Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit SATURDAY, JANUARY 4, 1936. THE POTATO EMBARGO.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 56, Issue 70, 4 January 1936, Page 4

Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit SATURDAY, JANUARY 4, 1936. THE POTATO EMBARGO.

Hopes are entertained in Australia that the forthcoming meeting of Dr. Earle Page with members of the New Zealand Government may result in the ending of the potato and orange war. It would indeed be to the advantage of both countries if this objective could be brought to pass, because the present position, in which embargoes are placed on respective imports, inflicts an unnecessary burden on the people of the two lands. The lifting of the embargo on potatoes was the subject of a mission undertaken by Mr Coates and Mr Masters at fhe end of 1934, but no agreement could be reached. At the conference with the Australian authorities, the Dominion Ministers offered limitation of exports if the embargo were lifted. The fact that this proposal was considered suggests that the excuse for banning potatoes, the fear lest a disease which already exists in the Commonwealth might be introduced, did not figure in the conversations. If the desire to exclude powdery scale were really a substantial reason for the embargo, how could the Commonwealth representatives consider admitting regular quantities? Ten thousand tons a year would be as grave a menace as 100,000 tons, if there were any real risk in admitting potatoes. Since the disease risk has never been anything but the most transparent of excuses —even though a conference of mycologists was gravely held to discuss it —perhaps it is just as well the quota proposal appeared to destroy its last appearance of conviction. It can never be paraded with the same solemnity again. To this extent, the proposal for a quota was of some effect. It also had the appearance of a good bargaining point, but this was more superficial than actual. If Australia were a country regularly importing potatoes, and New Zealand had asked for a proportionate quota of the annual supply drawn from overseas, the proposition would have been much more reasonable. This, of course, is not what happened at all. The market in Australia is highly irregular, depending upon the success or failure of the homegrown crop. If Australia has plenty to meet the domestic demand none are bought in this country. In the past, if the supply was short and New Zealand had plenty, potatoes were imported from here. Sometimes it happened that the situation lay the other way, New Zealand importing from Australia to relieve a shortage in the domestic market. That was what happened in the days when trade was accepted as beneficial, not outlawed on every pretext. If the time that has elapsed since the last conference has enabled the Australian authorities to realise the weakness of the arguments previously advanced against removal of the embargo, there is a hope that an anomalous and vexatious position will be ended. As, it is reported, Federal Ministers themselves believe, the ultimate advantage would be with Australia, for the market for citrus fruits in the Dominion would be greater than that in the Commonwealth for New Zealand potatoes.