5

H.—lo

Hurdles, wood and iron, for sheep .. 15% ad val. Honey .. .. .. .. 2d. per lb. Iron, rolled girders .. .. .. Free. Limcjuice, sweetened .. .. 25% ad val. Manures— Bonedust . .. .. .. 40/ per ton. Chemical .. .. .. 10% ad val. Marble, and other kinds of stone, wrought, dressed, or polished (except slate, slate-slabs, not wholly manufactured lithograph - stones, and stones for milling and grinding purposes) .. .. .. 25% „

Potatoes .. .. .. .. 20/per ton. Putty .. .. .. .. 25% ad val. Sausage-skins .. .. .. 25% „ Stoneware .. .. .. .. 25% Sulphur .. .. .. .. 2/ per cwt. Telegraph material, insulators, and galvanized holts .. .. .. 25% ad val. EXPORTS. Scrap-iron, lead, and zinc .. .. 40/ per ton. Kauri, in balk or flitch .. .. 2/per 100ft. sup. Colonial beer, rebate of Excise duty.

The following items in our proposals seem to call for special comment : — Apparel and Slops. —The imports for 1886 amount to £203,000. These interfere with a larger quantity of colonial labour, both male and female, than that of any other of the imported textile fabrics. The bulk of the goods are made up on the " sweating system," under conditions almost too terrible for belief, the remuneration hardly keeping the workers in food. Colonial labour should not be placed in competition with such conditions. The Conference therefore propose that the duty on this item should be increased to 30 per cent. Boots and Shoes. —The imports for 1886 amount to £157,445. The remarks as to " apparel and slops " largely apply to this item. The present position of the industry is that, while there are a large number of high-class workmen in the colony, competent to manufacture the very best classes of boots, hardly any of this work is put in hand, the tariff being so adjusted as to induce the importation of these classes. The changes proposed will not only tend to employ a largo number of the most experienced artisans, but enable the goods manufactured by them, and of equal quality with the imported, to be sold at lower prices than the latter. The increased duties now proposed are divided into several sections. Machinery, including Locomotives. —The imports for 1886, excluding certain kinds of machinery not made in the colony, amount in round figures to over £150,000. The major portion of this machinery can lie manufactured in the colony, and the advantage to the skilled artisan in iron will be immense. There is not an engineers' shop or foundry in New Zealand that has not felt the unfair pressure of the importer, the result being that they cannot afford to employ a fair proportion of mechanics, apprentices often being found where there should be old skilled mechanics. Another feature of this unfortunate state of things is in the undeniable fact that the majority of the apprentices in the iron trade as soon as they are out of their time leave for other colonics, where they quickly find the work denied to them in the land of their birth. To show the value to the wageearner of the local construction of locomotives, it is only necessary to mention that in the recentcontract for ten locomotives carried out by a firm in Christchurch £1,100 out of every £1,300 of the contract price was spent in that city for wages and fuel in connection with the work. Woollens and Blankets. —The imports for 1886 amounted to £104,883. This industry is now one of the most important in the colony. Dealing as it does with the raw material produced within our own borders, it has by the application of high skill and the best machinery reached the stage of producing goods equal to anything manufactured in the world. Importers, whoso interest lies in procuring foreign goods, will not purchase the New Zealand manufactures, however excellent ; and buyers who can procure the local article for less money, and still prefer the imported, need have no hesitation in paying the additional percentage now proposed. Coals. —The import value of foreign coal for 1886 was £123,345. As with the last industry, New Zealand can now supply its own requirements and export, the native coal being superior to the imported, and being sold at a lower price. To those who will not admit these facts, the proposed duty of ss. per ton may bring conviction. The Conference, being, however, desirous that steam navigation with the Australian Colonies shall be as free as possible, recommend that no duty be levied upon coal used by steamers trading betwixt New Zealand and those colonies, the duty being collected only upon coal discharged here by the importing vessel. It is needless to remark that if the 120,000 tons of coal now imported were mined by our own people it would give employment to a large number, and keep capital within the colony. Furniture and Upholstery. —The imports under this head for 1886 totalled up to £43,823. A large proportion of this amount meant wages in Europe, while our own workpeople, with an abundance of fine woods at their command, and many of the raw materials on the spot for upholsterers' purposes, are walking about idle. The only cure for this state of things—aggravated now by American prison-labour and Chinese cheap-labour consignments—is to raise the duty as proposed. Candles. —The imports for 1886 were £42,117. With the raw material in every quarter of the colony, and the simplest of manufacturing processes, there is absolutely no reason why every candle used in the colony should not be made in it: hence it is proposed to raise the duty from Id. per pound to 2Jd. per pound. Fish. —The import value of fish of all kinds in 1886 was £28.033. With the numberless varieties of beautiful fish on our coasts, and the fact that this industry only requires encouragement, such as proposed by raising the duty from practically Id. per pound to 2d. per pound, this industry should grow into a most valuable export trade. Linseed Oil. —The imports in 1886 were value £20,872. Linseed is grown in all parts of the colony, and not a gallon of this oil should be imported : hence the duty is raised from 6d. per gallon to Is. per gallon.