EFFECT OF RESTRICTION

Taranaki Daily News, 20 July 1933, Page 3

EFFECT OF RESTRICTION

DAIRY BOARD’S OPINIONS “NOTHING SHORT OF DISASTER.” DIFFICULT TO REGAIN MARKET. WHO IS BEHIND MOVEMENT? “Tlie introduction of a quota would be nothing short of disaster for New Zealand,” said Mr. Dynes Fulton, acting chairman if the Dairy Produce Control Board, in the course of an address to dairy factory representatives and suppliers of Ward 4 at New Plymouth yesterday. He expressed definite opposition to any restriction of New Zealand dairy produce into Great Britain and hinted that while the idea of quotas might have been originated to assist the British farmer, it had coriie into greater prominence through the efforts of such interests as those represented by the manufacturers of margarine. An important man in the New Zealand dairy industry, stated Mr. Fulton, had recently advised farmers to “go slow” on . their production. In the speaker’s opinion that was impossible and if carried out would be fraught with grave consequences not only to the New Zealand dairying industry but also to the whole Dominion.

Every year thousands of boys were leaving school and there was no opportunity for them in business or professional life. From the ranks of. business and professional men thousands had been already forced on to the unemployed. DEPENDENCE ON LAND. But there were hundreds of thousands of acres suitable for development into good dairying land; there was opportunity for closer setlement and more intensive farming. It was on the land that the youth of the Dominion must be employed, and it was by dairying and other primary industry that the country would prosper.

One dreaded to think, therefore, what would happen if restrictions were imposed. It was, to say the least of it, most unwise for anyone to tell the farmer to “slow up” because it could not be done.

There were several good reasons why the export of New; Zealand’s dairy produce to England should not be restricted. New Zealand was a British Dominion founded less than'loo years ago by British people that it might be a home for generations of unborn Britishers. It had been developed by British capital and so was deeply indebted to British investors. Those debts must be honoured —every New Zealander desired they should be—but if a restriction were imposed on New Zealand dairy produce it would make it impossible for the Dominion to meet its obligations. New Zealand had the future of its young people to look to. It was the duty of everyone to leave conditions better than he found them. So the present policy of progress must be pursued. It was true that New Zealand had progressed faster than any other country but that was something to be proud of—not something to be held against the Dominion. Progress had to be maintained. POSITION OF BRITISH FARMER.

New Zealand had helped Great Britain in the Great War. Empire stability must be maintained and, if it came to the point, Great Britain must renounce her foreign producers and stand by her own people first. ■ In the present agitation for a quota much was =made of the hardship of the British farmer. But the British farmer produced annually only 45,000 tons of butter and a relatively small proportion of the country’s cheese requirements. The cry of helping the British farmer was overdone, and he believed that there was something more behind the advocacy of quotas than appeared on the surface. .

This Dominion had stood behind Britain in the Great War. Had they been able to get a penny more the Dominion’s present foreign produce competitors on the English markets would have had no hesitation in supplying enemy countries. England should support New Zealand as New Zealand had supported her. At the same time, added Mi - . Fulton, New Zealand must buy from Great Britain what it could not itself produce and those manufactures had to come into the country free. He was sure that if the Prime Minister, the Hon. G. Forbes, at present in London, put the position to the British Cabinet there would be no more talk of imposing a quota on New Zealand produce. “However,” said Mr. Fulton, “if England, abiding by the terms of the Ottawa agreement, does not insist on a quota but throws the responsibility on New Zealand itself, then the affair is one for the. New Zealand Government to decide, since it will affect the whole well-being and prosperity of the Dominion.” Mr. Fulton was asked by Mr. J. B. Hine (Toko) what effect the adoption of quotas would have on the price level. Mr. Hine expressed the opinion that the Dominion required a general rise in prices and wondered if the quota system would assist in that direction.

ACTIVITY OF OTHER INTERESTS.

Mr. Fulton expressed the opinion that the only way to raise prices permanently would be to remove tariffs and scale down war debts, and that rested with other countries. Other ifiterests than those representing the British farmer were jn the fight to obtain quotas for Britain, and he thought that if the entry of produce from New Zealand were restricted margarine trusts would obtain such a hold that it would be many years before the Dominion could hope to regain the market. Even if restriction meant increased prices for the produce permitted to enter Britain the increase would in no way compensate the loss the whole industry would suffer as a consequence of restriction. Mr. M. G. Trotter (Stratford) asked who was responsible for the idea of quotas. It was difficult to say, Mr. Fulton said. The movement probably originated with those people desirous of assisting the British farmer, but in his opinion otherinterests had now lent their weight to the movement. ,