N.Z. LAMB SUGGESTED AS DOLLAR EARNER

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 22942, 10 May 1949, Page 4

N.Z. LAMB SUGGESTED AS DOLLAR EARNER

Immediate lifting of the export ban of New Zealand lamb to the United States is suggested as a solution to British Commonwealth dollar problems by the United States meat journal, Butchers’ Advocate.

The journal makes the suggestion in a criticism of a recent British proposal that Britain end its dollar shortage by trading with the United States on a strictly credit basis. “If Britain wishes to create dollars either for her own use or for one of her Commonwealths,” says the journal, “they should immediately lift the export ban of New Zealand lambs. We have a severe shortage of lamb in this country, and we could afford to pay much more in dollars for fine New Zealand lambs than Britain is now paying in pound sterling. The meat trade of the United States can present their plan for creating more dollars for Britain and New Zealand by urging cancellation of certain of the restrictions on New Zealand meats at this time-”

Commenting on the proposal an Auckland representative of a New Zealand firm which trades with the United States said that long-term contracts with Britain made it impossible to export meat to the United States at present. Although it would be desirable to build up supplementary export markets, especially to the United States, it was in New Zealand’s interest in the long run to maintain their British market.

Until the Geneva trade conference in 1947, heavy tariffs existed on imports of meat into the United States. Rates fixed in 1930 were 7 cents a lb for fresh and frozen lamb, 3 dollars a head for sheep and 5 cents a lb for mutton. These tariffs were maintained until 1947, when negotiations at Geneva resulted in the United States making a reduction of 50 per cent .in the tariffs on meat and butter.