MEAT EMBARGO

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21876, 11 August 1934, Page 13

MEAT EMBARGO

PROTEST BY FARMERS RESOLUTIONS AT HAMILTON RESTRICTIONS OPPOSED [from our own correspondent] HAMILTON, Fridny Further opposition to the embargo imposed a few weeks ago upon the export to Great Britain of bobby calf and boner cow meat was expressed at a public meeting of farmers held in Hamilton to-day. There was a representative gathering and the Mayor of Hamilton, Mr. R. Fow, presided. Mr. Fow said he hoped the difficulty raised by tho embargo might be settled at a round-table conference at which representatives of every section of opinion were present. There was a general feeling that if the matter was not bungled a satisfactory solution would emerge. One thing was certain, that, as soon as the spending power of tho peoplo in Great Britain improved, the question of quotas would bo dropped. The opinion that there was still a fog over the circumstances connected with the imposing of the embargo was expressed by Mr. S. N. Ziman, chairman of the Waikato sub-provincial executive of the Farmers' Union. It was not yet known, ho said, what demands Great Britain had made with respect to the embargo, and what the Dominion Government's reply had been. He considered secret negotiations Mere not the appropriate means of dealing with such an important matter. Free Trade Advocated "If the quota system is maintained so that England can become self-con-tained," continued Mr. Ziman, "then New Zealand has no alternative but to become self-contained herself." He considered the solution to the problem lay in free trade with Great Britain and a rearrangement of the Dominion's financial system. Mr. W. Lee Martin said he considered there was a plan for controlling meat exports with which the public was not acquainted. He advocated the New Zealand Government should take up an attitude similar to that of the South African Government and inform Great Britain that if exports were restricted it would be necessary to seek markets elsewhere and to repudiate certain liabilities.

The importance of concerted action by various farmers' interests was emphasised by Mr. J. H. Furniss. He said the Farmers' Union and the dairy companies could send delegates to a central executive formed to fight farmers' battles. Efforts to Avert Quotas A resolution was carried that the meeting viewed with the greatest apprehension the proposed quantitive restriction on primary exports, and most emphatically urged the New Zealand Government to utilise all possible means of influencing the Imperial authorities to desist from the imposition of such restrictions, with particular reference to the pig industry, as being disastrous to the Dominion.

Other resolutions passed were that the Auckland provincial executive of the Farmers' Union be asked to form a central executive similar to that suggested by Mr. Furniss; that an attempt be made to obtain representation for the dairy industry on the Meat Producers' Board; that the position of the primary producer was desperate and that, no solution was possible under the present economic system, and the Government was therefore called upon to negotiate with the Imperial Government with a view to introducing reciprocal trade; that a full report of the correspondence regarding the Ottawa agreement and subsequent negotiations should be published. Copies of the various resolutions passed at the meeting are to be forwarded to the Government.