Chapter VUl—FEBRU^Rr 



Taxes — Monopolies — Poverty 



" I do not give you to posterity as a pattern to imitate, but aa 

 example to deter." — Junius. 



THE commercial conditions existing 

 in this island afford a melancholy 

 example of the evils of State in- 

 terference in business matters. Of 

 unrivalled climate, with a soil of great fertility, 

 and lying within a few days' steam of the 

 greatest markets in the world, it is yet pre- 

 vented by a vicious fiscal system from enjoying 

 the wealth which is its natural due. There is 

 no question here of the encouragement of 

 young and struggling industries by a moderate 

 scheme of Protection, and it is not necessary in 

 this connection to consider under what circum- 

 stances, if ever, Protection is beneficial. Two 

 facts strike the observer : firstly, the apparent 

 desire of the Government to tax everything that 

 can be taxed, regardless of consequences ; and 



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