AUSTRALIAN ORANGES

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19372, 9 July 1937, Page 5

AUSTRALIAN ORANGES

NEW ZEALAND EMBARGO 'ILLOGICAL AND COSTLY" MELBOURNE, July 2. Victorian citrus-growers expressed this week determination to continue the agitation against the New Zealand restriction on the importation of oranges from Australia. They described this restriction, and the Australian embargo on the import of New Zealand potatoes, as "illogical, harsh and costly." Producers in Australia believe that if the Governments of Australia and New Zealand would take a commonsense view of the question, the New Zealand embargo would quickly be lifted absolutely. Each Government, they contend, is continuing a retaliation for obstructive tactics employed some years ago, the "causes of which have long disappeared. New Zealand imposed the embargo in retaliation for the Australian embargo on New Zealand potatoes, and gave as an excuse the fear that the fruit fly might be* introduced into New Zealand. New Zealand, however, suffered the Australian prohibition for seven, years before retaliating. New Zealand potatoes were prevented from entering Australia because of the fear that corky scab disease might be introduced. As corky scab has existed in Victoria for some time now, citrusgrowers argue that the excuse no longer exists, nor does the excuse for the "embargo on Victorian oranges in New Zealand. Fruit fly, apart from one'outbreak in 1924, has never been in Victoria. New South Wales oranges are affected by fruit fly, but they have not infected Victorian groves. The fact that New Zealand permits imports of oranges from Australia when supplies from the West Indies have been scarce, or when Californian varieties are at prohibitive prices, shows, Victorian growers contend, that the of the disease has no real foundation.