SOUTH AFRICAN FODDER.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13651, 20 July 1908, Page 5

SOUTH AFRICAN FODDER.

'THE AUSTRALIAN EMBARGO. ITS CAUSE-S AND EFFECTS'. Mr Wm. Black, the architect for the C.F.C.A. new ' building, who has recently come from Cape Town, gave a " Herald" representative'- • some "useful information regarding the ' fodder question that liars cropped up betlween the Commonwealth and Cape Colony. . The restriction placed upon the importation of South Arfican fodder, said Mr Black, seems to be uncalled for, and therefore will be considered vexatious ■in Sou h Africa'. New Zealanders may find some difficulty in appreciating the -importance of the fodder trade' of South Africa.; but if tliev ,recall iihe bustle made in .their own export of oa's by the demand for oais during the IVoer war. they will get a hint, of the origin of ij.hi« business in Cape Colony. The demand was for transportable lior.se feed, and large quantities of comprised hay and chaff, as well as oats were imported. The demand for such forage led U> large plants b.ing put down in Cape Colony to pre-' pure forage, fioine of them costing thousands. 'When' the war and the resettlement. work were over those plants became comparatively idle, and (lie owners needed an ou'side market. Australia needed forage in consequence, of a drought, and this was a. good opening for the Cape forage packers. had a good market for various products in South Africa, and hadjieen taking comparatively litltle in re^rn— chiefly, ostrich feathers—and a' return trade in fodder would have helped to balance the trade and to relieve to some slight extenti.ihe depression in the colony. The fodder ira composed of a. mixture of farm growths, maize, lucerne and.oats, and the Aus'ralian "objection to it is the fear that a pest, in tihe' shape of a. cereal rust would bs introduced with the fodder. This rust is not prevalent all over Cape Colony, and the Government offered to give a certificate .ifhat any fodder shipped to Australia had come from, districts noh infected by it. Australia ought to have taken the Government's word on a question of that sort. It must be very disappointing to the Cape people, and displeasing too. Not. long ago the Cape Town City Council resolved to import a large quantity of Australian hardwood for street! paving, in preference to Bal'ic red .-deal, the preference being decided mainly by the fact thaifc Australia was .British. This tabooing of . South African fodder by Australia then seemed an ill-advised ; move. .