EXPORT RESTRICTIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVIII, Issue 17794, 30 May 1921, Page 8

EXPORT RESTRICTIONS.

ARMOUR AND CO.'S MEAT.

PROTEST FROM AMERICA-

SIR FRANCIS BELL'S REPLY.

" WILL NOT ALLOW EVASION." [BT TELEGRAPH. — PRESS ASSOCIATION-] WELLINGTON, Saturday. The following telegram has been received by the Acting-Prime Minister, .Sir Francis Bell, from the American Consul-(i-eneral for New Zealand, Mr. D. F. Wilbur :—" The Department of State at Washington cables instructing me to ascertain the reason for refusal of a license to Armour and Company of Australasia at Christchurch to export, and to point out that American capital established this business in accordance with the New Zealand laws, and that the present action appears to bo arbitrary and discriminatory."

Sir Francis Bell has telegraphed the ollowLng reply: —" I shall be obliged if ;ou -will inform the American Department if State firstly, that New Zealand action n regard to Armour and Company has oeen hirgely influenced by the result of The American inquiry into and report upon the dealing of that company in relation to the American Meat Trust; secondly, that no difficulty is placed in the way of Armour and Company exporting to America for American use the meat now in freezing store; thirdly, that lioense to export such meat to Loudon markets is refused; fourthly, that full warning was given Armour and Company and the Meat Trust by the New Zealand Parliament in 1918, when it was enacted that every meat exporter must have a lioense to export. It was then made dear that the' Act -was intended to prevent the operations of the Meat Turst. Fifthly, Armour and Company could not obtain a lioense to export, and devised a method of purchasing sheep and freezing them in the works of companies licensed to export. Sixthly, this Government will not allow evasion of New Zealand laws. Seventhly, Armour and Company now ask for a 'cense to export this meat, because it is theirs, in private freezing stores, and they ask for a license now which would not have been granted before their purchases, as they well knew. Eighthly, the action of the Government is not an arbitrary one, and I regret that it should be considered proper to adopt such an expression with regard to it. Ninthly, the business of the company was established with the object of establishing a meat trust in New Zealand, in defiance of the Act of 1918." 1

CONNECTION WITH MEAT TRUST.

PURPOSE OP THE LEGISLATION. [BY TELEGRAPH.—OWN CORRESPONDENT.] WELLINGTON, Saturday.

The protest by the United States Government against the refusal of a meat ctport license to Armour and Co.. of Australasia, is evidently the v result of representations made by the company to Washington. Considerable pressure bas been brought to bear upon the New Zealand Government in connection with this matter, but Ministers indicate that they have no intention of yielding. The affairs of Armour and Co., of Australasia, were investigated by a Parliamentary Committee in 1918, and the connection with the American meat trust .was then held to be established. Subsequent legislation made the right to export meat from New Zealand conditional upon possession of & license, and the avowed purpose of this legislation was to preven : trust firms operating in this country. Armour and Co., in the opinion of the Ministers, have tried to force the issue of a license by .first - buying _ meat on a large scale, and then demanding facilities for exporting it. If the Government yielded the purpose of the legislation , would be defeated, since any other company using foreign capital could handle New Zealand meat in the same fashion. The Acting-Prime Minister, in his reply to the United States Government, has stated that Armour and Co. may export the meat; to America for American' consumption. It appears that this arrange ment does not suit the company, owing to restrictions that have been imposed in the United States. New Zealand has already suffered in the London market through the sale theye of meat that had been ' bought for . the American market, and was diverted to Britain to suit American conditions.