The Daily News MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20. 1932. RESTRICTION OF EXPORTS.

Taranaki Daily News, 20 February 1933, Page 4

The Daily News

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20. 1932. RESTRICTION OF EXPORTS.

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Anyone with a real interest in the dairy industry must sympathise with the members of the Dairy Produce Board in the position in which they find themselves. If the circumstances affected only individuals it would be easy for the community to remain philosophical, but the board is the executive of the Dominion’s greatest . industry, and its decisions are therefore of considerable moment to New Zealand. The Dairy Produce Board has declined to recommend the restriction of exports of butter to Great Britain, and the decision is one of utmost importance. From the Dominion’s point of view the board has recapitulated the position as it appeared to members in the light of the Ottawa agreements, and it has urged that tariff concessions be afforded imports to New Zealand from Great Britain to

Zealand from Great Britain to offset the recent raising of the rate of exchange. The board stresses the need for full production in New Zealand -if it is to keep its loan obligations to the investor in Great Britain, and it is also a fact that restriction could,' at best, be but a temporary form of relief, leaving the causes of market saturation still untouched. Unfortunately for the soundness of the board’s

position and recommendations it was New Zealand and not Great Britain which first interfered with the spirit of the _ Ottawa 1 agreements. The more it is con- ’ sidered the plainer it appears • that the suggested restriction of experts of dairy produce is part of the aftermath of the decision to depreciate New Zealand currency. The position in London was difficult enough before. Australia was pouring in supplies of butter, and holders of stocks stored in the Irish Free State will assuredly look sooner or later, to the United Kingdom for their absorption. Australia has indicated that the question of price will not be allowed to prevent stocks being cleared, and the consequence is that the price for New Zealand butter has been dragged down as well. But there was at any rate one gratifying result in that the lower prices have increased consumption. New Zealand was accepting the position and—a matter of equal importance—was pursuing a financial policy which had the ap- ■ proval of investors and financiers in Great Britain. The revised financial policy opened a new chapter in trading between New Zealand and Great Britain. It indicated an attempt to remedy falling prices by political interference with the flow of trade, and led to reconsideration of the whole position in London. The obvious retort to the Dairy Produce Board’s suggestion that tariff concessions be an offset to the artificial exchange rate is “why was the rate imposed?” Its introduction was but another method of relieving the farmer by borrowing, and to have done that openly by a short-dated loan would have been an action which was definite, limited to a manageable liability, and capable of being distributed only to those whose needs made State assistance essential, not so much for the sake of the indidivual as for the sake of the community. While appreciating the reluctance of the Dairy Produce Board to apply restriction to New Zealand exports the question “what next?” remains with urgent insistence. It takes two sides to make a bargain. The Dominion tried to dictate to the London market seven years ago when the conditions at least appeared to have a chance of success. To repeat such an attitude to-day would be regarded as evidence of a lack of mental balance, but it is as essential as ever to remember that in commercial. life it is always wise to consider the other side’s difficulties, even though it may mean the sacrifice of legal rights or the letter of a bond. The New Zealand dairy Industry has, for the moment, elected to stand upon what it considers its full rights. It may be that the decision is but the opening chapter in lengthy negotiations. Nevertheless, the industry must do more. It must seek every fresh avenue for disposal of produce, and it must remember that high ; quality must be the common standard. Above all, it must remember a lasting agreement, i must satisfy all parties, and it must realise that while its duty ' is first of all to the New Zealand producer such a local duty is one which applies in other lands as well.