NEW ZEALAND PRODUCE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21577, 23 August 1933, Page 12

NEW ZEALAND PRODUCE

BBTTEK .QUOTA QUESTION DISCUSSIONS IN LONDON MINISTERS' HARD FIGHT [from our own correspondent] LONDON, July 21 Considerable attention to produce affairs, particularly the situation regarding butter, has been paid by the Prime Minister of Now Zealand, Mr. Forbes, and the Hon. R. Masters, during tho past week. It has been shown that a strong public opinion is growing in Britain in favour of quotas to assist tho local farming industry. The British Minister of Agriculture, Major Elliot, has expressed tho opinion that -agriculture could only bo helped by XI inoro rigid attention to the limitation of supplies, particularly of beef, though ho also said that thcro was recently an over-supply of 50,000 tons of butter on the British market which would have to be distributed before prices could rise. There have been farmers' meetings in various parts of the country, and some lieat has been shown by speakers in their references to tho increasing free imports from tho Dominions, and agitation in that direction has been particularly concentrated upon butter from New Zealand and Australia. Farmers say that unless prices rise they cannot make dairying pay. It is useless to point to the fact that tho best British butter is selling retail at 7d a lb. more than New Zealand today, and that farming should be brought up to date in the Mother Country in every respect and costs reduced if the Dominions are to have fair competition —useless, because the viewpoint of the British farmers to-day is receiving a very strong hearing in almost every quarter, and because also With tho general support behind it from a largo number of country members of Parliament, tho movement has assumed a political significance. This will give some indication of the fight that Mr. Forbes and Mr. Masters have been called upon to put up. They have been firm in their attitude that it is vital to the Dominion that she should have a free market for her butter and cheese in Great Britain, ihis was forcibly pointed out by Mr. Forbes in his first public speech in Great Britain. _ . . Proposal from Poland

The British Minister of Agriculture hns placed before the New Zealand delegates the British side of the question, and the desire for some arrangement to enable them to clear the present "bloc" of butter. At-present affairs are really in statu quo, though the fight appears by no means ended. Early in the World Conference Poland endeavoured to join various countries, particularly those engaged in the export of butter, in an agreement to create an organisation to control output and marketing. The proposal was really to appoint au International Dairy Council, to study thoroughly this question and proceeg along lines suggested, her main desire being to ensure better distribution throughout the year and prevent gluts in certain seasons in certain markets, and to have better international standardisation of butter.

When the responsible sub-committee dealt with this matter, Mr. Masters pointed out that the Polish resolution was to do certain specific things, whereas at the outset of the conference it had been decided that the principle should be rigidly accepted that all agreements for co-ordination of production and marketing must first command a general assent among exporting countries, and the support of a substantial majority of producers themselves; further, that it must have the full co-operation of non-exporting countries. Having emphasised thi3 point, and having shown that the Polish proposal could not very well be proceeded with until these various interests had been consulted, he said that he was not averse on behalf of New Zealand, which was the greatest dairy-exporting country in the world, to the appointment of a drafting committee to explore the question, such committee to inquire as to tho equal effect on the market of butter substitutes, such as butter margarine. Result oi the Firm Stand Tho proposal for the appointment of a drafting committee was carried, and subsequently this committee submitted a draft resolution requesting the International Institute of Agriculture, tho International Commission, the International Dairy Federation, and the Economic Committee of tho League of Nations, to make a preliminary study of the question. The British Minister of Agriculture advocated this action, which, undoubtedly, meant delaying the whole matter, and there can be little doubt that his attitude was the result of the firm stand taken by New Zealand and Australia in opposition to quantitive restriction. It can easily be imagined, with the delay that must* necessarily take place in future consultations, that the proposal is virtually disposed of. At first, however, there was a very strong intention on the part of the North European countries for action along the lines suggested by Poland, and had there not been immediate steps taken along diplomatic lines by the New Zealand delegates, with the assistance of Australia, tho proposal might easily havo been adopted. • Question in Parliament In the House of Lords this week Lord Strachie asked what had been the result of the negotiations of the Minister of Agriculture with the Dominions in order to prevent British agricultural produce from being undersold under the Ottawa Agreement by unlimited importation from the Dominions. Lord de la Warr, Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, used grave language on the dangers of tho present situation and the possibilities of the future. The keynote of his speech was an appeal to the Dominions to relax insistence on the lettor of their rights under the Ottawa agreements in order to maintain the spirit. In some respects, he said, the position of the farmers was worse today than it was before the Ottawa Conference. " We have come to certain Agreements with the Dominions," Lord de la Warr said, " and we believe that the positive advantages which we obtained from those agreements are worth while, and wo do not in any way despair of the fact that we are not in tho position to present a pistol at their head." Tho timo might come' when the Dominions might find that it would pay them to relax the letter of the agreement in order to carry on its spirit. " If tho.y wish to stand by tho letter of this agreement," Lord de la Warr went on, " there is no one who could ehallonge their position. But if they do' so it must inevitably mean that the markets in this country which are so important to them will continue to deteriorate. It must mean, and we have evidence of it, that what is called the Ottawa spirit among farmers is weakening, and that if one side to an agreement continues to stick to the letter of the agreement they might drive the other side to take up the same line."