RATION MAY BE GUT FURTHER

Press, Volume LXXXV, Issue 25768, 1 April 1949, Page 7

RATION MAY BE GUT FURTHER

The special corresponaeni oi ma New Zealand Press Association in London says that, with the meat negotiations between Britain and the Argentine at a critical stage, the likelihood of a further cut in the British meat ration is being predicted. The Andes Agreement, which provided for the supply of 400,000 tons of Argentine meat for 12 months, will expire to-morrow, with only 325,000 tons having been shipped to Britain. In the present negotiations the Argentina is demanding that Britain should be guaranteed only 300,000 tons in the next 12 months; that Britain should pay twice the former price—£ls2 a ton, instead of £76 a ton as paid under the Andes Agreement; that the 75,000 tons remaining unshipped should be paid for at this new price; and that Britain should send Argentina about 1500 commodities, including such valuable dollar-earning or doliaraaving goods as coal, steel, and oil. It is reported that new and firm instructions have been sent to the British negotiators, advising them that they must not, in any circumstances, surrender to what is regarded as Argentine blackmail. Although there are still hopes of a last-minute settlement, Whitehall is becoming increasingly resigned to getting no Argentine meat this year.