Live Stock Embargo

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 256, 26 July 1935, Page 13

Live Stock Embargo

Sir. —In your issue of July 24. a Press Association message from Auckland states that the Minister of Agriculture, in an address at Pntumahoe, had stated that there was no embargo on the importation of stock. One can hardly believe that he has been correctly reported, for, as is well-known, there is an embargo on the direct importation of stock from England to New Zealand. By an expensive “back-door” method sheep and cattle can he imported if a certificate is given by New South Wales and Tasmanian authorities to tlie effect that imported stock coming to the Dominion have been pastured in such countries for a period not under three months.

The extra expense in importing stock by such a devious route is heavy, and prohibits many of our smaller stud masters from securing a much-needed change of blood for their flocks and herds.

I am informed that to import to-day through Australia firstly, a period of quarantine at Tilbury Docks has to be undergone for observation purposes: secondly. the stock have to be kept for three months in either Sydney or Hobart: and, thirdly, a thirty days' quarantine is necessary in the Dominion. I am further informed that the total cost of importing one sheep of, say, to value of 150 guineas, including insurance and exchange. is £124. a sum that only a wealthy stud master can afford to pay. If n stud ram is shipped from Loudon in November, a good month to ship, it means that the animal would not be free from New Zealand quarantine until well into April, and the services of the sheep lost for the season. The extra insurance to cover i.uarantine in Australia is also a heavy item, with the added risk of mortality.

The Minister is also reported to have stated that food and straw for the animals on the voyage had to be supplied from either or Canada. Without wishing to contradict such a statement, I ask—if there is such a regulation—is it always adhered to? It is. of course well known that any fodder unused during the voyage cannot be landed nt port of destination and has to be destroyed. As the embargo has lately been a much discussed matter, I think the Minister would have been well advised to have given fuller particulars in connection with the present method of importation, and to say there is no embargo is simply camouflaging the point.—l am. etc., INTERESTED. Wellington, July 24.