BRITISH BEEF PRODUCER

Taranaki Daily News, 18 August 1934, Page 24 (Supplement)

BRITISH BEEF PRODUCER

URGENT NEED OF HELP QUESTION OF IMPOSING LEVY. Urgent calls for measures to assist the home producer of beef were made at the forty-second meeting of the Council of Agriculture for England, at Middlesex Guildhall, says the London Daily Telegraph. . Mr. Walter Elliot, Minister of Agriculture, said, however, that he had no pronouncement to make about beef—and if such a statement were to be made it would be in the House of Commons. But, he declared, drastic steps would have to be taken if the situation were to be saved. In order to take such steps, said Mr. Elliot, it was necessary to keep the goodwill of the towns. The beef situation remained under the closest supervision of all the Ministers responsible not merely for agriculture but for commerce and the Dominions. Regarding wheat, Mr. Elliot said the deficiency payment would this year be reaching £7,000,000, and the whole machinery of the Act was working better than any of them had dared to anticipate. As regards bacon, they had surmounted the initial difficulties of the launching of the Pig Marketing Board and of the Bacon Marketing Board. “We are in full blast upon a planned programme of production under a contract system lasting until the end of the current year.” Turning then to sheep, he said the arrangements made as a result of the Ottawa Agreements had worked well, and sheep men did not deny that a considerable rise in the price of their products had taken place, while the rise in the retail market had been so slight that there had been no complaints of prejudice to the consumers. The benefits derived from the Government’s agricultural policy were not being restricted to the farmer alone, but were being shared throughout the whole industry, and an improvement in wages and working conditions was also taking place. Sir Arthur Hazelrigg, presenting the report to the Standing Committee on the present condition of the fat stock trade, said that if Mr. Elliot showed as much courage in the Cabinet in regard to the beef situation as he had shown in addressing the council, he was sure the Minister would get something done. “We want to keep cattle on our pastures and keep our men in employment,” he said. “There is grave distrust and dissatisfaction because nothing has been done for the beef man.” The committee, which had had before it the report of the Reorganisation Commission for Fat Stock, suggested that:—

“In order to cover the beef-producing industry during its effort to re-establish itself on a paying basis a subsidy, or a levy and subsidy, planned for immediate application and for a strictly limited period, should be worked out. But if the levy is used, then differentiation might be made between Empire and foreign irr. ’ortations, and if the levy is placed on all supplies of beef, home produced and imported, then there might be differentiation also as between first and second quality beef.” The report of the committee was adopted. A resolution was passed deploring the fact that His Majesty’s Forces were still supplied with imported meat, and urging that in the interests of the “Buy British” campaign, and to assist English farmers during the period of depression, the council should make strong representations to the Government that in addition to other and greater measures to help the beef trade it should provide home-fed beef for the Forces.