EMPIRE MEAT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 55, 6 March 1935, Page 11

EMPIRE MEAT.

CHANGE IN POLICY. NEW BRITISH PROPOSALS. AUSTRALIA'S VIEWPOINT. (From Our Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, February 24. A week ago, the newspapers informed us that the Commonwealth Government had "approved the principles" of a new scheme for the regulation of our meat export trade, which had been submitted to it by the British authorities. The main features of the proposed agreenieiit were: That the restrictions imposed on foreign imports under the Ottawa agreement be continued; that no restriction be imposed on the importation of meat from the Dominions; that all meat imported into the United Kingdom bo subjected to duty, but that the Dominions receive a preferential advantage over their foreign rivals. When these terms were announced, general witii-faction was expressed here, especially by Dr. Earle Page and leading members of the Country party, at the apparent disappearance of restriction from the new programme and tho substitution of preferential duties . for quotas, But this satisfaction was shortlived, for when the British Minister for Agriculture wae assailed at Home for time "sacrificing" the British producer to the Dominions he at once announced that the proposals published in Australia did not fairly represent the terms that he had drafted, and that there must have been some misunderstanding. Dr. Earle Page, who is now in charge of meat matters, insisted that tho Federal Government had made no mistake in its interpretation of tho conditions, and a verbal dispute waft maintained by cable for some days between him and Mr. Elliot, the general impression conveyed being that neither of these gentlemen could quite make out what, the other really meant. Atmosphere Cleared. However, the atmosphere cleared towards the week-end, and unices tho newspapers hero are entirely out of their reckoning, the proposed agreement will take very much the form in which it was announced by Dr. Earle Page.

Commenting on the present situation to-day (February 25) the "Sydney Morning Herald" expresses the view that the position is now tolerably clear, and that restriction at this end is to bo superseded by a system of protective duties at "Home! The preferential advantage over foreign countries is estimated to be worth about £. r )00,()00 n year to Australia ae matters now etand, and of course it is appreciated here as "jin earnest of better things to come." If the present proposals arc finalised the agreement will be only temporary — covering the period from July of this year to November, 103(5, when the AngloArgontine "black pact" will expire.

Mr. Lyons expects to be able to negotiate a more satisfactory "longterm" agreement when he gets t# London, though it seems a little ominous that, according to Mr, Elliot, Britain has already drafted a "longterm" policy which'is to be submitted to Mr. Lyoiis on his arrival. But the "Sydney Morning Herald" carefully points out that "the present proposed agreement is conditional on its acceptance by the Argentine Government." For the meat agreement of 1933 binds Britain to grant "fair and equitable treatment" to Argentine meat, and this is understood to mean that "any duties or restrictions upon it must be accompanied by similar impositions jipon Dominion meat exports to Britain.' Has Argentine Approved? How Mr. Elliot can get over this obstacle to his preferential duties still remains to be seen. The "S.M. Herald assumes that Mr. Elliot must have secured the Argentine's approval to this scheme, otherwise he would hardly have ventured to submit it to the Commonwealth. Apart from this, the scheme Rounds promising; at all events, as the "S.M. Herald ,, admits, it gives the impression that the Lyons Government has been successful in its resistance to Britain's policy of restriction, and it hns also succeeded in establishing the principle, of preferential trade on Britain's side. Further, as Dγ, Page Kan pointed out, the removal of restriction* will give our new trade in chilled beef a chance to establsh itself in the face of strong competition from the Argentine.

All this seems satisfactory enough; but one cannot afford to forget thai when these proposals were first announced in something like their prcselit shape, Mr. Elliot emphatically repudiated them. "How could we," he asked, "give the Dominions complete freedom in meat exports, with §d per lb levy on them, as against Id per lb levy on foreign exports, and simultaneously restrict foreign exports?" It is not for Australia to answer that question ; but if the new agreement does not mean something like this, Mr. Lyons and Dr. Earle Page will be due for aome painful surprises when the real negotiations begin.