Seeing that the position was as critical as it could be, and that the colony was drifting from bad to worse, he made up his mind to do something to appease the people, at any rate. He announced that he would introduce a Tariff Bill which would satisfy the protectionists, and would not be so drastic as to seriously hurt the feelings of his freetrade followers.
He had faced many difficult positions before, but none which was so full of danger, and which demanded so much thought, alertness, and courage. There were falling revenues; a deepening depression; a depleted population; an incomplete scheme of retrenchment, which had brought him into great disfavour and had not done much good; and fresh and heavy liabilities.
In the midst of it all, he was in wretched health, a broken man with a wrecked constitution, and hardly anything to help him except his own brave and undaunted spirit. He wanted revenue before anything else. Secluded in his private residence, he spent days and nights pouring over the tariff, rearranging the items, taking from this and adding to that, decreasing here and increasing there, seeking to help old industries and to encourage the establishment of new ones, but always looking out for the increased revenue that was to carry him through his difficulties.
After a dramatic pause in the business of the House, during which members were kept in a state of almost absolute idleness, the Financial Statement of 1888, with the momentous tariff proposals, came down.
It is the clearest and best Statement the famous Colonial Treasurer ever delivered. Every line speaks of his anxiety to raise the colony from the terrible depths to which it had been allowed to fall. He offered a substantial measure of protection to boot manufacturers, clothiers, machinery makers, and workers in brass and iron. He proposed that an additional 3d. a gallon should be placed on beer, 6d. a gallon on spirits, and 1s. a gallon on wines; he doubled the opium duty, and asked the House to agree that the tax on tea should be increased from 4d. to 6d. a pound, half of the tea-duty to be set aside for subsidies given to local bodies.
