HINT OF RETALIATION.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIX, Issue 68, 17 February 1939, Page 2

HINT OF RETALIATION.

OPINION OF VISITOR. Per Press Association. BLENHEIM, Feb. 16. The conviction that retaliatory restrictions would be imposed on the importation of New Zealand produce by Britain as a result of the Dominion’s regulation of imports, was expressed bv Mr E. W. Gough, an English farmer. who was formerly a resident of Marlliorough and is now- revisiting the district. “I am a prominent member of the National Farmers’ Union and am more or less iti the know, and 1 can sav our Government has definitely promised th© English agriculturist that restrictions will be imposed on imports,” he said. He expected the application of quotas against each of the Dominions and colonies on the lines suggested at the Empire producers’ conference in Sydney. The leader of the British delegation to this, Sir Hugh Dorman-Smith, was the new Minister of Agriculture. English farmers were eager to maintain the bonds, of Empire, but the enormous British investments in the Argentine, for instance, must be borne* in mind. “My advice to New Zealand farmers is. through their Farmers’ Union and other organisations, closely to watch, the position to see that they get their full share, as part of the Empire, of the trade to which they are entitled, and that thoy receive preference over countries not within the Empire. In my opinion New Zealand should be reasonably careful not to antagonise British manufacturing and farming interests. It is very important these days that, as far as possible, tho Dominions should take out the value of produce in manufactured goods, as it must be realised that Britain ha 6 an extremely heavy burden in rearmament,” said Mr Gough.