MEAT TRADE CURTAILED

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23275, 18 February 1939, Page 12

MEAT TRADE CURTAILED

Preliminary warnings which have been given during the past few weeks will not lighten the blow which has now fallen on New Zealand sheepfarmers with the announcement that British imports of mutton and lamb from the Dominion are to be reduced this year by 3 per cent. A statement to this effect has been made on behalf of the British Government by the President of the Board of Trade, Mr. Oliver Stanley, but at the moment it is difficult to determine the exact extent to which the Dominion's great pastoral industry will be affected. The message from London states that the reduction is to be based on last year's figures, but no details are given. One of the chief difficulties is that Great Britain calculates her imports over the calendar year, while New Zealand compiles export statistics on the production year ended September 30. The last quota for mutton and lamb officially announced was that for 1937, when New Zealand's allocation was 4,010,000cwt., and when shipments actually totalled 3,603,000cwt. Since then it has been presumed that the quota has been in the vicinity of 3,800,000 c wt., although this figure has never been confirmed. If it were proposed to reduce the quota, the position would not be so bad, as mutton and lamb exports from the Dominion since 1934 have seldom risen much above 3,600,000cwt. annually. The restrictions, however, are to be based, apparently, not on the maximum quota, but on last season's shipments and an unscaleable barrier will thus be raised to increased production. The promised statement by the Minister of Marketing should do much to clear away the uncertainties which at present exist, but whatever happens it is clear that entry to the chief market for New Zealand's produce is to be restricted and that the anticipated expansion of productive wealth, on which Mr. Nash bases all his costly social service proposals, must at least be delayed.