L— 10c,

16

[_\ M. KING.

the cost of the raw material to those manufacturers who are now enga.ged in the trade yoii will to a certain extent extinguish their trade. Supposing you keep out English goods absolutely, then you will close down a certain number of clothing-factories m the colony. 36. Contrast the difference between the workers in the woollen-mills and those you employ : by your evidence you infer that if we increase the duty on woollen goods many of those you employ will be thrown out of work ? —I go further than that, and say that more will be thrown out of work than the woollen-mills can possibly employ. 37. I suppose the woollen-manufacturers do employ a great number of hands ? —1,693. 38. Are they in a position to employ more ? —Not with their present machinery. 39. Are they <n a position to find capital to get more machinery ?—Yes, I do not think there is any doubt about that. 40. As a colonist, do you not think it would be better to manufacture our own goods, if we could, than to manufacture English or continental goods I —Yes, if without any great cost to the colony. 41. Would it not be better to grow our own wool, to fellmonger it by our own people, and to spin and manufacture it in the colony—would that not be a better state of affairs ?—Yes; but by every increase in duty on all goods you increase the cost of all the production in the colony. Take butter, for instance : we could not consume the whole of the butter made in the colony —it could not be absorbed here, and it has to be sent Home to England ; and the effect of increasing the cost of clothing increases the cost of butter-production, and we have to send two or three times the amount of butter to England than we otherwise would to make up the difference. 42. You spoke about an increase in the production of blankets in the colony : what was the reason of that ?—Because the mills produced a better blanket. 43. Is it not because the mills are able to purchase their wool here, are able to make it up here, and that they save the cost of sending it to England, together with the two exchanges, and then the duty on the blankets ? Is not that the cause of it ?—Not the whole cause of it, because if it were why do they not do it with tweeds ? 44. Is there as much value in the wool used in the manufacture of tweeds in proportion to the cost of the article manufactured as there is in blankets ? —I am not much of an expert in the cost of such goods. 45. Take the cost of manufacturing tweed, do you not think it would cost more to manufacture tweed than to manufacture blankets ? —Yes, per yard. 46. Consequently that will largely account for the success of the mills in putting blankets on the market, and possibly for the non-success of putting tweeds on the market ? —No ; because, say you take one pound's worth of blankets and one pound's worth of tweeds, I do not think there is much more cost in the tweeds. 47. Do you not think the dyes and the weaving of tweeds make them much more expensive ?— There is only the pound's worth, but there is the labour. I will admit that there is not so much raw material in a pound's worth of tweeds as there is in a pound's worth of blanket. 48. You spoke about the success of the mills in connection with blankets, and you say only the right class of goods should be made in the colony in order to gain success ? —Yes. 49. Is it within your knowledge that many of the mills are making very fine tweeds at the present time ?—Yes. 50. Is it not within your knowledge that many of the mills are not only making fine tweeds but that these are often sold as English tweeds ?—Yes. 51. And that shows that our woollen-manufacturers are successful in imitating the imported tweeds ?—Yes, and they are splendid tweeds too. 52. You spoke about a low class of goods : do you know anything about the Kaiapoi and Wellington goods that have been put upon the market for the benefit of the workers ?—Yes. 53. Are there many moleskins put on the market ?—No. 54. What is the reason ? —I think it is because the workers are too well off and are not willing to use them. As far as the Auckland Province is concerned, the climate is mostly too hot for them. 55. Is it not because the Wellington, Dunedin, Christchurch, and Oamaru mills are able to put an article on the market as cheap as moleskins and that will wear almost as well ?—I am not sure, because that goes into a part of the trade which I do not know anything about. 56. You made a statement here about the price of goods, and spoke of working-men having to get imported stuff, and I am asking you questions about that ? —Yes. 57. Are there not thousands of pairs of trousers made in Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin that are as cheap as and better than the imported article ?—Yes. 58. And we are able to make these with our own wool much cheaper and better than those which are imported and made up in the colony ?—Yes, certain classes of goods. 59. And that shows that there is a demand for them ? —Yes. 60. And that the wear of these trousers has justified the demand ? —That is so. 61. Now, if the workers you speak of are thrown out of employment may there not be an increased demand for the manufacture and making-up of colonial-made tweeds ? —No, because you increase the cost of clothing to the community. The community have only so-much purchasing-power, and therefore will have to buy cheaper goods again. Protection on woollens a'one already costs us £240,000, and if you increase it to £500,000 it is obvious that people will have to buy so much less clothing. 62. Mr. Rutherford asked you a question in which he contrasted the cost of Kaiapoi rugs at £1 15s. as against imported rugs at 12s. 6d. : have you seen any cheap Wellington or Kaiapoi rugs put on the market ?—No, I do not handle them at all--63. Have you seen them in the shop-windows ?—Yes. I know that imported rugs can be supplied to bushmen and gum-diggers, and that they will outwear any colonial rugs, while they will suit that class of men, at half the cost of the colonial rugs.