oHAP. vi] TRADE RELATIONS AND CURRENCY 1179
sions on the Continent of North America are now united in
one Dominion, the application of the principle of inter-
colonial reciprocity is exceedingly limited, being confined
to Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland ; and that, as
regards reciprocity between the Dominion and the United
States, the contiguity of their respective territories along
a frontier line now extending across the entire continent
renders the case so peculiar, that the precedent cannot fairly
be applied to the commercial relations of Australasia, which
is separated from the United States by the Pacific Ocean.
But it cannot be denied that reciprocity bargains may be
made between countries far remote from each other, and
that the ever-increasing facilities of communication between
all parts of the world must render it more and more difficult
to maintain distinctions based upon merely geographical
considerations.
All these complications would be avoided if the Colonies
adhered to the iree-trade policy of this country. Not the
least of the advantages of that policy is that, as it seeks to
secure no exclusive privileges, it strikes at the root of that
narrow commercial jealousy which has been one of the most
fertile causes of international hatred and dissensions.
Her Majesty’s Government believe that protectionist tariffs
and differential duties will do far more to weaken the con-
nexion between the Mother Country and her Colonies than
any expressions of opinion in favour of a severance, such as
are alluded to in the resolutions of the delegates from three
of the Australian Colonies.
Whilst, however, Her Majesty’s Government deeply regret
that any of the Australasian Colonies should be disposed to
recur to what they believe to be the mistaken policy of
protection, they fully recognize, so far as the action of the
Imperial Government is concerned, the force of the observa-
tions made by the Chief Secretary of Victoria in his Memo-
randum of October 7, 1871! ‘ that no attempt can be more
hopeless than to induce free self-governed states to adopt
exactly the same opinions on such questions as free trade
and protection which the people of England happen to enter-
bain at that precise moment’: and they are well aware, to
use again Mr. Duffy’s words, that the Colonists are naturally
impatient of being treated as persons who cannot be entrusted
to regulate their own affairs at their own discretion.”
Similarly, Mr. Wilson, Chief Minister of the Tasmanian
Government, in his Memorandum of September 11, 18712
' Parl. Pap., C. 576, p. 18, * Ibid., p. 48.
