BRITAIN'S PROBLEM

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 9, 11 July 1934, Page 14

BRITAIN'S PROBLEM

TRADE WITH ARGENTINA

RECIPROCAL RELATIONS

"Evening Post," July 11. 'Rejection by the Government of the Argentine Republic of the British proposal of a levy on meat imports is reported in the cablegrams. When questioned on this point, the Secretary for the Do- \ minions, Mr. J.H. Thomas, informed the House of Commons that conversations with the Dominions on the meat question were proceeding, and therefore he was unable at the moment to make any statement on that subject. The Argentine view of reciprocal relations with Great Britain is fairly well set out in a communication received by Buckleton and Co., Wellington, from Gibson Bros., Buenos Aires. This firm reports that Senor Duhau, Minister of Agriculture, in addressine the British Chamber of Commerce o£ Buenos Aires, made particular reference to the proposed reduction in British imports of Argentine produce and the consequent result to the trade exchange of tlje two countries which this implied. His remarks were interpreted by a-section. of the British. Press as a threat to restrict the importation ■ of British goods by way of reprisal against measures applied by the British. Government in order to stabilise the-farm industries of the "United Kingdom. Messrs'. Gibson Bros, remark that, although Senor Duhau spoke with the frankness' which is a feature- of all his public utterances, and at the close of his remarks qualified them as being addressed to a body of Anglo-Saxon merchants who prefer.-facts to flights of oratory; it is) difficult •to find in anything he said any other object than that o£ making it clear that ] any reduction in the British purchase of Argentine meat and other produce inevitably implied an equivalent reduction in the purchasing power of British goods by the Argentine.

DEFENSIVE MEASURES.

As a corollary to this shrinkage in trade exchange; and a reduction in the sterling values available for the purchase of Bri,tish merchandise which can only be obtained by the sale of Argentine produce, the Minister pointed out- as one of the consequences an increase in local manufactures up order to supply the deficiency and meet the essential requirements of the people of the country. It may be agreed, Messrs. Gibson contiriue; thut the Anglo-Argentine Convention signed last year in London, which not1 only is based on the principle of buying from those who buy from us», but confers'on both countries certain reciprocal- advantages., has already served to strengthen British export trade, in competition with, that of other countries, to ■the Argentine market. With a volume of available exchange, immensely greater than that on any other country, and due toi:extensive purchases of.Argentine prodace by the United Kingdom, the importer of goods from that country is able to obtain prior permits to cover his imports* -which is denied to other exporting countries through lack of the necessary exchange. The result has been a tendency to-' consolidate in the Argentine market the demand for British merchandise, which has not.only increased in relation to the total imports to that country, but has , the prospect of a still, greater participation * when trade recovery eets in and prosperity returns to the country's farming industries ' ' . .

CHILLED-BEEF TRADE.

In the meantime, however, the policy of'the'British Government-in seeking to stabilise agricultural industry •within the country by restricting the importation of foodstuffs from overseas has specially affected the trade of Argentine chilled beef which .is one that this* country can claim to, be \ unrivalled for its quality and the high standard of preparation and distribution it has reached.

KTo'one is unaware of the serious plight of; British agriculture which the British Minister of Agriculture is seeking to redress, or can fail to admire the resourcefulness of his measures by trial and error to organise its staple branehej and place them on a. firm footing. But, at the same time, as it is sought to assist the British livestock farming industry by successive cuts in the importation of Argentine chilled beef, the total importation of meat to the United Kingdom has not decreased, but has been increased by shipments from the DbminionsV under the Ottawa agreements, and which have not only not curtailed their: shipments, but have extended ■ them and supplemented them by exports of beef, both chilled and on the hoof, which had hitherto not been made. •'. . ;■ :

Incidentally it should be mentioned that the New Zealand Meat Board has decided that shipments of cow beef, bobby calves ' and boneless beef to the United Kingdom are suspended until further notice. v Messrs. Gibson Bros, also stated that when the Ottawa conventions with' respect, to meat come to be reconsidered in. June, without doubt all the • aspects of British trade, whether with the Dominions, or with-countries such as the Argentine specially, complementary, to British interests, wjll be brought ,under review In his speech to the British Chamber of Commerce, Minister Duhau did not insinuate, even remotely, that a reduction Tti* j , Br^ iall "imports" "6£ Argentine chilled beef would lead to reprisals He merely pointed out that the purchasing power of the Argentine to buy British merchandise depends upon the volume of Argentine produce purchased fey that cpuntrj, and a,reduction in the 'latter iifal-i iibly connotes' an equivalent shrinkage of the former. This is an incontrovertible fact."