LOST MARKET

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 28, 2 August 1933, Page 7

LOST MARKET

AUSTRALIAN FRUIT

NEW ZEALAND EMBARGO

(From "The Post's" Representative.) SYDNEY, July 27. The serious effect of the New Zealand embargo on the importation of Australian citrus fruits is becoming more and more apparent, and it is only ■with the utmost difficulty that Federal Ministers have been able to pacify the growers in various districts who have been so badly hit following the loss of j a valuable market. Conferences that have been held to discuss the position have b»cn of an angry nature, and the Federal Government has cpmo in for a great deal of criticism A With or without justification the Government has been asked to take the whole of the blame, and has been accused of showing greater concern for the Tasmanian potato growers than for the orchardists of the. othei1 States. A conference held near Sydney last weekend, at which the Minister of Markets (Mr. Stewart) was present, was particularly bitter until the Minister showed that he could be just as outspoken as the growers. Mr. Stewart, after hearing a recital of the losses suffered because of the disappearance of the New Zealand trade, said there was a brighter side to the picture. The New Zealand embargo had shaken Australia from its lethargy, and had forced her to explore now markets. The greatest problem was not the loss of a markot of approximately 250,000 bushels in New Zealand, for'it was estimated that, because of the intensive develop--ment of citrus farming, there would be in 1936 1,000,000 more bushels to market than tho quantity produced in any year so far. THE BRITISH MARKET. In tho United Kingdom, said the Minister, there was a market • for 1,500,000 bushels during the four months which affected the Australian season. During the last five years the exports to Great Britain had averaged oniy 13,000 bushels annually. This year, as a result of the spur given by the Now Zealand embargo, there were already 63,000 bushels on the water, and the total export to the British market, it was estimated, would be more than 200,000 bushels. Attention was' also being directed to Eastern Canada, which represented a potential market for 2,000,000 bushels. At,present Australia was practically exehided from the Canadian market owing to transport difficulties, but negotiations were being carried on with the shipping companies, and it was hoped that these would open the way to a further expansion of trade. He thought they, could look forward to the future with great confidence. One of the most prominent growers

told the Minister that, the New Zealand market had been lost because of laxity on the part of the Federal Government. The negotiations between the Federal and the New Zealand Governments had been of a feeble and lopsided nature. They had failed, and the growers did not know* why they had failed. The growers wanted the New Zealand market, and they knew that New Zealanders wanted Australian fruit. Growers of mandarins were particularly hard hit now that there was no New Zealand market. What the FederalvGovernment had done may have helped the orange growers, but it should be prepared to compensate the mandarin growers, who received no benefit. UNCOMPROMISING NEW ZEALAND. , After various other speakers had severely criticised the Minister for his failure to reach an agreement with New Zealand, Mr. Stewart said that if he had been a more experienced politician he might have spent more time in telling the growers what he had done. Then, perhaps, they would not have been so bitter. When the details of the trade agreement with New Zealand became known there wouM be due appreciation of the successful efforts of Senator Massy Greene, who negotiated it. Although potatoes had been the source of trouble between the two Governments, the vital issue was that of fireblight, which affected apples and pears. In 1924 Australia, because of the prevalence of fireblight in the Dominion, imposed an embargo on New Zealand apples and pears. It was vital to keep Australia free of such a decimating disease. In its attitud6 to fireblight the Federal Government had been guided by its biologists. With New Zealand maintaining an ■ uncompromising attitude, what could the Australian Government do? Before the conference concluded it was suggested that .photographs of tho wonderful oranges now being sold at all railway stations in New South Wales at Is a dozen> should be sent to New Zealand for propaganda purposes. No decision in this connection was reached.