THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES TUESDAY, January 10, 1939. A TRADING ABSURDITY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23703, 10 January 1939, Page 8

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES TUESDAY, January 10, 1939. A TRADING ABSURDITY

Present indications are that the Commonwealth Government does not intend to move in the direction of ending the absurd dispute between Australia and New Zealand on the question of reciprocal trading in potatoes and citrus fruits. The assistant Minister for Commerce in the Federal Ministry has just been at pains to defend the embargo on New Zealand potatoes for the reasons that the Australian potato growers want it and that argument for its removal can only be supported on sentimental grounds. This attitude is maintained in the face of strong political opposition in Australia itself. The Federal Government has been accused of selfishness, in refusing to co-operate with the Dominion for the improvement of trade relations between the two countries, and it is not easy to see how the charge can be refuted. According to the Federal Executive quoted above, the viewpoint of the Australian potato growers has been accepted in New Zealand as a perfectly natural one. That statement could be challenged, were it important to do so. What seems to be still ignored in the controversy is the viewpoint of the consumers, both in this country and in Australia. In seasons of shortage the Australian consumer has to pay dearly for his potatoes, while frequently there are plentiful supplies that could be shipped from New Zealand ports. A desire for the maintenance of high prices at any cost is, it must be suspected, one reason why Australian growers of potatoes insist on the continuation of the embargo. And in New Zealand, where a profitable market awaits the citrus fruitgrowers of Australia, a policy of retaliation demands that supplies shall be strictly rationed. Since the old excuse of protection against disease has, by common consent, been abandoned as an explanation for these embargoes, the conclusion cannot be avoided that those who plead the cause of the Australian potato growers at Canberra have political ends to serve. The New Zealand Government has more than once indicated its willingness to contribute toward the settlement of this ridiculous trade “ war,” and, while it may be true, as has just been said in Sydney, that there is no “ bitterness ” between the two Governments as the result of it, it is certainly true that there is, in this country, an increasing impatience with the narrow and parochial attitude which the Federal Government refuses to abandon.