NO RESTRICTION EXPECTED

Southland Times, Issue 23716, 14 January 1939, Page 12

NO RESTRICTION EXPECTED

Australian Exports Of Meat NEW BRITISH PLAN REGULATION OF SUPPLIES TO BRITAIN Restriction of Australian exports of mutton and lamb is not expected by Australian meat authorities as a result of the announcement by the British Minister of Agriculture, Mr W. S. Morrison, that Australia and New Zealand had been approached to regulate their exports to Britain in 1939, states The Herald, Melbourne. Details of the new British plan are not known in Australia, but it is understood that the proposal is to widen the scope of the Empire Beef Council, so that this body will regulate mutton and lamb supplies, as it has done in the case of beef. The British Government envisages a greater measure of conscious planning of production affecting meat, wheat and barley producers. It is expected that the plans will have some effect on imports from the Dominions, but a drastic curtailment is not intended.

After his return from the United Kingdom in | October last year, the chairman of the Australian Meat Board, Mr A. C. W. Fisken, in a report to the board, expressed the opinion that, taking a long-range view, and provided industrial conditions in the United Kingdom remained good, the beef market in that country would continue to absorb Australian supplies in gradually increasing quantities. He saw no reason to anticipate that the policy of granting to the Dominions an expanding share of the United Kingdom market at the expense of foreign suppliers, would be varied in any way. In the remote event of Britain’s policy N>f preference to the Dominions being continued to the point of completely eliminating foreign mutton and lamb from the market, the Scope for the expansion of Dominion mutton and lamb supplies would be relatively small. Apart from the fluctuations due to seasonal conditions, Australia has shown a steady expansion in recent years and, unless new markets could be found, Mr Fisken expressed the opinion that some time in the future Australia might be faced with the position that the United Kingdom authority would be unwilling to admit Australia’s total available supplies. ■