FOREIGN QUOTAS TIGHTENED

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 34, 3 November 1933, Page 10

FOREIGN QUOTAS TIGHTENED

Those who were inclined to belittle the value of the Ottawa agreements will find reason to revise their judgment.in the light of the British Government’s decision to restrict foreign imports of bacon by a further 16 per cent. A voluntary agreement was sought with the many foreign countries concerned. 1 When that failed, the cut was applied without'further ado. ■ ■. . Were it not for the guarantee of a free and virtually unlimited market in Great Britain secured by the Dominions at Ottawa, there is little doubt that their meat and dairy exports would to-day be subject to quotas. The British Ministry of Agriculture under Major Elliot has become a most active and forthright department. /So far as pig products are concerned, New Zealand and the other Dominions are not large exporters, although Canada sells a fairly large quantity of hams in Britain. While the Dominions are sheltered under the Ottawa agreements, they are not required to do more than estimate their annual export of bacon and pork, and to keep within their own figures. When the agreements lapse, quotas may be imposed, a possibility New Zealand must allow for in her present effort to develop the pig industry. Holland and Denmark, and no doubt other exporters to the British market, are developing systems whereby they may keep within the export limit. The quota > that applies to the national output is applied in rough proportion to that of the individual farmer. Government inspectors visit the. farms and mark or tag the ration that each producer may sell for export. In effect they decide, on a pro rata basis fixed by the record of previous seasons, which little pigs shall go to market and which must stay at home. In the case of bacon British farmers have already given disquieting proof of what they can achieve, now that there is a positive and practical scheme to encourage Home production, The output which it was planned should be reached in 1935 will be delivered next year, an increase of about 70 per cent, on production in 1930. This is due to the organisation o'f the Home industry on the basis of contract, much as growers of barley, tobacco or hops have contracted to deliver supplies in New Zealand. The fact is that Britain is advancing very rapidly toward, the objective of greater self-sufficiency in food supplies. Her purchases from foreign countries are already being regulated. No doubt she will grant the Dominions a preference over those outside the Empire but her own producers come first; As the Ottawa agreements run out, a new situation will arise and appropriate measures should be considered in advance. - ■