary industries, providing either the machines 
 and tools or using up the bye-products of other industries. Whether 
 protection does result in an increase in the rate of effective wages, 
 will form the subject of the next and some subsequent inquiries. 
 That it does not produce such an increase of population as would 
 secure to a young country some of the advantages of older and more 
 densely populated countries, is obvious. The history of Victoria 
 proves that on the contrary it retards increase of population ; that it 
 drives population away. 
 
 In 1866, the year when protection was introduced, the population 
 of Victoria amounted 10636,982 human beings, as against 431,412 
 in New South Wales; in 1881 the relative numbers were 862,346 
 and 751,468 ; but in 1889 while the number in New South Wales 
 had increased to 1,122,200, they were 1,118,077 only for Victoria. 
 During this period the increase had only been 75 per cent, for the 
 protected colony, while it was 140 per cent, for the free-trade colony. 
 The increase from 1871 to 1881 was 30.91 per cent, in New South 
 Wales, and only 18 per cent, in Victoria; and from 1881 to 1888 it was 
 44.43 per cent, in the former and only 26.50 per cent, in the latter 
 colony. While in the former decade the difference in the rate of 
 increase was 12.91 per cent., it was 18.43 per cent, during the latter 
 period, thus proving that the increase of population is retarded pari 
 passu with the increase in protective duties. 
 
 The circumstance that, next to Hobart, Melbourne has the 
 greatest proportion of females to males of any Australian city, points 
 to the fact that this comparatively slow increase of population is due 
 to the same cause which has been ascertained to produce the same 
 result in Hobart, namely, the emigration of native-born males. The 
 proportions of females to males are: Hobart 107.02, Melbourne 
 103.38, Sydney 96.80. Furthermore the proportion of females in the 
 total population was in 1881 : 47.5 per cent, in Victoria, and 45.8 
 per cent, in New South Wales ; in 1888 46.6 per cent, in Victoria, 
 and only 44.3 per cent, in New South Wales ; in 1891 it was 47.8 per 
 cent, for the former and 46.5 for the latter colony, showing again that 
 protection has led to a loss of male inhabitants. 
 
 The following two tables show the greater attraction which New 
 South Wales exercises on men in the prime of life, and the loss 
 sustained by Victoria through the emigration of this economically 
 most valuable section of its population :— 
 
 MALES IN 1881. 
 
 VICTORIA. NEW SOUTH WALES. 
 
 Up to 25 years old ...257,067 ... 56.86 per cent. I 229,342 ... 55.78 per cent. 
 From 25 to 45 years old 99,497 ... 22 „ 115,991 ... 28.22 „ 
 
 45 years old and over 95,579 ... 21.14 ., | 65,816 ... 16 „ 
 
 453,143 
 
 411,14c, 
 
PROTECTION IN VICTORIA. 
 
 I I 
 
 MALES BETWEEN THE AGES OF 25 AND 45 YEARS. 
 
 VICTORIA. 
 
 NEW SOUTH WALES. 
 
 83.275=10-7 per cent. 
 113> t .«9 I = I 5-4 
 
 1871, 135,413=18.1 per cent. 
 1881, 99.497=11.5 „ 
 
 Loss, 35.916. 
 
 Gain, 32,716. 
 
 In the first of these tables the percentages are those of the male 
 population ; in the latter the percentage of the males in their prime 
 to the total population is given. The first table shows the result, 
 viz., the greater percentage of men in the prime of life in New South 
 Wales; the latter table shows that the shifting took place in the years 
 during which Victoria enjoyed protection, that on account or in spite 
 of protection, young men are avoiding and leaving the protected 
 colony, in which, if protectionists are right, they ought to find, it 
 easiest to make a living, are flocking into the colony, in which they 
 ought to find it most difficult to make a living. In estimating the 
 significance of these figures, it must not be forgotten, that, according 
 to the general increase of population, we ought to have had in 1881, 
 20,987 more males of from 25 to 45 years than in 1871, making our 
 total loss of men in the prime of life 56,903, surely a most disastrous 
 retrogression in one decade. There is, however, nothing new in these 
 tables; they are merely a confirmation of what has long been generally 
 known. Every traveller remarks upon the number of Victorians 
 engaged in trade and agriculture in New South Wales and other 
 colonies, and the paucity of natives or former inhabitants of New 
 South Wales similarly engaged in Victoria. A more significant fact 
 by which to measure the result of protection can scarcely be asked 
 for ; for if the protective policy had added to the natural advantages 
 of Victoria, then surely Victoria would have powerfully attracted the 
 workers in the prime of life from every colony and even from over 
 sea. But the opposite is the case ; the strong, the hopeful, and 
 energetic leave the protected colony, flock into the free-trade colony 
 instead, proving conclusively that there it is easiest for them to gain 
 a comfortable livelihood. 
 
 One of the most firmly established facts in the science of statistics 
 is, that under present social and economic conditions, the numbers of 
 marriages and births rise and fall with any rise or fall in the nation’s 
 prosperity; that steady employment at decent wages especially has the 
 invariable result of increasing the number of marriages and births. 
 And it must be held as similarly true, that in two nations of similar 
 origin, the members of which are constantly intermingling, the social 
 and political institutions of which are the same, the more prosperous 
 nation, the one in which employment is more constant and effective 
 wages higher, will show the greater number of marriages and births ; 
 and vice versa where the number of these are greater, there wages are 
 higher and employment more constant. Under the application of 
 this unerring test also, New South Wales holds her superiority over 
 Victoria, as the following table shows, a superiority not founded on 
 natural advantages, but resulting from the fiscal policy we have 
 adopted :— 
 
I2 protection in victoria. 
 
 No. OF MARRIAGES AND BIRTHS PER iooo OK MEAN POPULATION. 
 
 MARK JACKS. 
 
 
 Victoria. 
 
 N. S. Wales. 
 
 
 Victoria. 
 
 N. S. Wales. 
 
 1866 
 
 6.76 
 
 8.26 
 
 1866 
 
 39-76 
 
 4045 
 
 1867 , 
 
 6.79 
 
 7.84 
 
 1867 ! 
 
 39-75 
 
 41 -' 4 
 
 I86S 
 
 7.08 
 
 8.23 
 
 1868 
 
 41.08 
 
 40.72 
 
 1869 
 
 6.89 
 
 8.04 
 
 1869 
 
 37-89 
 
 40.74 
 
 1870 
 
 6.63 
 
 7.85 
 
 1870 : 
 
 38.07 
 
 40.09 
 
 1871 
 
 6-37 
 
 7.78 
 
 1871 ' 
 
 37.15 
 
 39-63 
 
 1872 
 
 6.36 
 
 7.46 
 
 1872 
 
 36.33 
 
 38.46 
 
 1873 
 
 6.50 
 
 8.05 
 
 1873 ! 
 
 3671 
 
 39-38 
 
 1874 1 
 
 6.33 
 
 7.70 
 
 1874 ; 
 
 3446 
 
 3 "- 3 ° 
 
 3S75 j 
 
 6-33 
 
 7.88 
 
 1875 i 
 
 33-94 
 
 38.53 
 
 1876 
 
 6.21 
 
 7.65 
 
 1876 ! 
 
 33 . 6 i 
 
 38.56 
 
 1877 1 
 
 6.31 
 
 7-94 
 
 1877 ; 
 
 32.17 
 
 37-92 
 
 1878 1 
 
 6.20 
 
 8.0S 
 
 1878 
 
 32 . 3 r > 
 
 3L30 
 
 1879 
 
 5 - 9 8 
 
 7.80 
 
 1879 I 
 
 32.18 
 
 38.99 
 
 1880 
 
 6.22 
 
 7.68 
 
 1880 i 
 
 30.75 
 
 38.80 
 
 1881 
 
 6.79 
 
 8.27 
 
 188 r 
 
 31-24 
 
 38.18 
 
 1882 
 
 7.09 
 
 1 8.74 
 
 18S2 
 
 30.05 
 
 37-37 
 
 1883 
 
 743 
 
 8.83 
 
 1883 
 
 30.2 3 
 
 3749 
 
 IS34 
 
 7-73 
 
 8.49 
 
 1884 
 
 30.89 
 
 38.54 
 
 -1885 
 
 7.72 
 
 8.18 
 
 1885 
 
 31.37 
 
 37.64 
 
 ISS6 
 
 7.84 
 
 7-97 
 
 1886 
 
 31-23 
 
 37-03 
 
 1887 
 
 7.62 
 
 7.42 
 
 1887 
 
 32.40 
 
 3642 
 
 1388 
 
 8.42 
 
 7-37 
 
 1888 
 
 32 49 
 
 36 20 
 
 1889 
 
 8.22 
 
 6.71 
 
 1889 
 
 32.52 
 
 33-24 
 
 Mean per 
 Year. 
 
 6.90 
 
 8.00 
 
 
 j 34-54 
 
 38.90 
 
 The most remarkable lesson which this table conveys, apart from 
 the conclusive proof of the greater well-being of the bulk of the 
 people of New South Wales than that of Victoria which it affords, 
 lies in the fact, that during the years 1887, 1888. and 1889, the years 
 during which occurred the preparation and culmination of the boom 
 period of Melbourne, the proportion of marriages in Victoria exceeds 
 that of marriages in New South Wales, whilethe proportion of births, 
 while increasing, does not yet come up to those in New South Wales 
 even in the last year. It shows that this period of plentiful 
 employment immediately drew population from New South Wales 
 to Victoria; but a population of unmarried people mostly, just what 
 was to be expected, and a further proof, if any were required, that 
 the previous exodus of men in the prime of life was due to the 
 obverse cause, want of employment. 
 
 The excess of births over deaths tells the same tale ; its mean 
 for the ten years from 1878 to 1887 being ii2for Victoria and 148 
 for New South Wales per 1000 of population, showing the more 
 rapid increase of the native-born population of the latter colony. 
 
 From whichever standpoint the movements of population and the 
 vital statistics of the two colonies are considered, it is clear that the 
 edect of protection has been, to retard the increase of population 
 which must have taken place, had the fiscal policy of the colony been 
 
PROTECTION IN VICTORIA. 
 
 13 
 
 different. But there remains to be disproved one popular prejudice. 
 It is often asserted by protectionist orators, that the greater increase 
 of population in New South Wales is due to the fact, that that colony 
 encourages immigration by affording state assistance to intending 
 immigrants. I have already shown that a considerable part of that 
 greater increase is due to a greater percentage of births over deaths, 
 that is, a more rapid increase of the native born population of that 
 colony than of that of Victoria. But even in that part of the greater 
 increase, which is due to immigration, state assisted immigration plays 
 a small part only, as the following table will show :— 
 
 EXCESS OF IMMIGRANTS OVER EMIGRANTS BY SEA. 
 
 State Assisted 
 
 
 Victoria. 
 
 N. S. Wales. 
 
 Excess of 
 
 N. S. Wa'es. 
 
 Immigrants 
 N. S. Wa' 
 
 1881 
 
 7,322 
 
 22.8q8 1 
 
 15,576 
 
 2,577 
 
 18.82 
 
 10,880 
 
 I9-3I7 
 
 8,437 
 
 3,233 
 
 1883 
 
 11.030 
 
 32,810 
 
 21,780 
 
 8,369 
 
 1884 
 
 14.141 
 
 32,232 j 
 
 18,091 
 
 7,563 
 
 1885 
 
 14,982 
 
 39.6*3 
 
 24,701 
 
 5,554 
 
 1886 
 
 25.302 
 
 28,492 
 
 3P90 
 
 4,081 
 
 1887 
 
 22,026 
 
 23,316 
 
 1,490 
 
 1,362 
 
 Total 
 
 105,683 
 
 198,948 
 
 93,265 
 
 32,744 
 
 In these 7 years the number of state-assisted immigrants 
 amounted therefore to 16.4 per cent, only of the total number of 
 immigrants in excess of emigrants by sea, and to one third onlv of the 
 excess of such immigrants in New South Wales over those in Victoria. 
 Of the number which arrived overland and of which no record is kept, 
 none were state assisted, and it must moreover not be forgotten, that 
 while 198,94s is the difference between immigrants and emigrants 
 only, 32,744 is the total number of state-assisted immigrants, many 
 of which either found their way into other colonies afterwards or 
 would have done so. had these offered better prospects than New South 
 Wales. Moreover, the total number of state-assisted immigrants 
 amounted to 59,000 only during the whole period from 1866 to 1889, 
 as against a total increase of population of 690,788 souls, or only 8.5 
 per cent, of the whole increase. 
 
 It is not infrequently asserted that the more rapid increase of 
 the population of New South Wales is due to her larger territory. 
 It is needless to say that her territory was just as much larger in 1866 
 when her population was only two thirds the number of ours, than 
 it is to-day. This reply would be insufficient if Victoria already- 
 possessed as great a population as could use her natural advantages 
 in the most profitable manner ; for in that case every new comer 
 would be a burden. But when millions of acres of land are as yet 
 unused, and when many more millions are as yet insufficiently used ; 
 when it is seen that Victoria might maintain ten and twenty times 
 her present population in wealth and comfort, that answer is 
 sufficient to expose the fallacy of the territory argument. 
 
 Notwithstanding the reduction in the production of wealth 
 resulting from the artificial creation of industries which work under 
 
14 
 
 PROTECTION IN VICTORIA. 
 
 more onerous conditions than those natural to the country in its 
 existing state of development, the advocates of protection claim, that 
 the rate of wages in all industries, whether capable of protection or 
 not, is increased through this artificial transference of labour and 
 capital from more profitable to less profitable industries. The 
 reasoning usually employed to sustain this assertion reads somewhat 
 like this. By levying an import duty on any commodity, you enable 
 the production of that commodity to be carried on at a profit, or at a 
 greater profit than before. The profit being greater, higher wages 
 can be paid. The higher wages paid in these industries will enable 
 workers in all industries to compel their employers to pay higher 
 wages. 
 
 This theory is obviously fallacious with regard to both points on 
 which it hinges. It assumes that duties can make an industry- 
 profitable, i. <?., increase the value (not price) of the product, or decrease 
 the cost of its production, and that because an industry is more 
 profitable the employing capitalist will give to labour a larger reward, 
 higher wages, than if it were less profitable. 
 
 We have already seen in the example of wheat and furniture, 
 that no duty can make any industry productive of greater profits, 
 that on the contrary, every duty results in a reduction of profit in 
 those industries which are most profitable underexistingcircumstances. 
 But though duties cannot make any industry more really profitable, 
 they can make the conduct of that industry more gainful to those 
 who conduct it. If the loss on a certain business is ^*1000 a year, 
 and the capitalist who engages in it receives from the state £2000 a 
 year as a gift for conducting that business, it pays him to do so, it is 
 made profitable to him. 
 
 If the £2000 are subscribed by the purchasers of his goods over 
 and above the price of his goods, it is equally profitable to him. 
 But there is no other condition which will induce him to enter upon 
 the conduct of any industry, not naturally profitable, but such a gift ; 
 and such a gift he receives from the purchasers of his goods. For in 
 the same measure in which duties increase the price of foreign goods, 
 he will increase the goods he makes to compete with them, and 
 every purchaser of protected goods, pays the increased price either 
 to the state, if imported, or to the manufacturer, if home made. 
 Every purchaser of such goods must part with a share of his earnings 
 as a recompense to the manufacturers of protected goods, as a bribe 
 for them to get such goods made in the country. Granted for a 
 moment that it is wise for the members of a community, in Victoria 
 mostly working men, to combine, for the purpose of each handing 
 part of his earnings to a Mr. Jones, in order that Mr. Jones may 
 reap a gain or larger gain from that employment of his capital, does 
 it at all follow that Mr. Jones will consent to allow the few men 
 whom he employs to participate in this gain to a greater extent than 
 he can help ? Does it follow that he will pay higher wages than 
 others ? Are employers generally so benevolent that they raise 
 wages on their own accord. If employers are so benevolent, then a 
 considerable part of the social question is solved. Trades unions 
 and strikes certainly would be obsolete and unnecessary institutions. 
 
PROTECTION IN VICTORIA. 
 
 15 
 
 Let us, however, assume that customs house duties of sufficient 
 magnitude are levied to enable manufacturers to charge such high 
 prices for the commodities they make, that their gains are consider¬ 
 ably larger than can be obtained for capital in other pursuits. 1 he 
 inevitable result would be that not only would they extend their 
 operations, but others would enter upon the same industries. The 
 limit of consumption, within the country, of the commodities produced 
 by them would soon be reached ; the export of these commodities 
 would be either insignificant or impossible, because the fact that 
 they want protection proves, that they cannot compete in the open 
 market; competition would reduce the price, and very soon the 
 protected industries would yield less gain to the manufacturers than 
 other industries, while the prices of their productions would still be 
 higher than they would be without protection. Further increase 
 of duty cannot profit a manufacturer whose industry has arrived at 
 this inevitable stage. It would only do so if it increased the demand 
 for the commodity produced by him, within the country, which 
 clearly is impossible. 
 
 That most of the protected industries of Victoria have already 
 arrived at this inevitable stage, is proved by the languishing 
 condition, in spite of recently imposed increased duties, of our 
 woollen mills, clothing factories, boot factories, cigar factories, and 
 
 others. 
 
 The following tables show that our principal protected industries 
 afford less and less employment in spite of the fact, that in the period 
 under review 1883 to 1890, the population has increased 22 per cent., 
 and that therefore these industries, if they were growing, would 
 employ a similarly increased number of workers :— 
 
 HANDS EMPLOYED IN VARIOUS FACTORIES IN VICTORIA. 
 
 Factories, etc. 
 
 Hands employed. 
 
 Decrease. 
 
 
 1883. 
 
 1890. 
 
 
 Clothing . 
 
 6155 
 
 1 5068 
 
 1087 
 
 Hats and Caps 
 
 714 
 
 482 
 
 232 
 
 Rope, twine, etc. 
 
 Meat Curing, ... 
 
 503 
 
 288 
 
 215 
 
 599 
 
 279 
 
 320 
 
 E'lour Mills . 
 
 836 
 
 807 
 
 29 
 
 Jam, pickle, etc. 
 
 1 463 
 
 406 
 
 57 
 
 Coffee preparing, etc. ... 
 Soap and Candles 
 
 279 
 
 127 
 
 152 
 
 472 
 
 399 
 
 
 Tanneries 
 
 1786 
 
 1576 
 
 210 
 
 Tents and Tarpaulings 
 
 112 
 
 95 1 
 
 17 
 
 Agricultural Implements 
 
 1147 
 
 1006 
 
 141 
 
 Salt . 
 
 66 
 
 60 
 
 6 
 
 Woollen Mills. 
 
 813 
 
 810 
 
 3 
 
 T obacco . 
 
 855 
 
 84c 
 
 13 
 
 Brushware 
 
 183 
 
 1S1 
 
 
 Boiling down ... 
 
 US 
 
 7i 
 
 74 
 
 Total 
 
 15,128 j 
 
 12,495 
 
 2633 
 
16 
 
 PROTECTION IN VICTORIA. 
 
 EXPORT OF VICTORIAN MANUFACTURES. 
 
 
 1 i 83 3 . 
 
 1889. 
 
 Hardware, etc. 
 
 £ 
 
 28,057 
 
 £ 
 
 i5o23 
 
 J ims, etc. 
 
 23.271 
 
 4,638 
 
 Preserved Meats .. 
 
 .. 76,015 
 
 16,151 
 
 Boots and Shoes .. 
 
 30,058 
 
 16,234 
 
 Cordage .. 
 
 27,613 
 
 4,683 
 
 Saddlery and Harness 
 
 22,417 
 
 6,882 
 
 Woollens, etc. 
 
 Drugs and Chemicals 
 
 .. i 12,546 
 
 2,609 
 
 .. 15.400 
 
 4,7n 
 
 Furniture 
 
 46,832 
 
 15,614 
 
 Machinery 
 
 138,407 
 
 245,998 
 
 62,167 
 
 98,367 
 
 Apparel 
 
 Sugar and Molasses 
 
 ... | 216,500 
 
 38,647 
 
 Loss 
 
 .£893,020 
 
 .. ^606,769 
 
 ,£286,231 
 
 It might, however, be said that although higher wages cannot 
 be expected from an employer’s benevolence, the increase in 
 the demand for labour, which follows the establishment of industries 
 by protective duties, will reduce the competition of labourers 
 amongst themselves for employment, and thus either increase or 
 prevent the fall of wages. Yet inasmuch as I have already shown 
 that protection reduces the profits arising from the more profitable 
 industries of a country, it. will be evident that it discourages these 
 industries more than it encourages the protective industries ; for 
 while the latter gain only the higher profit from the goods they 
 produce, the former lose both in this and in the duty which the 
 state collects from imported goods. Protection therefore throws 
 more men out of employment, or prevents the employment of more 
 men, than it possibly can procure employment for. A comparison 
 of our exports, the produce of the more profitable industries, with 
 the exports from New South Wales will establish this point most 
 clearly. 
 
 It has been asserted that the greater quantity of exported 
 produce from New South Wales is due to the larger territory of that 
 colony. This would be a sufficient explanation, if land could produce 
 wealth without man’s labour ; but when it is recollected that our 
 population is almost as numerous as that of the sister colony, that 
 at least, the same amount of foreign capital is employed here, and 
 that the agricultural and mineral resources of this colony are by no 
 means fully availed of, then this argument will be seen to be 
 fallacious. 
 
PROTECTION' IN VICTORIA. 
 
 It is also asserted that our exports are largely of manufactured 
 goods and therefore give as much employment as the more valuable 
 exports from New South Wales, principally composed of raw materials. 
 Apart from the circumstance, that the alleged facts have no existence, 
 our exports of manufactured articles in 1889 amounting only to 
 X“ 499 ,= 7 ° C a P art f rom provisions), the allegation that manufactures 
 give more employment than raw material is itself untrue, when 
 applied to value. A given bulk of raw material has occasioned less 
 labour than the same bulk of most manufactured goods. But a 
 given value of either has occasioned the same labour and afforded the 
 same employment; for it is labour and labour alone which determines 
 value. A hundred-weight of leather is produced with less labour 
 than a hundred-weight of boots. But it takes the same amount of 
 labour to make /100 worth of leather, as to make /100 worth of 
 boots. 
 
 COMPARISON OF EXPORTS FROM 1880 TO 1889. 
 
 
 Victoria. 
 
 N. S. Wales. 
 
 Per head of Population. 
 
 Victoria. 
 
 | N. S. Wales. 
 
 1880 ... 
 
 £ 15,954,559 
 
 £ 15,525,138 
 
 ^18 II 0 
 
 £ 20 18 4 
 
 IS8I ... 
 
 16,252,103 
 
 16,049,503 
 
 18 9 0 
 
 20 12 4 
 
 1882 ... 
 
 16,103,579 
 
 16,716,961 
 
 17 19 9 
 
 20 12 7 
 
 1883 ... 
 
 16,938,863 
 
 19,886,018 
 
 18 7 9 
 
 23 4 0 
 
 1884 ... 
 
 16,000,465 
 
 18,251,056 
 
 16 18 7 
 
 20 4 2 
 
 Total. 
 
 81,389,569 
 
 86,428,676 
 
 90 6 1 
 
 105 11 5 
 
 1885 ... 
 
 I5,55b758 
 
 16,541,745 
 
 16 0 2 
 
 17 0 7 
 
 1886 ... 
 
 n,795,32i 
 
 15,556,213 
 
 11 15 0 
 
 15 n 0 
 
 1887 ... 
 
 n,35M45 
 
 18,496,917 
 
 10 19 0 
 
 17 17 0 
 
 1888 - 
 
 13,853,763 
 
 20,859,715 
 
 12 14 0 
 
 19 4 4 
 
 1889 ... 
 
 12,734,734 
 
 23,249,934 
 
 1179 
 
 20 14 4 
 
 Total. 
 
 65,286,821 
 
 94,7o4,5 2 4 
 
 62 15 11 
 
 90 7 3 
 
 While the produce of, and consequently employment in the natural 
 industries of New South Wales is constantly increasing, it is falling 
 off in a dangerous degree in ours, through the discouragement which 
 they suffer from protection. There would be no danger to the 
 wage-earners from this fact, if the manufacture of goods formerly 
 imported were encouraged in a similar or greater ratio. The 
 imports into the colony will show whether this is the case ; for they 
 would naturally decrease if the production of home-made goods were 
 to increase to such an enormous extent. If, however, no such 
 reduction in imports accompanies this large reduction in exports, 
 and if the sister colony imports no more than we do, in spite of her 
 greater export, then the proof is complete, that protection reduces 
 employment ; that it throws many more hands out of employment 
 than it finds employment for ; that instead of reducing the com¬ 
 petition of workmen for employment, it increases that competition ; 
 and that therefore, instead of tending towards an increase of wagesj 
 it tends towards a lowering of wages. 
 
PROTECTION IN VICTORIA. 
 COMPARISON OF IMPORTS. 
 
 
 1 
 
 ; 
 
 Population, j 
 
 Imports. 
 
 Value of Im¬ 
 
 ports per head 
 of Population. 
 
 Population. 
 
 Imports. 
 
 Value of Im¬ 
 
 ports per head 
 of Population. 
 
 1866 
 
 1888 
 
 1889 
 
 636,982 
 
 1,090,869 
 
 1,118,028 
 
 14,771,711 
 
 23.972,134 
 
 24,402,700 
 
 \ £ s. d. 
 
 23 3 9 
 
 j 22 0 0 
 
 ' 2t 16 £ 
 
 i 
 
 431,412 
 
 1,085,74° 
 
 1,122,200 
 
 8.867,017 
 
 20^88^,567 
 
 22,863,037 
 
 ?£ s. d. 
 :Q 11 2 
 
 19 5 0 
 
 20 7 5 
 
 NEW SOUTH WALES. 
 
 The claims that protection increases the opportunities of 
 employment and raises wages, evidently has no foundation. There 
 is however, another claim, similar, but resting on a different basis. 
 This claim is, that the importation of goods made by cheap labour 
 must inevitably reduce the wages of the higher-paid labour in this 
 colony, unless protection steps in and either prevents the importation 
 of such goods, or increases their cost to the consumer, in V ictona, 
 be it marked, mostly these higher-paid labourers themselves. At 
 the first glance this theory is very seductive. 
 
 Competition of labourer with labourer is the cause of low wages ; 
 therefore the competition of labourers willing to work for low wages 
 must reduce the wages of higher-paid operatives. This is undoubt¬ 
 edly true • but it doeslnot apply, for the competition which protection 
 might prevent is not the competition of labourer with labourer, but 
 the competition of goods with goods. It tries to compel our highly 
 paid operatives to buy dear home-made goods, by artificially 
 increasing the price of similar goods made elsewhere. It fosters the 
 making of these goods and thus produces the competition which it 
 professes to prevent. Under natural conditions, such competition 
 either does not take place, or only for a short time. The low-paid 
 foreign labo«r makes one commodity: our high-priced labour 
 produces another commodity to exchange against it. In the long 
 run there is no competition ; there is mutual help, for if the cheap 
 foreign labour is effective labour, if its cheapness really reduces cost 
 of production, then its cheapness increases the reward for our labour 
 If a Victorian miner can earn in one day sufficient to pay for 
 clothing which it took two days of English labour to make, the 
 reward of his labour is just double what it would be if these clothes 
 had to be made in Victoria by labour not more effective. For in 
 that case they would also take two days of Victorian labour to make, 
 and as the earnings of all labour (special skill excluded) in a given 
 country are similar in amount, the miner would have to work two 
 days to get these clothes, the same as the English miner has 
 
PROTECTION IN VICTORIA. 
 
 19 
 
 to do. But if English miners and other labourers were to come to 
 Victoria in numbers, and were to continue their readiness to work 
 for English wages, then clearly Victorian miners and other labourers 
 would have to work for equally low wages. 
 
 I have already exposed the fallacy of the assumption that low 
 wages result in a low cost of production ; and have shown that on 
 the average, high wages result in low cost of production, as low 
 wages must result in high cost of production. This is moreover 
 acknowledged in the fiscal policy of all protected countries. Russia, 
 where wages are lowest, has the highest protective duties of any 
 European country. Italy, Spain, and Austria, with wages somewhat 
 higher than Russia, do not fear Russian competition in manufactured 
 goods ; they fear the competition of France, Germany, and England, 
 countries having higher rates of wages than themselves. Germany 
 and France, with lower wages than England, mainly protect them¬ 
 selves against England, and England, with higher wages than any 
 other European country, maintains these comparatively high wages 
 under a system of free trade, is moreover infinitely more powerful in 
 the markets of the world, produces more commodities at lower cost, 
 than any of these low-wage countries. While our manufacturers 
 despise the industrial competition of low-wage countries, such as 
 India, Mexico, and China, our operatives, with equal reason, dread 
 the competition of their badly paid inhabitants in Victoria itself. In 
 China, the Chinese benefit our operatives by getting them cheap tea ; 
 in Victoria they would harm them by getting them cheap wages. 
 Labour competes with labour within the country ; labourers employed 
 in different countries on different commodities never compete, 
 on the contrary, assist each other through international exchange. 
 
 Not only is there no reason to dread the cheap labour of foreign 
 countries, there is no proof that if such labour were to be feared, pro¬ 
 tection could prevent its evil influence. For protection, however 
 high, seems incapable of preventing, or even of reducing, the amount 
 of foreign goods which a country imports. There is not one of the 
 protected countries in which the importation of foreign goods has 
 been materially reduced since the introduction of the protective 
 system. I have already shown that Victoria imports to-day 
 substantially the same value of goods per head of population, as it 
 did when protection was first introduced ; that it actually imports 
 considerably more foreign goods per head of the population than 
 New South Wales ; and it must not be overlooked that as prices 
 have fallen enormously during the last 25 years, the same value 
 means an enormously greater quantity of goods. 
 
 In the United States the failure of protection to prevent or reduce 
 the importation of foreign goods has been even more decisive, as the 
 following table will show. To fully appreciate its significance, it 
 must be borne in mind, that while in 1820 customs duties amounted 
 to thirty per cent., they have been augmented to such a degree, since 
 the beginning of the war of secession, that in 1880 they certainly 
 averaged at least double of that percentage. 
 
20 PROTECTION IN VICTORIA. 
 
 IMPORTS INTO THE UNITED- STATES- OF AMERICA. 
 
 
 
 POPULATION. 
 
 TOTAL OF 
 IMPORTS. 
 
 IMPORTS PER HEAD 
 OF POPULATION. 
 
 1820 
 
 
 9,633,822 
 
 $ 
 
 74,450,000 
 
 $ 
 
 7-7 
 
 1340 
 
 
 17,069,453 
 
 122,957,544 
 
 7.20 
 
 i860 
 
 
 31,443,321 
 
 353,616,149 
 
 435,938,403 
 
 11.20 
 
 1870 
 
 
 38,558,371 
 
 11.30 
 
 IS80 
 
 
 50,410,000 
 
 667^954,746 
 
 13-25 
 
 In spite of an enormous increase in the duties levied upon 
 imports, the importation of foreign commodities per head of the 
 population, has almost been doubled. How, then r can protection 
 claim any efficiency in keeping out foreign goods. 
 
 I have already dealt with the assertion that protection provides 
 employment, that it creates employment which otherwise would not 
 be available, and have amply shown that the assertion can only be 
 maintained by steadily looking in one direction and refusing to look 
 in any other ; by carefully noting every additional labourer employed 
 in any protected industry, and carefully refusing to note the tens of 
 labourers who are deprived of employment in the unprotected 
 industries. The mere effort to increase employment by such 
 artificial means as protection affords, presupposes a complete 
 misconception of the conditions which underlie our social state. 
 That there should be any fear of want of work for willing hands, 
 when inventions and discoveries have enabled each pair of hands to 
 produce at least fifteen times the amount of wealth which they could 
 produce at the beginning of the century ; when every worker can on 
 an average produce more wealth in one day than he need consume in 
 ten; when the labour of a comparatively small part of the population, 
 not only suffices to provide the whole population with necessaries, 
 and many with luxuries, but in addition thereto, creates that 
 enormous surplus of wealth which we see demonstrated in the rapidly 
 increasing wealth of every civilised nation ; when all around us there 
 are millions of acres of land awaiting but the industry of the 
 husbandman to yield a bountiful harvest; when for every man who 
 tills a field, two men at least are required to provide him with houses 
 and furniture, machines and tools, clothes and boots, to carry these 
 requirements to him and to carry back the produce of his labour ; 
 when the sea teems with fish and our mineral wealth is daily found 
 to be less exhaustible than it was once feared to be, is truly a most 
 wonderful result of social arrangements. Few men want work for 
 the sake of work ; it is for the reward of work that they are willing 
 to work. That reward, under present economic conditions, labour can 
 only partially get. Whether the fiscal policy of a country be 
 protective or free trade, under present conditions labour can only 
 retain a part of what labour produces, though for a time at least free 
 trade increases that part. Yet even so it is only too true that many 
 willing hands cannot find work to do. But how can protection alter 
 that ? By creating profitless industries, by taking labour from 
 
PROTECTION IN VICTORIA. 
 
 21 
 
 profitable work, to do work which has to be paid for by contributions 
 levied from all other workers without any return to them ? When 
 de Tocqueville visited the United States 56 years ago, he attributed to 
 its democratic institutions the fact that there were no millionaires 
 and no paupers. To-day, America has some thousands of millionaires 
 and three millions of paupers living on charity. Has protection 
 succeeded in preventing the development of both these classes, or is 
 it not answerable for a good many of both classes ? Protectionist 
 Germany spends large sums for the creation of colonies on its most 
 sterile soils, for the employment of men who otherwise cannot find 
 work, and Victorians leave the protected country of their birth by 
 thousands, to look for work elsewhere. Is that a proof that 
 protection increases the work for which the accustomed reward is 
 offered to labour ? That protection increases work is true enough, 
 but only in this sense, that more work is required for the production 
 of a given amount of wealth, or which is the same, the same amount 
 of work produces less wealth ; the work is increased, the reward is less. 
 
 I now propose to test the assertion that protection increases 
 wages by a comparison of wages in Victoria with wages in New 
 South Wales,, as well as by a comparison of wages in Victoria in 1878 
 with those ruling in 1888. In order to do so, I have compiled two 
 tables (appendixes A and B). Appendix B is an abstract from the 
 comparative table of wages published in the Victoiian Year Book 
 1888-9. Leaving out domestic servants, this table enumerates 121 
 different employments, in 58 of which no change has taken place, in 
 spite of the fact that new duties have been imposed and old ones 
 increased to an extent that the additional revenue derived from 
 them amounts to ^*180,000 a year, while the remissions of duties 
 only amount to ^*38,000 a year. The alteration in the rates of wages 
 for the remaining 63 different employments contained in appendix A 
 classify themselves as follows:— 
 
 Increase. Decrease. 
 
 Protected Trades .. .. 13 .. 25 
 
 Unprotected Trades .. .. 16 .. 9 
 
 29 34 
 
 In the decade under review, wages have therefore fallen in thirty- 
 four trades, and have slightly risen in twenty-nine trades only. 
 Moreover the fall has mainly taken place in protected trades, while 
 the rise has taken place in more unprotected than in protected trades. 
 
 Lest, however, it should be held that even the small and partial 
 advance of wages may be attributed to the influence of protection, I 
 may point out that during this decade, the power of Trades Unions 
 was at its height and was strenuously exerted for the protection of 
 wage-earners. Yet even this power, wielded by energetic hands, has 
 not been able to increase the average of wages, has only been able to 
 prevent their falling more than they have actually done. Mr. Havter’s 
 figures however only reveal part of the truth. They only deal with 
 trades working in factories and workshops, with the officially 
 arranged wages. They do not deal with the large number of workers, 
 who work in their own homes or in the homes of sweaters, and they 
 
22 
 
 PROTECTION IN VICTORIA. 
 
 do not reveal the well-known fact, that in many trades considerable 
 deductions are made from the log or official wages. What the wages 
 of sweated workers amount to in spite of protection has been 
 revealed by the report of the “Taylor’s Union,” published in the 
 ultra-protectionist "Age newspaper:”— 
 
 “Dreadful dens existed, as bad as anything to be found in London.” 
 “After twelve or fourteen hours of labour, . . . many had not earned 
 more than is. 6d. or 2s. for their whole day’s work “the average 
 remuneration was about i£d per hour “ whatever they do, they rarely 
 earn more than 15s. per week of seventy-two hours.’’ 
 
 These statements were partially confirmed by the Chief Inspector 
 of factories in his official report, from which I take the following 
 extracts:— 
 
 “ Particulars were obtained from sixty-eight female outside slop 
 workers, but in fifty-four cases only were the wages and hours of 
 labour given. These show an average wage of 18.07 shillings per 
 week for 49.2 hours’ work. It must be borne in mind that this 
 includes persons who employ one, two, or three assistants, and the 
 joint earnings of these enables them to show higher weekly averages 
 than the persons who work alone. The average of the single worker 
 would give a smaller weekly earning for a greater number of hours 
 worked.” 
 
 “ By taking an average of sixteen shirt and underclothing 
 makers, it is found that by working 55.6 hours they can earn 11s. 3d. 
 per week. These wages, although so wretchedly small, are really 
 better than the average actually earned by shirtmakers. This arises 
 from the fact that they have to find cotton, needles, and other 
 necessaries for their work. I am further of opinion that the working 
 hours of those who are actually dependent on this work are greater 
 than the average given.” 
 
 These quotations describe the condition to which one class of 
 protected labourers has been reduced. But the evil is not confined 
 to this class ; it is the condition towards which all unskilled labour is 
 tending, all that large body of labourers who cannot join unions. 
 Good workmen can be engaged by the hundred at from 25s. to 27s. 
 6d. a week, men who have to support a family ; respectable girls, 
 decently dressed, are glad to work for nine hours a day for 12s. 6d. a 
 week, and without sweating. 
 
 Moreover, the rates of wages as published in the Victorian Year 
 Book are apt to mislead in another respect. They cannot correctly 
 state the remuneration of labour in Victoria, because they take no 
 account of periods of enforced idleness. There is scarcely any trade, 
 in which the majority of men are in receipt of wages all the year 
 round. When the average wages of a trade are stated to be /2 a 
 week, it would be erroneous to assume that the annual earnings of 
 every man employed in that trade would amount to ^104. On the 
 average they would probably not amount to more than £85 a year or 
 £1 12 q a week, and the periods of enforced idleness are increasing 
 as time goes on. 
 
 In appendix B. I give a comparison of wages ruling at present 
 in Victoria and New South Wales. The list is incomplete, because 
 
PROTECTION IN VICTORIA. 
 
 23 
 
 the trades enumerated in the Statistical Register of New South 
 Wales for 1888 are less numerous than those in the Victorian Year 
 Book, and some of them are so differently designated that they are 
 not identifiable with the necessary degree of certainty. As far as the 
 comparison goes, it shows that wages in New South Wales are 
 slightly higher than in Victoria. Of twenty-nine trades, the only 
 ones I have been able to compare, wages were equal in four, were 
 higher in Victoria in ten and lower in Victoria in fifteen instances. 
 Tf the assertion that protection increases wages were well founded, no 
 such result of even a partial comparison would be possible ; wages 
 would be higher in nearly all trades. The following list of the 
 average wages paid in the state departments still further disproves this 
 
 AVERAGE DEPARTMENTAL WAGES. 
 
 Victoria. New South Wales. 
 
 Railways 
 
 
 £u 7 
 
 ^134 
 
 Education .. 
 
 
 114 
 
 121 
 
 Post Office .. 
 
 
 119 
 
 134 
 
 Police 
 
 
 146 
 
 182 
 
 Letter Carriers 
 
 
 .. £6 to 7 monthly .. 
 
 £7 to 8 monthly. 
 
 I have now come to the end of my inquiry into the correctness 
 of the claims which are advanced in support of protection, with the 
 result, that they one and all appear fallacious, that they are unsup¬ 
 ported by analogy and contradicted by facts. I shall now inquire 
 into the financial result of protection, a subject on which its advocates 
 do not usually dwell. 
 
 I have already demonstrated that protection increases the cost 
 of commodities, and thus reduces the purchasing power of wages. 
 
 It follows that the same nominal is really a higher wage in a 
 free trade than in a protective country. In appendix C. I give a list 
 of the prices of some commodities in Melbourne and Sydney. The 
 list is necessarily restricted, as the comparison must be confined to 
 goods obviously of the same quality. The number of commodities 
 which conform to this condition is necessarily small; but when we find 
 that all of them are of considerably higher price in Melbourne than 
 in Sydney, we are justified in claiming this as a support for the theory, 
 which surely should need no support, that duties increase the price 
 of all goods on which they are levied ; that of the many objects at 
 which protection aims, the only one which it reaches is, to raise 
 prices. This list, moreover, shows that the price of every article of 
 which it is composed, is increased by more than the amount of duty 
 levied upon it. Such a result also is inevitable. A trader must make 
 a profit on the total cost of his goods ; whether that cost results from 
 the original price of purchase, freight, or duty does not and cannot 
 make any difference, even when he knows what each separately 
 amounts to, which in most cases he does not know. It is only the 
 importer who possesses this knowledge, the middle man and retailer 
 are ignorant of it. 
 
 That protection does reduce the purchasing power of wages is, 
 except when engaged in argument, acknowledged by Victorian 
 protectionists themselves. The ultra-protectionist newspaper the 
 
PROTECTION IN VICTORIA. 
 
 24 
 
 Age acknowledges it, as the following passage culled from one 
 of its leaders proves :— 
 
 “ The system of indirect taxation throws the chief burden of 
 taxation on the working classes.” 
 
 Moreover, the police officers lately demanded an increase of pav, 
 “on account of the increased cost of living and especially of clothing 
 under protection,” and the railway employees did the same, stating 
 “ that the last increase in the tariff has added three shillings a week 
 to the cost of living.” I now propose to estimate, as nearly as can be, 
 by how much the purchasing power of wages in Victoria is reduced 
 through protection. 
 
 The revenue raised from customs duties amounted to £2, 879,- 
 830 in 1888-9. This amount the inhabitants of Victoria had to pay 
 directly for permission to exchange the produce of their labour against 
 such commodities as suited them best. The importers of foreign 
 commodities advanced this amount for them, but they and their 
 customers made a profit on this advance. Let us assume that on an 
 average the goods pass from the importer directly to the retailer, so 
 that there are only two profits, and that the importer makes an 
 advance of 20 per cent, and the retailer one of 33^ per cent, on every 
 £\oo worth of goods, so that, when expenses for conducting the 
 business are deducted, the former may gain some four or five per cent, 
 and the latter say ten per cent. ^Too paid in duty would then be 
 charged at £ 120 by the former and ^T6o by the retailer to the public. 
 At this rate, the amount of ^2,879,830 originally paid as duty, 
 would be repaid by the public with ^4,614,928. To this payment 
 must however be added, the higher prices of protected goods made 
 in Victoria, as well as the profit which the middlemen make on the 
 excess of price over that which would be paid, if duties did not exist. 
 This has been calculated at ^"1,500,000, and though this seems to me 
 an evident under statement, I will adopt it. Added to the repay¬ 
 ment of duties shown to amount to ^*4,614,978, this brings up the 
 direct and ascertainable cost of protection to ^6,114,928 a year, with¬ 
 out taking into consideration the probably larger indirect cost, 
 resulting from loss of profit through the diversion of production from 
 the more profitable to the less profitable industries. On the 31st of 
 December, 1889, the estimated total population of Victoria amounted 
 to 1,118,077 souls. Divide the sum of ^*6,114,928 by this number, 
 and it will be ascertained that every man, woman, and child pays 
 annually the sum of £5 10 3, or every head of a family having four 
 children pays annually out of his earnings the enormous sum of 
 ^*33 1 6 in order to uphold the protective system. 
 
 It is a curious and instructive phenomenon that the working 
 classes of Victoria should have come to consider that this amount is 
 not paid by them, but by some mythical person in whom they take 
 no interest, and whom they derisively call “consumer.” These 
 consumers are represented in their imagination by a few, say some 
 5000 families of capitalists and landowners. Yet every labourer’s 
 wife jhould be able to tell her husband who this consumer really is. 
 It is every man, woman, and child in the country; it is every producer 
 and every non-producer whose consumption of goods causes the 
 
PROTECTION IN VICTORIA. 25 
 
 importation and production of goods. A tax which raises the price 
 of boots and hats, of coats and dresses, of furniture and crockery, of 
 food and machinery, must surely be paid by those who purchase these 
 things, be they workmen, capitalists, or landowners. It is true that 
 individually the capitalist and landowner consume more than the 
 artisan, and that individually each of them pays a greater share of this 
 taxation than each artisan or labourer ; but when the small number of 
 the former and the large number of the latter is considered, it will be 
 manifest that they, the wage-earners, are far and away the greatest 
 consumers, and that therefore the Age as well as the President of 
 the Trades Hall Council are right when they declare, that under our 
 protective system, the bulk of taxation rests on those least able to 
 bear it., the working classes, amongst which I include the farmers. 
 
 It may of course be said that such part of this cost as is paid in 
 duties directly to the state is not wasted, that it would have to be 
 paid anyhow, as the state must have revenue. But apart from the 
 fact that the revenue from customs duties does not amount to half 
 of the amount which the people pay under that head, and apart from 
 the other fact that the army of officials which has to be maintained 
 for its collection consumes a very considerable part of that revenue, 
 there is the further question, whether it is absolutely necessary that 
 the bulk of this revenue should be contributed by the working 
 classes, who almost exclusively pay the large revenue collected in 
 excise dues and licenses as well. Protection blinds the working 
 classes to the fact that they pay nearly all taxes, that under this 
 system the wealthy classes are freed from almost any contribution to 
 the revenue. Free trade would at any rate cause them to consider 
 whether there are not other sources from which the revenue can be 
 derived, than the hard-earned wages for their labour. 
 
 It behoves me now to show what the wage-earners get for this 
 yearly payment of ^*33 is. 6d. made without his knowledge by every 
 head of a family amongst them. The Victorian Year Book states the 
 numbers of artisans and labourers employed in factories and works, 
 etc., as 56,271 for Victoria and 46,714 for New South Wales. I am 
 aware that some protectionist newspapers have assailed the New 
 South Wales statistician with scurrilous abuse, and even with 
 charges of falsifying his statistics in order to overstate the number 
 of workers in New South Wales factories. But when the methods 
 employed to prove these charges are considered, no honest man can 
 give the slightest credence to them. I will give only one example 
 of these methods. The Statistical Register stated that there were 
 110 flour mills employing 628 persons, with steam engines aggregating 
 2877 horse power. In order to prove the falsity of this statement, the 
 newspapers in question declared that according to the total amount 
 of grain converted into flour, this would give one sixth of a bushel 
 of grain a day for a man aided by four horse power. And this is how 
 they arrive at this absurdity charged against the New South Wales 
 statistician. They first give the amount of wheat converted into 
 flour as three million bushels, when in reality it was close upon six 
 million bushels. They then not only divided the wheat supply by 
 the number of men, but by the number of mills as well, and having 
 
20 
 
 PROTECTION IN VICTORIA. 
 
 thus found what they considered the yearly average per man, 
 divided it by 300 working days. Clearly the yearly average per man 
 is the total quantity of wheat, divided by the total number of men 
 engaged in its conversion into flour, and to divide the resultant 
 again by the number of mills, and then declare the resultant to be 
 the average per man, is either dishonest or shows disgraceful 
 ignorance. 
 
 Such critics can have no weight; moreover as our own 
 statistician has lent the weight of his support to Mr. Coglan, there is 
 not even any suspicion that his figures might be incorrect. The 
 number of hands employed in Victorian factories etc. therefore 
 exceeds the number of those similarly employed in New South Wales 
 by 9559, or in round numbers let us say by 10,000. This, then, is 
 the utmost that protection can be claimed to have done for Victoria, 
 that 10,000 of its inhabitants are by it employed in factories, and we 
 will even assume that these workers are not drawn from other 
 industries, that without protection they would have no employment 
 whatever. What, then, is the cost of finding them this employment? 
 Clearly at least the amount of ^"6,114,928 which we found to be the 
 direct cost of protection. Divided by 10,000, the number of workers 
 employed by protection, this would give the annual cost of every 
 such operative, male and female, man and boy, to be ^*611 9s. 9d. Let 
 us now assume that each of these operatives receives on an average 
 ^*80 a year in wages, which, as boys and females form at least one 
 half of their number, is an evident overstatement, that would give 
 jT8oo.ooo a year for all of them. We then arrived at this result. 
 In order that 10,000 of their number shall earn, with their labour, 
 ^*800,000, the inhabitants of Victoria, mostly workingmen, them¬ 
 selves pay the wages of these people, and make a present besides to a 
 few importers, manufacturers, and other wealthy men, of 5,314,928 
 year after year. This sum is divided as follows: ^*2,879,830 they 
 pay to the state in order to save the wealthy the duty of paying it ; 
 ^“700,000 and the labour of 10,000 of their number they give to a 
 few manufacturers ; and ^T,735, 000 they are good enough to put 
 into the pockets of some importers and retailers. These sums the 
 workers lose every year, and the worst of it is, the recipients of them 
 do not benefit much by them. For as I have already explained, the 
 manufacturer receives his share to make good the losses in naturally 
 unprofitable industries, and the importers and dealers would be just 
 as well off if the lower prices which the removal of duties would 
 enable them to charge would bring about a greater consumption of 
 the commodities in which they deal, as it undoubtedly would. The 
 only gainers are the classes who are freed from taxation because the 
 working classes offer their backs for the burden To assume that 
 these 10,000 people would be doing nothing but for protection is f 
 however, absurd. There are thousands of men now engaged in 
 factory work who can readily turn their hands to other occupations, 
 such as builders, carpenters, farmers and miners. Remove protective 
 duties, and these many other occupations will become more profitable, 
 and more men will find employment in them; leave to labour the (at 
 least) five millions of which labour is yearly deprived by protective 
 
PROTECTION IN VICTORIA. 
 
 27 
 
 duties, and these men would find ample employment in trades in 
 which their labour would be productive of wealth. At present it 
 produces nothing ; the wealth of the country is not increased by the 
 result of their work, it costs infinitely more than its value amounts to. 
 
 Before concluding this essay, I must draw attention to what is 
 perhaps the most serious calamity which protection has brought 
 upon Victoria. This is the excessive indebtedness of the colony, an 
 indebtedness consisting of loans contracted not only by Government 
 and public bodies, but by private individuals as well, and including 
 Victorian properties owned or mortgaged to others outside Victoria. 
 I am justified in including all these, because their economic effect is 
 the same, they all cause interest or rents to be sent out of the colony 
 without any return. The measure of this indebtedness is the excess 
 of all our imports over all our exports, plus the interest, which out 
 of our exports we have to pay on the debt which at any time may 
 be owing. 
 
 An inquiry at the Sydney and Melbourne Customs Houses 
 elicited from both the reply, that in the absence of advalorem duties, 
 merchants considerably overdeclare the value of their imports as well 
 as that of their exports, in order to swell their returns, and that this 
 overdeclaration in imports is about equal to the cost of transport 
 from Europe. Since the adoption of advalorem duties by Victoria, 
 the merchants have ceased to make this addition, and the Customs 
 House itself adds ten per cent, to the invoice value of all goods. 
 The cost of transport, however, was, and still is, much more than 
 ten per cent, of the cost of goods. It is made up of buying 
 commissions, casing, freight from factory to port of shipment, 
 port and harbour dues, interest during voyage, insurance, and 
 finally ocean freight. While all other expenses enumerated may 
 be computed to average eight per cent, on all classes of goods, freight 
 even on the most valuable goods amounts to not less than from 
 three to five per cent., while on very bulky goods it amounts up to 
 fifty per cent, and even much more. It may therefore be fairly 
 assumed that the average cost of landing goods from over sea, is not 
 less than twenty per cent. In addition to the increase of ten per 
 cent, already made in the Customs House valuations, another nine 
 per cent, must therefore be added to cover this cost. 
 
 In the figures which appear in appendixes D. and E., I have adopted 
 this course, and have calculated interest at five per cent. ; as a 
 considerable part of the privately borrowed wealth has been invested 
 in land, the value and rent of which is constantly rising, this is by 
 no means an over-valuation, and may even serve as an offset against 
 any return in imports for Victorian capital invested in other colonies. 
 As I have also abstained from any deduction for over-valuation of 
 our exports, and have left out of account the reduction of effective 
 exports through rents due to absentee landlords, who acquired then- 
 properties while they formed part of the working population of the 
 colony, my estimate of our indebtedness may err on the score of under¬ 
 valuation, but cannot be accused of over-stating the case. The 
 following is a generalisation of the results at which I arrive, and 
 which can be verified by consulting appendixes D. and E. 
 
28 
 
 PROTECTION' IN VICTORIA. 
 
 From 1837 to 1865 inclusive, Victoria borrowed the insignificant 
 sum of ^*23,117,888. From 1866 to 1889 inclusive, she borrowed 
 the enormous sum of £ 112,062,195. During this same period New 
 South Wales borrowed ^43,041,214 or ^69,020,981 less than 
 Victoria. The free-trade colony has steadily increased her exports 
 while ours has steadily declined until in 1889 they were only about half 
 of those of the sister colony, and the latter has increased her imports 
 concurrently with ours. It is therefore obvious that the reason for 
 the enormous difference of their relative indebtedness is the 
 baneful influence of protection on the natural and unprotected 
 industries of the country. New South Wales has been able to 
 exchange, we have had to borrow. During the greater part of this 
 period New South Wales maintained nearly as large a population as 
 ours, in greater comfort than ours, as vital statistics prove ; had up 
 to 1888 more railways open for traffic than ourselves, and found 
 -employment for two hundred thousand more people than ourselves. 
 It follows, therefore, that in spite of all our advantages of soil and 
 climate, the industries of New South Wales are vastly more 
 productive of wealth than ours, that while the wealth borrowed by 
 us is largely either wasted or invested to small or no advantage, the 
 wealth borrowed and created by New South Wales is constantly 
 increasing her productiveness ; thus confirming the result at 
 which we arrived from theory, and from the consideration of facts 
 unconnected with those which I am elucidating now. 
 
 The gravity of the results produced by this difference in the 
 productive power of the industries of the two colonies may be seen 
 from this fact, that while in 1889 the imports of Victoria were 
 ^*24,402,766, and those of New South Wales ^*22,046,233 or under 
 ^*2,000,000 less, New South Wales increased her indebtedness by 
 only ^*3*3^4,198, while the enormous sum of ^*19,836,296 was added 
 to the indebtedness of Victoria. The reason for this difference is to 
 be found, first, in the paucity of our exports, being less than those 
 of New South Wales by ^*10,519.417, and secondly, in the deduction 
 which must be made from the exports of either colony, for the 
 payment of interest on previously contracted debts. Calculated at 
 five per cent., the interest due on our total indebtedness amounts to 
 6.963,837, of which our borrowings in 1889 are responsible for 
 nearly ^1,000,000. Every year adds to this indebtedness, increases 
 the part of our exports for which we receive no return, because they 
 are required for the payment of interest, and our exports are already 
 insufficient to meet interest charges. The explanation for this appar¬ 
 ent anomaly is, that almost one half of our exports are goods imported 
 from foreign countries and re-exported, and therefore not available 
 for the payment of interest. The table below does not include mere 
 transshipments :— 
 
 Goods Imported and Included in Exports. 1889. 
 
 Wool 
 Gold and Silver 
 Produce of United Kingdom 
 Produce of Foreign Countries .. 
 
 £ 3 , 595,449 
 731,871 
 1,262,149 
 609,917 
 
 Exports available for payment of interest 
 
 Total Exports. 
 £ 12 , 734,734 
 
 6,199,386 
 535,348 
 
PROTECTION IN VICTORIA. 
 
 29 
 
 The average addition to our indebtedness for the five years previous- 
 to and including 1889, had been ^13,692,790 a year, and the addition 
 to the interest charge ^684,654 a year. How long, I ask, will we 
 be able to stand this strain? The crisis in the condition of Victoria, 
 which this combination of protection and excessive borrowing fore¬ 
 shadows, is sufficiently near at hand and sufficiently grave to make a 
 reconsideration of our fiscal policy an absolute necessity.. 
 
 In conclusion I wish to guard myself against the accusation that 
 I hold free-trade to be an ultimate solution of pending questions in 
 the field of economic legislation. All I claim to have proved in these 
 pages is, that protection obstructs the production of wealth, and 
 alters the distribution of wealth unfavourably to the interests of the 
 working classes ; that free-trade enables a people to largely increase 
 the production of wealth, and through the greater demand for labour, 
 to secure to the working classes a greater share of that wealth, for a 
 time at least, and that this tendency is increased through the greater 
 purchasing power of wages. That this distribution will again alter, 
 that after a time the wages of labour will again fall, I fully recognise, 
 and must be recognised by all who perceive that no increase in the 
 production of wealth has been able to permanently raise the wages 
 of labour. Free-trade could not so largely increase the production 
 of wealth as has been done by the inventions and discoveries- of the 
 present century; yet labour has not been able to secure any great 
 share of that increase. But a system of free-trade, the removal of 
 the veil which hides from workers the fact that they pay the bulk of 
 all taxes, will teach workers the true theory of taxation, will cause 
 them to place taxation where it belongs, on the rental value of land, 
 on the value, which is not created by any one individual, but by the 
 community as a whole, and which therefore belongs to the community. 
 Such a removal of taxation from the creative to the appropriative 
 factor in the production of wealth, will make permanent and extend 
 the more equitable distribution of wealth, which a system of free- 
 trade would originate. 
 
appendices. 
 
 -- >K- - 
 
 WAGES IN VICTORIA. 
 
 Trades. 
 
 1878 
 
 1888 
 
 J Increase. J 
 
 a 
 
 
 £ 
 
 s. 
 
 d. to 
 
 £ 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 £ 
 
 s. 
 
 d. to 
 
 £ 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 
 
 Printers per 1000 
 
 0 
 
 1 
 
 0 
 
 
 — 
 
 
 0 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 — 
 
 
 + 
 
 
 Watchmakers „ week 
 
 2 
 
 10 
 
 0 „ 
 
 5 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 3 
 
 0 
 
 o„ 
 
 4 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 
 _ 
 
 Man’ing Jewellers,, „ 
 
 2 
 
 15 
 
 0 „ 
 
 3 
 
 15 
 
 0 
 
 2 
 
 15 
 
 o„ 
 
 4 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 + 
 
 
 Enamellers „ „ 
 
 6 
 
 0 
 
 0 „ 
 
 8 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 3 
 
 0 
 
 0 „ 
 
 4 
 
 0 
 
 o. 
 
 
 _ . 
 
 In Metals. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Blacksmiths ,. day 
 
 0 
 
 10 
 
 0 „ 
 
 0 13 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 10 
 
 0 „ 
 
 0 
 
 14 
 
 0 
 
 + 
 
 
 Farriers’ Firemen „ week 
 
 2 
 
 15 
 
 0 
 
 
 — 
 
 
 2 
 
 10 
 
 0 
 
 
 — 
 
 
 
 _ 
 
 „ Floormen „ 
 
 1 
 
 10 
 
 0 „ 
 
 2 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 1 
 
 15 
 
 o„ 
 
 2 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 + 
 
 
 Metal Fitters ., day 
 
 0 
 
 9 
 
 o„ 
 
 0 
 
 12 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 9 
 
 o„ 
 
 0 
 
 13 
 
 0 
 
 + 
 
 
 Boiler Makers ., „ 
 
 0 
 
 12 
 
 0 „ 
 
 0 
 
 13 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 10 
 
 o„ 
 
 0 
 
 14 
 
 0 
 
 
 _ 
 
 Riveters ,, „ 
 
 0 
 
 9 
 
 0 „ 
 
 0 
 
 11 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 10 
 
 0 „ 
 
 0 
 
 11 
 
 0 
 
 + 
 
 
 Moulders „ ., 
 
 0 
 
 10 
 
 o„ 
 
 0 
 
 13 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 8 
 
 0 „ 
 
 0 
 
 12 
 
 0 
 
 
 _ 
 
 Brass Finishers „ 
 
 0 
 
 9 
 
 o„ 
 
 0 
 
 12 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 8 
 
 o„ 
 
 0 
 
 11 
 
 0 
 
 
 _ 
 
 Iron Workers „ week 
 
 2 
 
 10 
 
 0 „ 
 
 3 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 o„ 
 
 3 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 
 ___ 
 
 Galvanizers „ 
 
 3 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 
 — 
 
 
 2 
 
 10 
 
 o„ 
 
 3 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 
 _ 
 
 In Carriages & Harness. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Smiths per week 
 
 2 
 
 10 
 
 0 „ 
 
 3 
 
 15 
 
 0 
 
 2 
 
 10 
 
 o„ 
 
 4 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 + 
 
 
 Bodymakers „ „ 
 
 2 
 
 10 
 
 0 „ 
 
 3 
 
 10 
 
 0 
 
 2 
 
 10 
 
 0 „ 
 
 4 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 + 
 
 
 Wheelers „ „ 
 
 2 
 
 10 
 
 0 „ 
 
 3 
 
 10 
 
 0 
 
 2 
 
 10 
 
 o„ 
 
 3 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 
 — 
 
 Painters „ day 
 
 0 
 
 9 
 
 0 „ 
 
 0 
 
 12 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 8 
 
 o„ 
 
 0 
 
 11 
 
 0 
 
 
 _ 
 
 Saddlers ,, week 
 
 2 
 
 15 
 
 0 
 
 
 _ 
 
 
 2 
 
 0 
 
 0 „ 
 
 3 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 
 _ 
 
 In Houses & Buildings. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Plasterers per clay 
 
 0 
 
 10 
 
 0 
 
 
 — 
 
 
 0 
 
 10 
 
 0 „ 
 
 0 
 
 11 
 
 0 
 
 + 
 
 
 Bricklayers ,, „ 
 
 0 
 
 10 
 
 0 
 
 
 — 
 
 
 0 
 
 10 
 
 0 „ 
 
 0 
 
 11 
 
 0 
 
 + 
 
 
 Slaters „ „ 
 
 0 
 
 10 
 
 0 
 
 
 — 
 
 
 0 
 
 10 
 
 0 „ 
 
 0 
 
 11 
 
 0 
 
 + 
 
 
 Labourers „ „ 
 
 0 
 
 6 
 
 6 „ 
 
 0 
 
 7 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 7 
 
 6 „ 
 
 0 
 
 8 
 
 6 
 
 + 
 
 
 In Furniture. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Cabinet Makers per week 
 
 2 
 
 10 
 
 0 „ 
 
 3 10 
 
 -0 
 
 2 
 
 0 
 
 0 „ 
 
 3 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 
 — 
 
 Upholsterers „ „ 
 
 2 
 
 10 
 
 0 „ 
 
 4 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 2 
 
 5 
 
 0 „ 
 
 8 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 
 — 
 
 Coopers „ day 
 
 0 
 
 10 
 
 0 
 
 
 — 
 
 
 0 
 
 9 
 
 0 „ 
 
 0 
 
 10 
 
 0 
 
 
 — 
 
 In Dress. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Tailors per hour 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 10 „ 
 
 0 
 
 1 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 10 
 
 
 _ 
 
 
 
 — 
 
 „ „ week 
 
 2 
 
 10 
 
 o„ 
 
 3 
 
 10 
 
 0 
 
 2 
 
 10 
 
 0 „ 
 
 3 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 
 — 
 
 „ in factories „ „ 
 
 2 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 
 — 
 
 
 2 
 
 0 
 
 0 „ 
 
 2 
 
 10 
 
 0 
 
 + 
 
 
 Mantle Makers „ „ 
 
 0 
 
 15 
 
 o„ 
 
 1 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 12 
 
 o,, 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 0 
 
 
 _ 
 
 Milliners ist-class „ „ 
 
 8 
 
 10 
 
 0 
 
 
 — 
 
 
 3 
 
 0 
 
 0 „ 
 
 4 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 
 — 
 
 „ 2nd „ „ „ 
 
 1 
 
 15 
 
 0 
 
 
 _ 
 
 
 1 
 
 0 
 
 0 „ 
 
 2 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 
 _ 
 
 Dressmakers „ 
 
 0 
 
 15 
 
 o„ 
 
 1 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 12 
 
 0 „ 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 0 
 
 
 _ 
 
 Needlewomen „ „ 
 
 0 
 
 15 
 
 0 „ 
 
 1 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 10 
 
 0 ), 
 
 1 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 
 _ 
 
 Machinists „ „ 
 
 0 
 
 15 
 
 o„ 
 
 1 
 
 15 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 15 
 
 0 „ 
 
 1 
 
 10 
 
 0 
 
 
 _ 
 
 Hat Body Makers „ doz. 
 
 0 
 
 12 
 
 0 „ 
 
 1 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 12 
 
 o„ 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 0 
 
 + 
 
 
 Hat Trimmers „ ,, 
 
 0 
 
 6 
 
 0 
 
 
 _ 
 
 
 0 
 
 6 
 
 0 „ 
 
 0 
 
 9 
 
 0 
 
 + 
 
 
 Shirtmakers in fact'ies w’k 
 
 0 
 
 12 
 
 0 „ 
 
 1 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 12 
 
 0 „ 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 0 
 
 + 
 
 
 Machinists ,. „ 
 
 0 
 
 15 
 
 0 „ 
 
 1 
 
 10 
 
 0 
 
 1 
 
 0 
 
 o„ 
 
 1 
 
 15 
 
 0 
 
 + 
 
 
 In Animal Substances. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Tannners per week 
 
 1 
 
 18 
 
 0 „ 
 
 2 
 
 5 
 
 0 
 
 1 
 
 18 
 
 0 „ 
 
 2 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 
 _ 
 
 Reamsmen „ „ 
 
 2 
 
 0 
 
 o„ 
 
 2 
 
 10 
 
 0 
 
 1 
 
 18 
 
 0 „ 
 
 2 
 
 5 
 
 0 
 
 
 _ 
 
 Shedsmen „ „ 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 o,. 
 
 2 
 
 5 
 
 0 
 
 1 
 
 18 
 
 0 „ 
 
 2 
 
 10 
 
 0 
 
 
 _ 
 
 In Slone & Clay. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Navvies per day 
 
 0 
 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 
 — 
 
 
 0 
 
 6 
 
 6 „ 
 
 0 
 
 7 
 
 6 
 
 + 
 
 
 Labourers „ „ 
 
 0 
 
 6 
 
 o„ 
 
 0 
 
 7 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 6 
 
 6 ,. 
 
 0 
 
 7 
 
 6 
 
 + 
 
 
APPENDIX A (Continued). 
 
 WAGES IN VICTORIA. 
 
 per week 
 
 In Mines. 
 
 Engineers 
 Blacksmiths 
 Foremen of drift 
 Miners 
 Surface Men 
 Boys 
 
 Farm Servants. 
 Ploughmen f’nd per week 
 Milkmen „ 
 
 Reapers „ 
 
 Mowers „ 
 
 Cooks „ 
 
 Married Couples, 
 
 Station Servants 
 Boundary R’rs fnc 
 Shepherds 
 Stockmen 
 Hutkeepers 
 Male Cooks 
 Sheep Washers 
 Shearers 
 
 year 
 
 week 
 
 loo 
 
 1878 
 
 1888 
 
 £ 
 
 S. ( 
 
 i. to 
 
 1 £. 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 £ 
 
 s. 
 
 d. to £ 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 2 
 
 5 
 
 o„ 
 
 6 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 2 
 
 0 
 
 0„ 
 
 5 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 2 
 
 0 
 
 0„ 
 
 4 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 1 
 
 15 
 
 0,. 
 
 3 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 0 „ 
 
 4 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 2 
 
 0 
 
 o„ 
 
 3 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 2 
 
 5 
 
 0„ 
 
 2 
 
 10 
 
 0 
 
 2 
 
 0 
 
 0„ 
 
 2 
 
 10 
 
 0 
 
 2 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 
 — 
 
 
 1 
 
 10 
 
 0„ 
 
 2 
 
 10 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 10 
 
 0„ 
 
 2 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 15 
 
 0,: 
 
 , 1 
 
 16 
 
 0 
 
 1 
 
 0 
 
 0„ 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 0 
 
 1 
 
 0 
 
 0„ 
 
 , 1 
 
 5 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 15 
 
 o„ 
 
 0 
 
 18 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 15 
 
 0,. 
 
 , 1 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 7 
 
 6„ 
 
 0 
 
 15 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 10 
 
 0,, 
 
 , 0 
 
 15 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 6 
 
 0 
 
 
 _ 
 
 
 0 
 
 4 
 
 o , 
 
 , o 
 
 6 
 
 0 
 
 40 
 
 0 
 
 0„ 
 
 50 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 50 
 
 0 
 
 o, 
 
 ,60 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 60 
 
 0 
 
 0„ 
 
 80 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 70 
 
 0 
 
 o, 
 
 , 90 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 40 
 
 0 
 
 0„ 
 
 50 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 40 
 
 0 
 
 o, 
 
 ,60 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 40 
 
 0 
 
 0„ 
 
 50 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 36 
 
 0 
 
 0 , 
 
 ,52 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 40 
 
 0 
 
 0„ 
 
 50 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 50 
 
 0 
 
 o, 
 
 i 75 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 26 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 
 _ 
 
 
 30 
 
 0 
 
 o, 
 
 ,40 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 40 
 
 0 
 
 0„ 
 
 50 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 50 
 
 0 
 
 o, 
 
 ,60 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 15 
 
 0„ 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 15 
 
 o, 
 
 , 1 
 
 5 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 15 
 
 0 „ 
 
 1 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 15 
 
 o, 
 
 , o 
 
 16 
 
 0 
 
 
 
 Decrease. 
 
WAGES IN VICTORIA AND NEW SOUTH WALES IN rtfs# 
 
 New South Wales. 
 
 Iron Moulders 
 
 per day 
 
 £ 
 
 0 
 
 s. 
 
 8 
 
 d. to £ 8. d. 
 0 „ 0110 
 
 Boiler Makers 
 
 0 
 
 8 
 
 0 ” 0110 
 
 Iron Turners 
 
 
 0 
 
 8 
 
 0 „ 0110 
 
 Blacksmiths 
 
 
 0 
 
 9 
 
 4 „ 0 10 0 
 
 Brass Finishers 
 
 
 0 
 
 8 
 
 0 „ 0110 
 
 Coppersmiths 
 
 1> l| 
 
 0 
 
 8 
 
 0 „ 0110 
 
 Stone Masons 
 
 
 0 10 
 
 0 „ 0 11 0 
 
 Bricklayers 
 
 
 0 
 
 10 
 
 0 „ 0 11 0 
 
 Plasterers 
 
 
 0 
 
 11 
 
 0 — 
 
 Carpenters 
 
 
 0 
 
 10 
 
 0 „ 0 11 0 
 
 Printers 
 
 it 
 
 0 
 
 9 
 
 0 — 
 
 Plumbers 
 
 it ’ 
 
 0 
 
 9 
 
 0 ,, 0 12 0 
 
 Slaters 
 
 
 0 
 
 10 
 
 0 „ 0 12 0 
 
 Coach Painters 
 
 per week 
 
 0 
 
 6 
 
 8 „ 0 11 0 
 
 Tailors 
 
 2 
 
 10 
 
 0 „ 3 0 0 
 
 Pressers 
 
 it n 
 
 2 
 
 10 
 
 0 „ 3 0 0 
 
 Upholsterers 
 
 per day 
 
 0 
 
 10 
 
 0 ,, 0 12 0 
 
 Cabinetmakers 
 
 0 
 
 8 
 
 0 „ 0 10 0 
 
 Polishers 
 
 
 0 
 
 8 
 
 0 „ 0 10 0 
 
 Miners 
 
 ii n 
 
 0 
 
 8 
 
 0 „ 0 12 0 
 
 Quarry men 
 
 n i. 
 
 0 
 
 7 
 
 0 „ 0 10 0 
 
 Navvies 
 
 
 0 
 
 6 
 
 6 „ 0 8 0 
 
 Miners 
 
 per week 
 
 3 
 
 0 
 
 0 — 
 
 M’r d Couples found year 
 
 65 
 
 0 
 
 0 „ 80 00 
 
 rarm Laborers 
 
 
 40 
 
 0 
 
 0 „ 52 00 
 
 Boundary Riders 
 
 
 40 
 
 0 
 
 0 „ 52 00 
 
 Stockmen 
 
 ’ 
 
 40 
 
 0 
 
 0 ,. 75 0 0 
 
 Shepherds 
 
 
 35 
 
 0 
 
 0 „ 45 0 0 
 
 Shearers found per ioo 
 
 1 
 
 0 
 
 0 _ 
 
 Victoria. 
 
 £ 
 
 s. 
 
 d. to £ s. d. 
 
 0 
 
 8 
 
 0 ii 
 
 0 12 0 
 
 0 
 
 10 
 
 0 ii 
 
 0 14 0 
 
 0 
 
 10 
 
 0 „ 
 
 0 13 0 
 
 0 
 
 10 
 
 0 ,, 
 
 0 14 0 
 
 0 
 
 8 
 
 0 „ 
 
 0 11 0 
 
 0 
 
 8 
 
 0 „ 
 
 0 11 0 
 
 0 
 
 10 
 
 0 n 
 
 0 110 
 
 0 
 
 10 
 
 o 
 
 0 11 0 
 
 0 
 
 10 
 
 o». 
 
 0 11 0 
 
 0 
 
 10 
 
 0 
 
 _ 
 
 0 
 
 8 
 
 0 i. 
 
 0 10 0 
 
 0 
 
 11 
 
 0 
 
 _ 
 
 0 
 
 10 
 
 o ,, 
 
 0 11 o 
 
 0 
 
 8 
 
 o „ 
 
 0 11 o 
 
 2 
 
 0 
 
 0 ii 
 
 3 0 0 
 
 2 
 
 0 
 
 o 
 
 2 15 0 
 
 0 
 
 8 
 
 o „ 
 
 0 11 0 
 
 0 
 
 7 
 
 o 
 
 0 11 0 
 
 0 
 
 7 
 
 0 
 
 0 11 0 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 2 5 
 70 0 
 
 39 0 
 
 40 0 
 50 0 
 30 0 
 
 0 15 
 
 0 9 0 
 0 12 0 
 0 7 6 
 2 10 0 
 90 0 0 
 52 0 0 
 60 0 0 
 75 0 0 
 40 0 0 
 0 16 0 
 
 (in Victoria.! 
 
k Appendix C. 
 
 COMPARISON OF PRICES IN SYDNEY 
 BOURNE, 1890. 
 
 AND MEL- 
 
 Httlling & Spang’h’g’s Piano 
 ROsener medium size „ 
 Schwechten .» 
 
 Cheap Cottage Harmonium 
 Medium American Organ 
 Philipps Bedstead a 
 
 »> 1, ^ 
 
 Bismark Lamps 
 Austrian Chairs No. 14 
 Amer.-Chair Astor or Grec’n 
 c-frame Brussels Carpet 
 Lambs’ Wool Shirts for men 
 Dr. Jaeger’s Sanitary Vests 
 Cardigan Jackets 
 
 inch Wire Nails Cwt. 
 Picks D.E. Road 
 Ploughs Brighton Favourite 
 „ Farmer’s Pride 
 Eckhert’s Plough 
 Solid Comfort D’ble Furrow 
 Harrows Randall Steel Disc 
 
 CnltvYs Coleman & Morton’ 
 Hnyrakes Hollingsworth 
 n Ransome’s Star 
 Mowers McCormick’s Stee 
 
 Duty. 
 
 Sydney. 
 
 £ 
 
 £ s. d. 
 
 5 
 
 22 5 0 
 
 5 
 
 31 10 0 
 
 5 
 
 55 10 0 
 
 3 
 
 6 10 0 
 
 3 
 
 21 10 0 
 
 384% 
 
 3 2 6 
 
 384% 
 
 1 0 9 
 
 
 0 2 3 
 
 384% 
 
 0 4 6 
 
 384% 
 
 0 3 9 
 
 22°/o 
 
 0 3 3 
 
 384% 
 
 0 5 3 
 
 384°/o 
 
 0 10 3 
 
 384% 
 
 0 4 0 
 
 5s 
 
 0 15 0 
 
 384% 
 
 0 2 6 
 
 
 4 5 0 
 
 
 7 0 0 
 
 
 11 5 0 
 
 
 18 10 0 
 
 No. 6 
 
 7 0 0 
 
 No. 7 
 
 8 12 6 
 
 s No. 5 
 
 10 10 0 
 
 
 10 10 0 
 
 
 14 10 0 
 
 :1 Horse 
 
 16 0 0 
 
 £ s. 
 30 0 
 40 0 
 65 0 
 10 10 
 27 10 
 4 5 
 
 0 14 
 
 0 5 
 
 1 1 
 0 3 
 5 0 
 8 0 
 13 0 
 21 
 
 0 
 0 
 0 
 0 
 
 0 0 
 0 0 
 12 0 0 
 12 0 0 
 16 10 0 
 18 10 0 
 
Appendix D 
 
 INCREASE OF PUBLIC AND PRIVATE DEBT TO 
 FOREIGN COUNTRIES IN NEW SOUTH WALES. 
 
 
 
 
 i £ 
 
 * £ 
 
 1 i; g > 
 
 1 8 SL* ° 
 
 cent. 
 
 per 
 
 xcess 
 
 over 
 
 s. 
 
 1 
 
 Imports. 
 
 Exports. 
 
 xcess of 
 ports 
 i/er Exp 
 
 « c — 
 
 $ a. u 
 
 d 5 per 
 
 merest 
 
 turn to E 
 
 Imports 
 
 Export 
 
 d 5 per 
 
 merest | 
 
 mm toE 
 
 Exports 
 
 Import 
 
 
 
 
 UJ 0 
 
 tsi 0 
 
 rj — ^ 
 
 < rt ° 
 
 < 
 
 1857 
 
 6,729.408 
 
 4,011,952 
 
 2.717.456 
 
 
 4,211,032 
 
 2,809,620 
 
 
 1X58 
 
 6,059,366 
 
 4.186,277 
 
 1,873,089 
 
 
 
 1850 
 
 6,597,053 
 
 4,768.149 
 
 1,828,904 
 
 
 1,913,905 
 
 
 1X60 
 
 7,519,285 
 
 5,072,020 
 
 2,447,265 
 
 
 3,426,064 
 
 
 1861 
 
 6,391,555 
 
 5,594.839 
 
 796.716 
 
 
 l ,075,545 
 
 
 1802 
 
 9,334,645 
 
 7,102,562 
 
 2.232,083 
 
 
 2,901,704 
 
 
 1868 
 
 8,319,576 
 
 6.935.839 
 
 1,382,737 
 
 
 1,728,400 
 
 
 1864 
 
 1 
 
 I 
 
 8,117,217 
 
 1,728.825 
 
 
 2,074,584 
 
 
 1 ftfiS 
 
 9,928,595 
 
 8,191,170 
 
 1,737,425 
 
 
 1,998,033 
 
 
 1866 
 
 8,867,017 
 
 8,512,214 
 
 354,803 
 
 
 390,280 
 
 
 1867 
 
 6,880,715 
 
 6,53!),804 
 
 280,911 
 
 
 294,945 
 
 
 1868 
 
 7.192.904 
 
 8,051,377 
 
 
 858,473 
 
 
 858,473 
 
 1869 
 
 9,933,442 
 
 8,392.753 
 
 1,540,689 
 
 
 1,463,646 
 
 1870 
 
 7,990,038 
 
 7,757,281 
 
 232,757 
 
 
 227,466 
 
 
 1871 
 
 11.245,032 
 
 9,609,508 
 
 1,635.524 
 
 
 1,390,192 
 
 
 1872 
 
 10.447.049 
 
 9,208,496 
 
 1,238,553 
 
 
 1,070,832 
 
 
 1873 
 
 9,387,873 
 
 10,471.483 
 
 
 1,083,610 
 
 
 812,*00 
 
 1874 
 
 12,345.603 
 
 11,293,739 
 
 1,051,864 
 
 
 736,302 
 
 1875 
 
 13,671,580 
 
 13,490.200 
 
 181,380 
 
 
 767,897 
 
 
 1876 
 
 13.003,941 
 
 13,672,776 
 
 
 668,835 
 
 
 401,292 
 
 1877 
 
 14,606.594 
 
 12,925,819 
 
 1,680,775 
 
 
 924,418 
 
 1878 
 
 14,768,873 
 
 12,965,879 
 
 1,802,994 
 
 
 901,497 
 
 500,499 
 
 
 1879 
 
 14,198,847 
 
 13,086,819 
 
 1,112,028 
 
 
 
 1880 
 
 13,950,075 
 
 15,525,138 
 
 
 1,576,063 
 
 
 630,024 
 
 1881 
 
 17,409,326 
 
 16,039.503 
 
 1,369,823 
 
 
 479,437 
 
 
 1882 
 
 21,281,130 
 
 16,716,961 
 
 19.886,018 
 
 4,565,169 
 
 
 1,369,548 
 
 
 1883 
 
 20,960.157 
 
 1,074,139 
 
 
 268,530 
 
 
 1884 
 
 22,826,985 
 
 17,251,506 
 
 5.575,479 
 
 
 1,115,092 
 
 
 1885 
 
 23.365,196 
 
 16,541.745 
 
 6,823,451 
 
 
 1,023,516 
 
 
 1886 
 
 20,973,548 
 
 15,556,213 
 
 5,417,335 
 
 
 941,732 
 
 
 1887 
 
 18,806,236 
 
 18,496,917 
 
 309,319 
 
 
 15,465 
 
 
 1888 
 
 20.885,557 
 
 20,859,715 
 
 25,842 
 
 
 1,292 
 
 1889 
 
 22,546,233 
 
 23,254.151 
 
 
 707,918 
 
 2,650,866* 
 
 209,299 
 
 
 
 
 53,017.335 
 
 4,893.899 
 
 38,670,047 
 
 2,913,080 
 
 
 
 
 38,670.047 
 
 2,913,080 
 
 
 
 
 91,687.372 
 
 7,S06,979 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 7,806,979 
 
 
 
 Total debt incurred since ’57 £ 
 
 83.880.393 
 
 
 
 
 Increase of Debt since 1866. 
 
 
 36,272,835 
 
 14,575,358 
 
 4,893,899 
 
 2.913,080 
 
 14,575,358f 
 
 2,913,0S0t 
 
 
 50,S48,193 
 
 7,806,979 
 
 7,806,979 
 
 
 
 Total increseof debt since '66 £ 
 
 43,041,214 
 
 
 
 
 ^Interest in 1889 on excess of previous years, 
 tExclusive of interest on debts incurred previous to 1866. 
 
AI’PENDIX lfi. 
 
 DEBT of victoria to foreign countries. 
 
 Year. 
 
 Imports. 
 
 Exports. 
 
 Excess of Imports over 
 
 -.Exports, with addi- I 
 
 tion to the former of 
 
 9 per cent, 
 from 1866 inclusive. 
 
 lExcess of Exports over 1 
 Imports, with addi- ! 
 
 tion to the latter of ■ 
 
 from 9 l865 Inclusive, j 
 
 Add 5 per ct. interest j 
 
 per annum on 
 
 Excess of Imports j 
 
 over Exports. 
 
 Add 5 per ct. interest j 
 
 Excess of Exports 
 
 over Imports. 
 
 1837 
 
 115,379 
 
 12.178 
 
 103,201 
 
 
 363,160 
 
 
 1838 
 
 73,230 
 
 27,998 
 
 46,232 
 
 
 115,800 
 
 
 188!) 
 
 204,722 
 
 77,684 
 
 127,038 
 
 
 311,119 
 
 
 1840 
 
 435,867 
 
 128,860 
 
 306,507 
 
 
 736.400 
 
 
 1841 
 
 864,399 
 
 200,305 
 
 164,094 
 
 
 365,588 
 
 
 1842 
 
 277,427 
 
 198,783 
 
 78,644 
 
 
 180,872 
 
 
 1843 
 
 188,036 
 
 254,482 
 
 
 66,446 
 
 
 149,490 
 
 1844 
 
 151,062 
 
 256,847 
 
 
 105.785 
 
 
 232,716 
 
 1845 
 
 248,293 
 
 463,597 
 
 
 215,304 
 
 
 462,895 
 
 184 ti 
 
 315,561 
 
 425.201 
 
 
 109,640 
 
 
 230,244 
 
 1847 
 
 437,696 
 
 668,511 
 
 
 220,81g 
 
 
 452,640 
 
 1848 
 
 373,676 
 
 676,859 
 
 
 301,683 
 
 
 603,360 
 
 1840 
 
 479,831 
 
 755,326 
 
 
 275,494 
 
 
 637,186 
 
 
 744,925 
 
 1,041,796 
 
 
 296.871 
 
 
 564,034 
 
 1851 
 
 1,056,437 
 
 1.422,909 
 
 
 366.472 
 
 
 077,951 
 
 1852 
 
 4,069,742 
 
 7,451,549 
 
 
 3,381,807 
 
 
 6,087,240 
 
 1853 
 
 15,842.637 
 
 11,061,544 
 
 4,781,093 
 
 
 8,366,890 
 
 
 1854 
 
 17,659,051 
 
 11,775,204 
 
 5,883,847 
 
 
 10,002,528 
 
 
 1855 
 
 12,007,939 
 
 13,493.338 
 
 
 1,485,399 
 
 
 2,450,877 
 
 1856 
 
 14,962.269 
 
 15,489,760 
 
 
 527,491 
 
 
 843,968 
 
 1857 
 
 17,256.209 
 
 15,079,612 
 
 2,176,697 
 
 
 3,373,854 
 
 
 1858 
 
 16,108,249 
 
 13,989,209 
 
 1,119,040 
 
 
 1,678,560 
 
 
 1859 
 
 15,622,891 
 
 13,867,869 
 
 1,755,042 
 
 
 2,514,808 
 
 
 1860 
 
 15,093,730 
 
 12,962,704 
 
 2,131,026 
 
 
 2,983,528 
 
 
 1861 
 
 13,532,452 
 
 13,828.606 
 
 
 296,154 
 
 
 399,789 
 
 1862 
 
 13,487,787 
 
 13,039,422 
 
 448,365 
 
 
 582,868 
 
 
 1863 
 
 14,118,727 
 
 13,566,296 
 
 552,431 
 
 
 690,525 
 
 
 1864 
 
 14,974,816 
 
 13.898.384 
 
 1,076.431 
 
 
 1,292,704 
 
 
 1865 
 
 13,257,537 
 
 13,850,748 
 
 106,789 
 
 
 123,782 
 
 
 1866 
 
 11,771,711 
 
 12.889,546 
 
 3,221,618 
 
 
 3,543,760 
 
 
 1867 
 
 11,674,080 
 
 12,724,427 
 
 320 
 
 
 336 
 
 
 1868 
 
 13,320,862 
 
 v 15,593,990 
 
 
 1,074,469 
 
 
 1,074,469 
 
 1869 
 
 13,908,990 
 
 13,464.354 
 
 1,696,445 
 
 
 1,611,618 
 
 
 1870 
 
 12,455,758 
 
 12,470.014 
 
 1,106,762 
 
 
 996,084 
 
 
 1871 
 
 12,341,995 
 
 14,557,820 
 
 
 1,105,056 
 
 
 939,284 
 
 1872 
 
 13,691.322 
 
 13,871,195 
 
 1,052,345 
 
 
 841,792 
 
 
 1873 
 
 16,533,856 
 
 15,302,454 
 
 2,719,449 
 
 
 2,039,580 
 
 
 1874 
 
 16,953,985 
 
 15,441,109 
 
 3,038,734 
 
 
 2,127,804 
 
 
 1875 
 
 16,685,874 
 
 14,766,974 
 
 3,420,638 
 
 
 2,223,403 
 
 
 1876 
 
 15,705, .>54 
 
 14,196,487 
 
 2,922,442 
 
 
 1,755,464 
 
 
 1877 
 
 16,362,304 
 
 15,157,687 
 
 2,677,234 
 
 
 1,472,471 
 
 
 1878 
 
 16,161,880 
 
 14,925.707 
 
 2,691,342 
 
 
 1,345,670 
 
 
 1879 
 
 
 12.454,170 
 
 3,934,466 
 
 
 1,770,507 
 
 
 1880 
 
 14,556,894 
 
 15,954,559 
 
 
 87,545 
 
 
 35,016 
 
 1881 
 
 16,718.521 
 
 16,252,103 
 
 1,871,084 
 
 
 654,878 
 
 
 1882 
 
 18,748,081 
 
 16.193,579 
 
 4,241,829 
 
 
 1,272,546 
 
 
 1883 
 
 17,743,846 
 
 16,398,863 
 
 2,941.229 
 
 
 735,305 
 
 
 1884 
 
 19,201,633 
 
 16,050,465 
 
 4,879,314 
 
 
 995,860 
 
 
 1885 
 
 18,044,604 
 
 15,551.758 
 
 1,117,360 
 
 
 617,589 
 
 
 1886 
 
 18,530.576 
 
 11,796,821 
 
 8,203,005 
 
 
 820,300 
 
 
 1887 
 
 19,022.151 
 
 11,351,145 
 
 8,382,999 
 
 
 419,149 
 
 
 1888 
 
 23,972,134 
 
 13,853,763 
 
 12,275,863 
 
 
 613,793 
 
 
 1889 
 
 24,402,760 
 
 12,734,734 
 
 13,964,274 
 
 
 4,812,547* 
 
 495,821* 
 
 
 
 
 110,215,229 
 
 9,916,427 
 
 64,383,416 
 
 16,346,080 
 
 • Interest (or 1889 on Excess of 
 
Appendix E ( Continued ). 
 
 DEBT OF VICTORIA TO FOREIGN COUNTRIES. 
 
 
 89 , 358,752 
 
 27 , 121,709 
 
 2 , 207,070 
 
 2 , 151,196 
 
 27 , 121 , 709 f 
 
 2,161,196f 
 
 
 116 , 480,401 
 
 4 , 418,200 
 
 4 , 418,266 
 
 
 
 Total Increase £ 
 
 112 , 002,195 
 
 
 
 
 t Exclusive of interest on excess of years previous to if 
 
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