EMPIRE MEAT TRADE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23263, 4 February 1939, Page 14

EMPIRE MEAT TRADE

Restrictions on the importation into Great Britain of mutton and lamb from Australia and New Zealand have not yet materialised, but they are still very definitely in the air. The British farmers, with an apparent backing from the British Government, are demanding these restrictions with all the vigour which they can muster, but so far the Dominion representatives on the Empire Meat Council have successfully defended their own marketing position. The latest cable news, however, contains the announcement that the National Farmers' Union is pressing the United Kingdom for compulsory restrictions on mutton and lamb imports, and the very fact that the present Minister of Agriculture in Great Britain is a former president of this organisation must have the effect of darkening the outlook for Dominion producers. In his initial Ministerial speech in the House of Commons, Sir Reginald Dorman-Smith has reiterated his faith in marketing regulation by producers through Commodity councils, but such a proposal is not likely to be accepted by New Zealand with any great degree of alacrity. The # Dominion has always had to dispose of her mutton and lamb exports in a buyer's markets, and by her own efforts she has established a valuable goodwill. The trade is of much greater importance to New Zealand than it is to Australia, and she stands to lose far more iJ: the interests of the Home producer are placed above those of the Home consumer. The tragedy of it all is that the Dominion herself is' not guiltless in the question of restrictions on Empire tfade, and at the moment her bargaining position is not strong. This may account for the continued silence of Mr. Nash as to the action which he, as Minister of Marketing, is taking in the matter, but, in the meantime, the sheepfarmers of New Zealand are left in a position of ominous uncertainty.