MEAT PROBLEMS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22527, 22 March 1935, Page 9

MEAT PROBLEMS

MR LYONS'S MISSION DISCUSSIONS IN LONDON (United Press Association.) (By Electric Telegraph—Copyright.) NAPLES, March 20. Leaving no time to admire the beauties of Naples in the spring dawn, Mr Lyons and party soon after their arrival on the Otranto hurriedly entrained for Rome. Mr and Mrs Lyons were affected by the heat of the Tropics, but the crisp .weather in the Mediterranean restored them to health. Mr Lyons told the Australian Press Association: —"On the meat question little can be said at the moment; indeed, little could be gained and much possibly lost by making public utterances at present. The delegation has come fully armed with the facts of its case and the views of the Cabinet, but it has come prepared to discuss the matter in the friendliest terms. We realise that the subject is of vital importance to the Empire as a whole. We shall endeavour to take a long view of the problem. We have placed all our cards' on the table, as the British Government has done, and during the voyage we have been in constant wireless communication with Australia and London, so we are fully informed of the situation.

" I should like to pay a tribute to the very strenuous work under difficult conditions by the officials of the delegation while on the ship. I trust that from the visit will emerge an arrangement which will benefit the Empire as a whole. The immense importance of the live stock industry to Australia has never been 'absent from my mind. I feel honoured in representing the Commonwealth at the jubilee celebrations. I have not the slightest doubt that in this part of my mission at any rate I have behind me the solid weight of public opinion in Australia." EXPORTERS' HEAVY LOSSES CANBERRA, March 21. (Received March 21, at 11.55 p.m.) The Acting Prime Minister (Dr Earle Page), answering a question in the House of Representatives to-day, said the British Government had imposed a limit on the proportion of chilled beef being shipped from Australia, with the result that some carcasses which would have been shipped as chilled would have to be exported as frozen. He regretted to say that great losses would be suffered by exporters here if the British Government adhered to its decision. He expected that Mr Lyons, who would arrive in London to-day, would immediately take the matter up with the British authorities.