EXPORTS TO BRITAIN

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21561, 4 August 1933, Page 12

EXPORTS TO BRITAIN

I FOREIGN TRADE PACTS attack by aucklander ; HARDSHIP ON DOMINIONS ' "It seems to me that tho Dominions are fully justified in resisting quota restrictions upon their products to the very Utmost," said Mr. Eliot 11. Davis, in an interview yesterday on his return to Auckland by tho Rangitane after two years in England. "Tho time for. the British Government to talk of restricting Empire foodstuffs was before it mado trade agreements with Denmark, Argentina and other foreign countries." ! The quota proposals were mado after his departure, Mr. Davis continued, and ho was glad to hear that Mr. Forbes and Mr. Masters were being supported by tho farmers of New Zealand in opposing them. The British Government, when it made tho agreements with foreign countries, undoubtedly forgot its obligations to Australia and Ne.w Zealand in the present times of stress. The agreements imposed restrictions,. t but they also gave the foreign countries concerned an absolute assurance that they could continue to export, to Britain without extra hindrance for a period of three years. The l)ominion?, as tho new move demonstrated, had no such guarantee. Denmark as Example ! "To show tho effect of the agreements, one only needs to cite the Danish butter trade," Mr. Davis continued. "Between 1932 and 1933 the quantity of Danish butter shipped to Britain has fallen by 22.8 per cent, but the receipts in Danish currency have dropp-ijl by only a fraction under one-half per'cent, and tho Danes aro left with a large amount of butter for I sale to other countries. They have brought about this result, firstly, by depreciating their currency 25 per cent, and, secondly, by using their power over the market to raise prices. Ihe same applied to bacon, hams, eggs and fish. "If these agreements did not exist, Britain would have little difficulty in absorbing the inevitably increasing output of tho Dominions by restricting foreign imports. As it is, she has guaranteed the foreigners an undisturbed market for three years, practically at the Dominions' expense." Mr. Davis said it. was impossible not to have a good deal of sympathy with the plight of British agriculture. Ho had travelled lill over England and Scotland recently, and •if it was any consolation to New Zealand farmers, he could say that however bad the times were for them, for the average British farmer they were simply deplorable. Successive Governments had done little or nothing to assist agriculture. except to set up Royal commissions, which took an interminable time, to report. To-day it was difficult to regard commercial farming in Britain as a serious pursuit. The contrast with the intensive methods of tho Danes was most striking. Marketing Reform Needed

I He had been very strongly impressed with the need for reform in the marketing of New Zealand dairy produce. At .present factories competed against one .another in London and when the market iwas well supplied, price levels were forced down by speculative Kales through brokers, in which buyer and seller were Tinknown to dach other. He was not surprised to hear that recently the Importers' Association in Tooley Street had made proposals to the Dairy Produce Board forjreforming these conditions.

; He had returned more convinced than ever that New Zealand farmers would have to give serious attention to developing the pig and poultry industries. There was an enormous demand in Britain for pig products and eggs and it was supplied mainly from the Continent. The time was now opportune, and the longer they delayed in seizing it, the stronger would be tho foreigner's hold upon a market which by virtue of Empire preferences rightly belonged to the Dominions.