a meeting was held in Wellington in April, 1888, to form a new political organisation. Nearly all parts of the colony were represented at the meeting. It was decided that the time had come for the consolidation of the great industrial party of the colony as an Industrial Protection League. Its avowed object was to support municipal and Parliamentary representatives pledged to secure efficient protection to all classes of producers, and to watch the action of Parliament in regard to the colony’s industries. It appointed a governing body and established branches in all the principal centres of population.
It was thought that the tariff in existence, having been framed mainly for revenue purposes, was very unequal in its operations. Sometimes it taxed the local manufacturers’ raw material at the same time as it taxed the finished article. The intense competition amongst manufacturers in Europe and America induced the Americans to ship to New Zealand large quantities of surplus stocks. These stocks interfered with ordinary operations of trade inside the colony, embarrassed the colonial manufacturer, and diminished the output. Coming on top of the depression, this movement placed a heavy handicap on industries, and had a direct effect on permanent employment and wages.
Clothing made under the sweating system was imported in large quantities and with a small duty. The tariff encouraged the importation of boots and shoes while large numbers of competent artizans in that line were idle. There was not an engineers’ shop in the colony that did not feel the unfair pressure of the importer. Most of the apprentices in the iron trade, as soon as they were out of their time, left for other countries, where they found work that was denied to them in their native country. On top of this, there was a threatened invasion of cheap Chinese labour, which had already reached Australia.
The Protective Conference believed that if the changes it proposed were adopted, every existing industry would be stimulated, home production would be increased, the community would have a larger wage-earning power, and new industries would come into oporation. It was in this way that Sir Harry Atkinson’s hands were forced.
