MEAT QUOTA.

Hawera Star, Volume LIV, 18 January 1935, Page 6

MEAT QUOTA.

The British Government’s invitation to the Dominions’ representative to a conference on the subject of meat quotas, announced in today’s cables, will raise hopes ir New Zealand, particularly in view of the British Government’s acceptance of Australia’s proposals for the fixation of the quantities of veal, beef, mutton and lamb exports up to March 31. The British Government has apparently yielded to Australian insistence, and it is reasonable to assume that it will be no less generous to New Zealand than it has been to Australia. It is true that the agreement with Australia extends to the end of March only, and of first importance is the long-term policy which the Do minion Prime Ministers are expected to discuss with the British authorities when they visit England in May to attend the .jubilee celebrations of the King. But the concession already made must possess a significance in the subsequent negotiations. In imposing a quota system to protect the British farmer from what it deems to be excessive importations of meat, the British Government has not only the interests of its Dominions to consider, but also the interests of British investors in the foreign meat-exporting countries. Whether it has leaned too largely toward the British investor is a debatable point, but it is clearly concerned with doing nothing more that will weaken the sentiment between the Dominions and the Homeland.