ARGENTINA'S TRADE

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 14, 17 July 1939, Page 6

ARGENTINA'S TRADE

THREAT TO DOMINION

EXPORTS TO GREAT BRITAIN

(By Telegraph—Press .Association.) AUCKLAND, July 16. "Argentina constitutes a potential threat to Next Zealand's dairy trade ! with Britain,"' said Mr. M. S. Mackinnon, a New Zealander who arrived by | the Mataroa on holiday on Saturday, after --spending' 16 years in Argentina, where he manages two large cattleraising properties.

The dairy industry was going- ahead very rapidly in Argentina, Mr. Mackinnon said, and with some of the best dairying country in the world it was going to be a serious competitor of tha Dominion before long. There were huge areas of fine alfalfa which only needed subdivision to be outstandingly fine dairy land, and being three weeks or. less from the British market, the country had a definite advantage over New Zealand.

The beef trade, of course, held pride of place, and dairying methods in Argentina were still rather more primitive than in the Dominion. The work put into dairy products manufacture was not quite so conscientious as in New Zealand. Nevertheless the export to Bi-itain was increasing every year, and New Zealand could not afford to relax its efforts if it wished to retain its lead.

Argentina was today well governed, Mr... Mackinnon said. Whatever party was in power it contained a considerable proportion of land owners, and it was universally recognised that the country's wealth depended on primary production. This fact was never lost to sight, and the policy was shaped accordingly.