TO PREVENT DUMPING

Evening Post, Volume CII, Issue 28, 2 August 1921, Page 4

TO PREVENT DUMPING

AUSTRALIAN. JAM AND FRUIT PULP

PROHIBITION OF IMPORTS.

An Order Jn Council was issued last evening prohibiting the importation of Australian jam and fruit pulp, and the following official review of the position has been circulated for public information. This temporary embargo is not an arbitrary interference with trade, but is directed towards the ' preservation of important industries and the prevention of unemployment within the Dominion. The people engaged in and dependent upon the fruit-growing and subsidiary industries 'such as jam manufacturing, have recently been seriously embarrassed by the fact that the Australian Government has decided to grant a rebate of £20 per ton on all sugar used by Australian manufacturers in the production of goods for export. This step would result in the flooding of New Zealand markets—the nearest clumping ground— with jams and preserves, and already dumping from Australia. has been serious in these and other commodities. It is not suggested that the decision of the Commonwealth Government was made with a view to facilitating dumping, but it followed representations from the Australian fruit-growers and jam manufacturers. After receiving' numerous complaints from all parts of New. Zealand, the Hon. G. J. Anderson, Acting-Minister of Industries and Commerce, was advised from a reliable source that there were huge quantities of jam carried over from last year, that there were accumulations both at Melbourne and Sydney; also colossal stocks were held in London. The Australian export trade with London and the East | was reported to be absolutely dead and ■ the local trade depressed. Australian | merchants were looking for fresh outlets, and New Zealand presented the most accessible field for exploitation. That the danger to the New Zealand fruitgrower is a real one may be realised when it is known that over 17,000 tons of fruit pulp are held in Australia to-day waiting for a market. The Australian Government's rebate on sugar for manufacturing purposes is a serious menace to tho fruit-growing and allied industries in N/ew Zealand. If Australian dumping is allowed to proceed, irreparable injury will be inflicted upon the fruit-growing industry and a.ll secondary industries connected therewith. The fruit-growing industry is already having a very hard struggle, and any serious setback such as would result from the Australian dumping of jams, pulp, and preserves, will seriously threaten the position of many growers. Unless fruit-growers can dispose of the bulk of their crop within New Zealand for jam making and preserving purposes, tho interests of many growers, including numerous returned soldiers recently settled on the land, will be sacrificed. Jam manufacturers are already stocked with considerable quantities, of fruit from last season's crop, and there is keen competition for sales within the Dominion itself, and if dumping of imported jams prevents the disposal of the New ■Zealand stocks, jam manufacturers will not bo in a position to place further orders with the fruit-growers for an indefinite period. In the Government's view there is ample power in the Board of Trade Act for the interests of consumers to be safeguarded in respoct to price..