A CANADIAN OUTCRY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20779, 23 January 1931, Page 10

A CANADIAN OUTCRY.

Remembering what effect the agitation against New Zealand dairy produce had in the recent Canadian elections, it is not safe to dismiss easily the demand, set on foot in Alberta, to have the importation of mutton, lamb and wool into Canada from Australia and New Zealand prevented. There seemed a possibility at the time of the election that this effect had been exaggerated in the messages sent to New Zealand. Subsequent comment on the campaign shows that it was an important factor. When a commentator so far away as in South Africa speaks of "Mr. Bennett's triumphant toboggan-ride to Ottawa on a slide greased with New Zealand butter," there can be no mistaking the impression that phase of the campaign created. Naturally the propaganda was most effective in Ontario and Quebec, where the dairying industry is most concentrated. A defeated candidate said the Conservative orators made "a pound of New Zealand butter look as big as a house in l the eyes of the Quebec farmers." The new outcry, against wool, mutton and lamb, has begun in Alberta, the third province in respect of sheepfarming, but it may easily spread to Ontario and Quebec, which between them have over one-half of Canada's flocks. It is true that on pure statistics, the claim of the sheep industry is not so powerful as that of dairying. The latest available show Canada to possess only 3,728,000 sheep, against 3,792,500 dairy cows. That is a consideration which cannot be trusted. The effect of the campaign against dairy produce cannot fail to have impressed the minds of politicians profoundly. If the Conservatives, claiming to be champions of all Canadian interests, do not respond to the .cry of the sheepfarmer, their opponents are not likely to miss the opportunity thus created. The moral for New Zealand is that the trade position with Canada cannot safely be neglected. The market there for mutton and lamb is not a very important one, but the purchase of wool has increased very substantially since 1925. New Zealand's Prime Minister on his return from the Imperial Conference was not able to report any success from his conversations over the hostile Canadian tariff. He indicated that the matter would not be allowed to rest where it was. It cannot be, for the sake of the restrictions already existing, still less if there is any substance in the new threat to the sheepfarmers' market. The ,sooner an understanding is reached the better it will be for this country.