RIVAL TO DOMINION

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIX, Issue 100, 28 March 1939, Page 9

RIVAL TO DOMINION

LAMB EXPORT TRADE. MOVE IN ARGENTINA. Impressions of the Argentine, which he visted last year in response to a request to advise breeders on the fat lamb industry, were given in an informative address to the Palmerston North Rotary Club, yesterday by Dr O. P. MeMeekan, of Massey College, The speaker said he spent two and a-half months in that country and had had opportunities which fell to the lot of lew average tourists of investigating the agricultural industry, and he had come away convinced of the great agricultural possibilities there. Cattle had almost been the religion of the Argentine; its vast wealth had been built up from its chilled beef trade and, now with beef quotas operating, it was turning its attention to fat lambs.

The farmers, Dr McMeelcan said, were anxious to build up a competitive lamb market and New Zealand would have to look to its laurels.

The speaker, who illustrated his address with a number of motion pictures, said that in the course of his stay he had visited forty different farms, ranging in size from 1 ().('()( acres to a quarter of a million acres. They were not by any means the largest farms, but they were typical of what was to be found in the country. There were, of course, many small holdings, but whereas in other countries it was a case of the smaller the farm the greater the efficiency, the opposite was the case in the Argentine. On the big holdings there was the maximum of efficiency, while as the holdings decreased in size the efficiency decreased, due to the fact that the smallholder was generally illiterate and knew nothing of the science of farming. On one 10.000-acre farm 10,000 fat bullocks were raised, and a bullock to the acre was quite common. SPARSELY SETTLED.

The country was sparsely populated Dr MeMeekan continued. There was a population of only 12j million people and about half of that number were found in the city of Buenos Aires. Argentino-Spanish people were the predominent race, but there were many Germans, Italians and Ercnch. The type of Government was fundamentally democratic, and Nazism and Fascism were not seen to any great extent; to the casual visitor there seemed to be just a littlc_ apprehension regarding the totalitarian Staten. There was, of course, a Nazi party among the German populace, and sections of the Italian population were in sympathy with Signor Mussolini, but generally, there was a desire to he left alone. The country was bound

to Great Britain b.v economic ties. Britain provided her biggest market and naturally the welfare of Britain was favoured. The Argentine had done much to adapt itself to the demands of trade. There was a huge organisation known as the “C.A.P. which was a co-operative concern formed to protect the farmers from big monopolies. Actually the name was a misnomer, as co-operation was compulsory. The farmer had to pay to the organisation one per cent of his sales, and it had almost unlimited capital. It was allocated a big proportion of the meat quota to handle and its turnover in meat alone was about £3,500.000. Tt was this organisation which had invited him to the Argentine.

Dr MeMeekan went on to outline the efforts being made to establish the fat lamb industry. Agriculture was the predominant' industry, and secondary industries wore of a comparatively minor nature. The country sold the hulk of its produce to Great Britain and in return bought its requirements from Great Britain: thus New Zealand and the Argentine had much in common. The Argentine had probably the greatest cattle industry in the world and the quality of its chilled beef was far above the quality of the product of any other country. The application of the quota was forcing the farmers to turn their attention to fat lambs, and with the land, the climate and the stock there was good reason to believe that New Zealand might receive a knock. The Argentine was allowed 4,000.000 lamb carcases under the quota system and the aim seemed to develop a 301 b lamb carcase, smaller than we produced in this country, but .a typo which might prove -opular on the London market. Dr MeMeekan said that lie was struck, during his brief stay, by extreme wealth on the one hand and extreme poverty on the other. There was a big holder of almost limitless wealth and almost side by side, there was terrible poverty, and the speaker emphasised this factor by showing, pictures of the extremes in the living conditions. The meeting was presided over by Mr A. Grigor, and .Dr J. Yeates, Messrs R. A. Fuller. E. F. Collinson and R. C. Abraham (Palmerston North) and ,T. D. Jnrdinc (Auckland) were welcomed as visitors.