FIGHT AGAINST QUOTA

Northern Advocate, 23 March 1934, Page 9

FIGHT AGAINST QUOTA

j FLAWS IN MAJOR ELLIOT’S j PROPOSALS. j OBSTACLE TO EMPIRE SETTLEMENT. WILL THE SHIPPING INDUSTRY TAKE A HAND? (From a Special Correspondent.) LONDON, February 1.3. The profound apathy which marked the British public’s attitude a for/ v'eeks ago to the quota of Major Walter Elliot, Minister of Agriculture, Li relation to Empire trade policy has now given place to grave misgivings In influential quarters. Although by the time this article ap pears in print, the Imperial Government's policy will probably be known, it is still wflrth while recording the incidents which have led to an awakening of interest on the part of the British public. No one would deny that Major Elliot has resolutely tackled the successive problems of the wheat subsidies, the Ottawa meat quotas, the restriction or cattle imports, and of the marketing scheme for hops, milk, bacon and potatoes, He commands the support and admiration of the majority of British agriculturists and, indeed, of a very large section of the House of Commons, for, in a Parliament reduced to inertia oy the size of the Government majority, he has stood out as a courageous and imaginative departmental chief, determined to do his utmost for the interests of the Home farmer. And, of course, until recently in political circles there was a general tendency to accept the theory that to curtail Empire supplies would give better -prices all found and thus benefit Home and Empire producers alike. Few took the long view that while the Homeland is still dependent for a large proportion of its supplies upon foreign countries, a policy of curtailing the production of foodstuffs within the Empire is a threat to the whole fabric of Dominion finance,’ since that rests upon continuous development.

It Was, perhaps, unfortunate for the Minister of Agriculture that Parliamentary complacency was disturbed a few days ago by the introduction of a motion on Empire Settlement which gave rise to a debate laying bare the fallacy of any attempt to revive Empire settlement at a time when the Government is seriously considering the restriction of the Dominion’s output. When Mr Malcolm MacDonald, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for the Dominions, said, in replying for the Government, that it was unfair to invite the Dominions to accept new emigrants at a moment when they are being asked to restrict their exports, his declaration came as a cold douche to the advocates of emigration. The point was later driven home by that consistent advocate of Empire trade, Sir William Wayland, in a letter t.o the Press pointing out that nearly o 0 per cent, of Britain’s total imports of dairy produce still came from foreign countries which, neither in their bulk nor their average purchases of British goods, supported Home manufactures to the same degree that the Empire dairy countries support them. Mr Malcolm MacDonald’s point was reinforced a few days later by his chief, Mr J. H. Thomas, who pointed out, in his speech on New Zealand Day, that to ask a young and growing nation to restrict its production was asking it to do something foreign to its instincts, and suggested that it was in co-operation between Home and Dominion producers that there lay the solution of the present problem. The Empty Ships. Unless there has been an irrevocable decision before this letter reaches New Zealand, one can predict that the shipping industry may play some part i if modifying the quota plan. No industrial problem of recent years has appealed to the public sympathy here at Home more than has the problem presented by the plight of British shipping and, despite the diversity of the remedies under discussion, the unanimous view is that the raising of artificial trade barriers in all parts of the world has been directly responsible for ihe present stagnation. It, is, therefore, scarcely credible that the shipping industry will look with equanimity upon proposals to check the flow of trade between the Dominions and the Homeland —a trade which, as Mr Malcolm MacDonald said, is carried to the extent of 90 per cent, in British bottoms. If stimulation to action bv' the shipping industry were needed, it is provided by the fact that, on the stlength of the Ottawa agreements, the leading companies engaged in the trade between the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand have committed themselves to shipbuilding programmes in anticipation of a rise in pi eduction. Within recent months orders for no fewer than eleven Empire food-carry-ing ships for the New Zealand-Austra-lian-Uuitcd Kingdom trade have boon placed with British shipbuilders. Those orders and their influence upon employment at Homo have received the widest publicity and have no doubt come to the notice of the President of the Board of Trade (himself t an eminent shipping expert), the Minister of Labour, the Secretary for the Dominions, and last, but not least, the Chancellor of the Exchequer. It remains lo be seen whether this consideration ill lie ignored in Cabinet deliberations and what the shipping industry will have to say about a proposal to hamper and discourage one of its most progressive elements.

Local Campaign Successes. Many of these factors were very forcefully brought before the notice of M’s.P. for industrial constituencies in Lancashire at a luncheon the Now Zealand Dairy Produce Board in Manchester gave the other day in connection with a big drive to increase the popularity of Now Zealand butter and cheese there. A number of them showed their sympathy. By the way, the localised campaigns now being carried out by the New Zealand Dairy Produce Board’s London office in various parts of this country continue to rouse public interests wherever held. In Manchester no fewer than 321 retail grocers entered for the window-dressing’ competitions the board organised, and at the moment there are more than 800 shops in the city—a formerly unchallenged stronghold of Danish butter—now

stocking and exhibiting New Zealand butter and cheese. Similar enthusiasm is being shown in Bolton and Oldham, where, campaigns are also being waged, and the city of Belfast —the shipbuilding centre principally affected by the placing oT orders for ships for the New Zealand trade —Now Zealand produce has taken bv storm.