The Hawera Star. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 1933. MR BAXTER ON QUOTAS.

Hawera Star, Volume LIII, 28 September 1933, Page 4

The Hawera Star.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 1933. MR BAXTER ON QUOTAS.

Delivered every evening by 5 o’clock in Hawera Manaia, Kaupokonui, Otakeho Oeo, Pihama, Opunake, Norxnanby, Okaiawa, Eltbam, Ngaere, Mangatoki, Kaponga, Awatuna, Te Kiri, Mahoe, Lowgarth, Manutahi, Kakaramea, Alton, Hurley villa. Patea, Whenuakura, Waverley, Mokoia, Whakamara, Ohangai, Meremere, Fraser Road and Ararata-

Never has the atmosphere a't a meeting of South Taranaki dairymen been more .tense with interest than! a last night’s gathering in> Hawera to- hear Mr Thomas Baxter, chairman of the British farmer's’ milk marketing organisation, expound the Home farmers eaise for “quantitative restrictions” upon New Zealand's cheese exports. It was made evident at the meeting that New Zealandl fami'CrS realise that .the dairy industry of this country has reached a 'crisis in its- history. When the quota suggestion was first made .there was an ilnellitnatio'n here to regard it a.s being too fantastic to warrant serious consideration’; .the 12,000-mile trip made: by Mr Baxter in' order to. ispend two weeks in' New Zealand to discuss this very question, which provided such a knotty poinit of discussion for Mr Forbes and Mr Masters at Home, has done more than anything else to make New ZeaI land realise 'that Great Britain is in ■ deadly earnest on this subject. It is. going to be very difficult for New Zealand to appreciate the British farmers’ point of view; that much was made evident last night by the questions asked by those who had the advantage of hearing Mr Baxter’s exposition of his case; it is obvious that the great majority of dairymen who will have inio opportunity to hear Mr Baxter at first hand are going to find it | evo'n more difficult to understand why the British farmers, while protesting their goodwill for the farmers of this Dominion, still find it po'ssible to brush aside our claims to consideration based oni the grounds of our loyalty, our service to the Empire, our status as buyers of British goods*, and our blood relationship to the Old Country. At last .night’s meeting all those arguments were advanced without weakening Mr Baxter’s stand, and also, it is good to note, without causing anything approaching a show of callous disregard for our feelings. While not oblivious to the .claims of kinship and sentiment, Mr Baxter made it obvious that in this matter the British farmer is taking a hard-headed and what he believes to be a clear-eyed view of the situation as a whole; he refuses to be led down any side-tracks of sentiment, but believes that the way out he is devising for himself through the milk marketing ! scheme will ultimately render a better service to all Empire farmers than anything based on sentiment alone. The necessity has obviously arisen for New Zealand farmers to make a similar approach to the subject and endeavour to isee .it whole alnd steadily. They may still agree to differ with England in the end, but by facing the realities of the situation they .ffiay be able to

effect a better compromise through, a businesslike arrangement tha,n will be possible by an appeal to British sentiment. What are the realities of the situation? In the first place it is well to remember that British agriculture, which for three gene rations had to play second fiddle to British secondary inI dust,ries under a Free Trade policy, has at last received recognition oif its claim® for Governmdnt assistance. The British agrieuiltiurist, with his experience of seeing his market so depressed by a flood of foreign and, later, Empire province, that it had in some instances ceased to exist for him, i;s not easily stirred to sympathy by Dominion protests against the possibility of loss of outlet for a small fraction of its produce. He looks upon the Dominion farmer as an exceedingly fortunate individual. The British farmer does not, perhaps, realise that this conn try has

mortgaged its future in order to borrow for developmental purposes and that we regard expansion of our primary industries as vital if we are to meet those commitments. When, however, -that is explained to him he is not impressed sufficiently to- Change his view', for the reason that he claims that his quota system will result in- better prices for everybody, including the Dominion farmer. In effect, the British farmer says that it is better for us to sta-ail still, or develop less rapidly, and prosper than to continue to expand and thus aggravate a situation which brings no hope of prosperity. Thus it can be seen .there is a, wide gap between- the reasoning processes of the producers of the two countries.

The question w'as asked last night, and it is doubtless being asked by dairy farmers all over the country, j “Why pick on us .to reduce our o-u’tput, and why select cheese and not butter for restriction ?” That brings out another reality which the New Zealand producer has to face. Mr Baxter made it very clear last night that the Briish producer is staking all (his hopes on the milk marketing scheme. Reduced to its simplest terms, this is a plan to prevent a price war developing between suppliers of milk for human consumption-. But England's per capita consumption of liquid milk will not alb--sorb all her milk production. What is to be done with the surplus —it cainnot be permitted to undercut the price of ‘ controlled ’. milk, therefore another outlet must be found for it. Cheese-making is regarded as the next best outlet,, but steps must be taken to- ensure that a price reasonably comparable with the price of liquid milk be returned to suppliers ‘Of milk for cheese-making—-otherwise all such suppliers will desire to be in the milk -pool, thus depressing the price and defeating the objects of the pool. The British farmer contends that the cheese market is glutted and he must eliminate a portion of the supply in order to raise the price—thus the demand for qualitative restrictions. In reply to question's asked last night, Mr Baxter stated definitely that he had the authority of' the Imperial Governmen for stating that England would n'ev-or consent -to place a quota on one country or a group of countries and allow' ethers to escape; it must be all or none. But Britain was w'illing to give the Dominions preference, demanding a smaller reduction of output from Empire countries than from foreign. Bhtter w'a-s excluded from the present quota and for the reason that New Zealand and Australia had been unwilling to consider the application of the principle in that direction.

If all efforts, through conversations in this country with Mr Baxter, fail to effect a compromise with British agriculture, New' Zealand has to ask itself, “What then?” This country can, if it choose, sit tight on the Ottawa agreement, which will prevent Bri- ! tain- from imposing restrictions for two 1 more years. Such a decision will not do I anything to win goodwill in Great Brii tain for Dominion primary producing interests and, unless New Zealand can see some way by which it will be in a position to dictate its own terms at the end of two years, is not a course of action to be recommended —two years i-s but a short span in the future 1 of our trading relations with Great Britain. Neither is it certain that by refusing to limit export New Zealand could cause the failure of the milk marketing scheme within two years and thus cause Britain to search for another price-raising plan and one ICS'S distasteful to New Zealand interests. The situation calls for the most careful handling, but there is a measure of comfort to be derived from the ,reflection fha/t British opinion firmly believes that this .proposed scheme of priceraising by quota restrictions would benefit cheese-producers everywhere.