BUTTER TALKS NEXT WEEK

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31902, 1 February 1969, Page 42

BUTTER TALKS NEXT WEEK

(A’etr Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON, January 31

New Zealand’s discussions with the British Government on quotas for imports of butter into the United Kingdom in 1969-70 were expected to begin in London towards the end of next week, the Acting Prime Minister (Mr Marshall) said tonight.

He said they would take place against a background of “a weak and heavily oversupplied market in Britain and mounting dairy surpluses in Europe.” Mr Marshall said that it was the unimpeded flow of dumped and subsidised butter, largely from European sources, that had caused the introduction of quotas in the first place. “If the basic objectives of [the quota system are to be i maintained it is essential that a significant reduction be made in the total volume of i new supplies of butter com!ing on to the market this 1 year.

“This reduction should be borne primarily by those countries whose butter cannot be sold in Britain without the assistance of substantial subsidies,” he said. The New Zealand delegation this year will be led by Mr K C. Durrant, director of the External Economic Division of the Treasury, who would be assisted by officers from the New Zealand High Commission in London. The Dairy Board will be represented by its chairman (Mr F. L. Onion), Mr S. Hickey, a board member, and Mr A. H. Ward, its general manager. The Dairy Board team left Wellington today. Mr I)urrant will go tomorrow.