The New Zealand Embargo

Manawatu Times, Volume 63, Issue 60, 12 March 1938, Page 9

The New Zealand Embargo

SOUTH AMERICAN VIEW The question of what has become known as the NeAv Zealand embargo against the importation of pedigree stock from Great Britain has been under the consideration of various breed societies. Representations have beeii made on different occasions on behalf of the Aberdeen-Angus Cattlo Society, and as an outcome of discussions at the meeting of the council of the society and at the annual general meeting last February a further memorandum on the subject was prepared for submission in responsible quarters, states the Buenos Aires Herald.

j In the course of the memorandum it was pointed out that as an outcome of an arrangement with certain exporting Dominions and colonies, a quarantine station was provided at the London Docks where cattle and other pedigree stock intended for export could be quarantined for a certain period under the supervision of the Ministry of Agrij culture of Great Britain prior to ship.ment. This station was provided in order to facilitate a more or less regular export of stock to those Dominions and Colonies requiring such, and to obviate the periodical stoppage of this export trade at such times as intermittent outbreaks of foot and mouth disease occurred iu Great Britain.

The quarantine station was inaugurated on April 4, 1928, and the total number of animals exported through it up to February 4, 1937, is 4385. The countries to which export was made, though not necessarily the final destination of the animals, were Antigua, Australia, Barbados, Canada, Cyprus, Gold Coast, Irish Free State, Northern Ireland, Nigeria, Northern Rhodesia, Southern Rhodesia, Palestine, Union of South Africa, South-West Africa, and Trinidad. During that period and despite the large numbers dealt with, not a single case of foot and mouth disease has broken out either in the station or amongst the animals that have passed through it. Every cattle-raising Dominion and Colony within the Empire has accepted the quarantine station as a medium for the exportation of cattle and other pedigree stock, with tho sole exception of New Zealand. I It is recognised that the stock

breeders and farmers of New Zealand have every right to ask their Government to take all reasonable precautions against the risks of importing

such a disease as foot and mouth. But t is submitted that New Zealand's continued adherence to a policy that has

the practical effect of excluding British stock from that country except under conditions which virtually amount to an ( embargo, is quite unreasonable and | without justification, having regard to j the ascertained facts since the opening of the quarantine station. Iu this connection it is well to recall that no animals are qualified for admission' to the station unless they come from premises in Great Britain situated outside a radius of 15 miles from any place ou which foot and mouth disease, cattle plague, or pleuroneumonia has been I certified to exist during the preceding three months, and unless the animals to Ibe exported aud all other animals on | the premises from which they have been j brought have been examined by a veter- | inary inspector of the Ministry of Agri-

culture immediately before movement I into the quarantine station and certified jby him to be free from the diseases I mentioned. Similarly, all fodder or litter supiilied for the use of the animals during the quarantine period and j subsequently during the voyage must be obtained from districts (in Great Britain) certified by the Ministry to have been free from foot and mouth disease for at least threo months.

It is within our knowledge that New Zealand breeders of pedigree stock.

more especially of beef breeds of cattle, are anxious to have cattle from th& United Kingdom for the maintenance and improvement of their herds. Resolutions to this effect have been lodged by breed societies in New Zealand with the Government of that country, and responsible veterinary officers have similarly represented to the Government that the risks of recognising the quarantine station and importing cattle through it arc infinitesimal. We would go further and say that they do not exist, having regard on the one hand to the period of incubation for foot and mouth disease, and on the other to the isolation afforded by the detention in the quarantine station, and by the voyage from Great Britain to New Zealand.

The irritation with which British breeders of pedigree stock regard the continued refusal of New Zealand to remove the restrictions complained of is greatly aggravated by the fact that substantial numbers of pedigree cattle have of late been imported into New Zealand aud from certain other coun-

tries which have maintained a more or less regular trade in pedigro cattle from Great Britain and especially from Scotland. It is regarded as altogether invidious that New Zealand while refusing to admit cattle from Great Britain should at the same time be importing cattle from countries which admit cattle i'i'om this country, and this altogether apart from the effective safeguard which tho British quarantine system provides in the case of exports from Great Britain.

Breeders of pedigree stock in this country are at a loss to understand this policy being maintained by New Zealand, and it is i*ot unnatural that they should view with great concern the continued refusal of New Zealand to remove tho restrictions and tho recurring importations of stud stock from other countries on the one hand and the constant effort on the part of New Zealand to secure an extension of her market for chilled beef and other agri-

cultural produce in Great Britain ou tho other hand. It is believed that these aspects of the question have only to be pointed out to the authorities in New Zealand, and at tho same time reference made to the complete safeguard which tho quarantine station has proved over the period of its existence, in order to secure that New Zealand may fall into line with the other Dominions and Colonies within the Empire.