DAIRY POLICY AT OTTAWA

Taranaki Daily News, 19 July 1932, Page 7

DAIRY POLICY AT OTTAWA

DENIAL OF AN INTERVIEW

CONCERN AMONG DELEGATES STORY IN CANADIAN PAPER MR. GOODFELLOW’S VIEWS By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright. Calgary (Alberta), July 17. Concern was felt among the Australian and New Zealand delegations to the Ottawa Conference, after their arrival at Vancouver, over the discovery of an article in a British Columbian newspaper quoting the views of Mr. William Goodfellow, the representative of the New Zealand dairy industry, on an Ottawa plan to assist butter and indicating that New Zealand would seek preference and quantitative restrictions upon foreign import's irito Britain. Mr. 'S. M. Bruce, leader of the Australiau delegation, made representations to Mr. J. G. Coates, the New Zealand leader, who ascertained that Mr. Goodfellow was adhering to the delegates’ undertaking not to disclose plans prematurely. He had not been interviewed on disembarking at Victoria. The article, apparently, had been based on Mr. Goodfellow’s speech to NeW Zealand dairymen in February, which, Mr. Coates says, does not represent the complete butter plan as. subsequently prepared and discussed with the • Australian experts. Mr. Coates to-day is contemplating telegraphing Ottawa explaining the po&ition to reriiove misapprehensions.

Mr. Bruce, called the Australian delegation together and again warned them of the possible harmful consequences of announcing details of their “cases for Ottawa” before they were discussed at the conference; otherwise Commonwealth hopes might be prejudiced. The alleged interview stated that Canada would probably assume a more or less neutral attitude in regard to New Zealand’s request for a butter quota as indicated by Mr. Goodfellow. The article stated that Canada exported butter and cheese to Great Britain and Canadian cheese obtained a premium over all other cheese imported into the United Kingdom; onthe other hand, its butter sold at a discount as compared with that of New Zealand and other countries. Accordingly the tendency of the Agricultural Department in Canada was to encourage the production Of cheese and to limit the production of butter to the domestic demand.