MEAT EXPORTS TO BRITAIN

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28158, 22 December 1956, Page 12

MEAT EXPORTS TO BRITAIN

NO PROTECTION FROM

ARGENTINA “N.Z. FARMERS CAN FORGET IT” fNetc Zeaiana Association) HASTINGS, Dec. 22. New Zealand farmers can forget •bout any possibility of the British Government acting to protect them by limiting the importation of cheap Argentine beef into Britain, said Professor M McG. Cooper, Dean of Agriculture at the University of Durham. Professor Cooper, formerly of Havelock North, was speaking to a meeting of the Maraekakaho Young Farmers’ Club.

“Britain has a very short memory,” •aid Professor Cooper. “A few years ago there was criticism about the Argentine ‘holding a pistol to Britain’s head, yet' now Britain had opened the door to heavy importations of meat from the Argentine at the expense of the New Zealand producer. “The thing that matters to the English is that cheap food is coming into the country,” said Professor Cooper. “With the political situation now. there is no room for statesmanship, only for politics.” Professor Cooper said that New Zealand had-loyally supolied Britain, and through bulk purchase the British Ministry of Food had made millions of pounds out of the New Zealand farmers, which it used to help subsidise the home producer.