IRELAND'S EXPORTS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21641, 6 November 1933, Page 8

IRELAND'S EXPORTS

The decision of the Government of the Irish Free State to grant additional bounties on cattle, horses and dead poultry exported to England is further evidence of the economic chaos into which Mr. de Valera's policy has plunged the country. His refusal to pay the land annuities brought about a tariff war. There have been indications in the utterances of some of his Ministers that they realise how ruinous to the Free State its continuance must be. A few months ago the Minister of Industries and Commerce said that the Free State was not anxious to maintian tariff barriers against Britain and would remove them if Britain did the same. At the same time, however, Mr. de Yalera was denouncing the "invaders and intruders'' and declaring that there could be no settlement until they got out. By the aid of Labour he has been able to cling to power, and the announcement of further bounties shows that he is endeavouring to placate the farmers, who daily are becoming harder pressed. Their one great market has been limited, and as the various control systems under the British Agricultural Marketing Act are developed and the industries concerned gather momentum, the prospect of the Irish producers is bound to diminish. What is difficult to understand is why the Labour Party has not yet reacted to the influence of the bounty system upon the cost of living. It is not a burden for the taxpayer alone, but even if it were there would be an inevitable increase in unemployment, which has already reached formidable figures in the cities. There is nothing more certain than that the payment of export bounties in Ireland, where the problem is to retain part of a former market, not to extend it, will lead eventually to bankruptcy. By now the country is probably paying more annually in bounties than it would have done in land annuities, and in addition is suffering the heavy penalty which the repudiation has brought about. Dearly is the country paying for the privilege of possessing a President who thunders in the cause of "freedom." All the time the bonds of economic restraint are drawing tighter on the people.