DOMINION’S AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL INDUSTRY

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXII, 10 December 1938, Page 13

DOMINION’S AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL INDUSTRY

AN INFORMATIVE SURVEY

That it is a matter of vital con- I I eern to the farmers of the Do- j l minion, and especially to those oc- | f eupied with dairying, to keep our j t export markets open and free of | compromises with other competing countries, is the opinion of .Mr VV. Goodiellow, chairman of dlrec- j tors of Amalgamated Dairies, Ltd. Surveying the whole area of the Do- I minion's agricultural and pastoral in*, dustry in a recent article in “The Exporter." Mr Goodfellow enforces his arguments with a series of graphs, of . which the following is a summary:— 3 EXPORTS DOMINATE POSITION ! I i t The outstanding importance of our c export trade is illustrated in a graph which shows that exports of New Zealand meat, wool, butter and cheese constitute 84 per cent, of the total production, so that local consumption at 1G per cent, plays a relatively small part in the country’s economy. WHERE NEW ZEALAND LEADS Other graphs are designed to show c the outstanding position occupied by , Npw Zealand as a supplier of food r products to Great Britain. Thus the imports of dairy produce, namely, butter. cheese and pig meats, into the United Kingdom from Empire coun- 1 tries during 1937 were as follow: — I Imports Percent | From New Zealand 51 * From Canada 21 From Australia 18 From others 10 BRITAIN'S BUTTER IMPORTS ! % 1 1 New Zealand is now the largest supplier of butter to the United King- I dom market, and her position in comparison with other Empire countries is shown in the following table: j I Imports Per cent, j 1 From New Zealand 28A j 1 From Denmark 22 j * ! | Rest of Foreign 22 , Australia 14£ | Home production and rest of : ; Empire 13 : { BRITAIN'S CHEESE SUPPLIES ij New Zealand is supplying nearly j 1 half the total cheese consumed in the j ‘ United Kingdom, and is producing very 1 much larger quantities of cheese than ! ' any other Empire country. Particulars i 1 follow: — ' ! Imoptrs Per cent. J From New Zealand 46i From home production 21 | From Canada 19i From others 13 BRITAIN’S PORK SUPPLIES More than half the pork imported i into the United Kingdom came from ■

‘ KEEP EXPORT MARKETS OPEN"

New Zealand last year, Australia being the only other Empire country sending forward fairly large quantities. Details follow: Imports Per cent. From New Zealand 53 From Australia 31 From Argentine 17i From Ireland 5 From others 3A MUTTON AND LAMB Here again New Zealand is the largest individual exporter, supplying 28 per cent, of the market, with Australia 14 per cent., the only other Empire country sending forward any appreciable quantity. Details follow: — Imports Per cent. From. New Zealand 28 From United Kingdom 47 From Australia 14 | From South America 10 ! From others 1 BRITAIN’S IMPORTS OF WOOL Although Australia’s wool export is considerably greater than ours, New Zealand’s share at 28 per cent, is no mean proportion of the total. Details follow: Imports Per cent From New Zealand 28 From Australia 41 i From South Africa 13 From South America 11 From others 6A BRITAIN'S IMPORTS OF BEEF Because of the small quantity of beef we export, the Beef Council’s regularity work has not affected the Dominion as would the activities of a dairy council. Details follow: Imports Per cent. From New Zealand 4 From Home-grown 57 From South America 30 j From Australia 8 From others 1 A conference of producers is to be held at Sydney this year to establish commodity councils, including an Empire Dairy Council and an International Dairy Conference —the former to consist of members from Empire countries and the latter to include representatives of foreign countries supplying dairy produce to Great Britain, such Dairy Conference to be organised on similar lines to the Beef Conference. Basing his conclusions on the facts ! emphasised in the foregoing tables. Mr 1 Goodfellow says:— I “It would be a fatal blunder for New Zealand of all countries, with its huge . volume of exports, to the United Kingdom of butter, cheese, mutton, lamb : and pork, to jqin any Empire council or conference. including Empire and j foreign competitors, which was obvii ously designed to restrict the market and levy a tariff on the Dominion’s ; imports into the United Kingdom, j largely for the benefit of the Home proi ducer.” MR CHAMBERLAIN'S VIEWS | After referring to the pressure which • had been brought to bear on the Britj ish Government by Home farming ini terests, the writer says:— In July of this year the Prime Minister of Great Britain, Mr Neville Chamberlain, made a clear-cut statement regarding the British Government's ideas on food production in Britain. It is important to remember that Mr Chamberlain represents ! the Government which is acting on behalf of the 4G.000.000 people ol j Great Britain un.l not merely for the 1C 1 Mr Chamberlain in this statement said: ‘j "I have seen it said that we ought ouri ' selves to grow at home all the food that II we need, and 1 want to give you a reason , i or two why 1 think that is a wrong point 'j oi view. 1 am assuming that we could i but l think wo should find it a costly ex : perinient. But if we could, what woulc ; happen? The first thing would be thal j we, would ruin those Empire and foreigi | countries who are dependent on our mar * ket. And the next thing would be. o ! course, that as their purchasing powei ! had been destroyed, those markets wouli j n.) longer be able to buy our manufac tures from us. Up. therefore, would g< 1 our unemployment figures, and the unem ployed in turn would have to reduce Lliei ; purchases of the farmers' products. Am 1 so. in the end, the final sufferer wouh ! be the farmer himself. STARVED OUT . “The idea that we can be starves i out in war seems to me entirely l’al ' lacious. We can depend upon tin I Royal Navy and the Mercantile Mar ! ine to keep open our trade route ' and to enable us to import our foo< and raw materials indefinitely. Bu : there are two precautions which ’; think it is necessary for us to take ? | First of all. we must provide aguins i the dislocation which would occui 1 or might occur, after an air attack j We require to keep certain reserve to enable us to tide over that firs ' emergency period before we can be ! gin to get in fresh supplies. Well

those reserves have already been laid in. “In the second place. we can ease the strain upon our snipping and upon our Navy in time of war n we can reduce the amount of cargo space that would be required. We can do that by increasing in war time the amount of food we grow, and I may tell you that we have our plans all worked out for increasing the amount of food we grow in an emergency, and those plans would function as soon as hostilities began. By these two precautions in peace time. , I believe we have done all that is ; necessary to secure our food supplies. “The huge export of primary pro- , ducts which we have achieved despite our relatively small population. ! and our large share of the United Kingdom market,” concludes the writer, "make it most inadvisable for the New Zealand dairy industry to enter any Empire Conference de- j signed for the purpose of regulating j imports into the United Kingdom. TRADING NATION j “The simple fact is that the British 1 Government represents a manufaci Luring and trading nation, of which ' less than 10 per cent is concerned 1 with agriculture. We should leave I well alone. and retain our present free and unrestricted market. Why should we help the Home farmer to ' tax and restrict imports of New Zealand butter and cheese when the British Government obviously does not desire to do so? “Fortunately, the resolutions reached at Sydney require ratification by the various sections of producers to | whom they refer, and I do not think that, knowing the position. the pro- ( | ducers here will agree to their ratiI fraction. It would undoubtedly be ! a colossal blunder on our part to re- : lieve whatever Government was in ; power of the responsibility of main- ’' taining a free market for our dairy ; , produce in the United Kingdom. “If we exclude United Kingdom ‘ goods by means of high tariffs, the 1 Ottawa Agreement will be cancelled •, and we will have to pay at least 10 ’ per cent import duty on all our proi duce entering the British market, f which would reduce cur prices by ) > something like 1$ per lb butterfat."