QUOTA NOT WANTED.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20233, 17 February 1934, Page 32 (Supplement)

QUOTA NOT WANTED.

Dairy Board’s Plan for Future. END OF OTTAWA PACT. Per Press Association. AUCKLAND, February 16. Realising that only one more export season separates the dairy industry from the expiration of the Ottawa Agreements, the New Zealand Dairy Produce Board is anxious that the Dominion should be placed in such a position in July, 1935, that Great Britain will not press for a quota restriction on its butter and cheese. The board believes this can be done by carrying out the tariff concessions implied under the agreements and by swinging representative opinion to its own view that restrictions on the output of produce would be disastrous to the industry and the Dominion. Hints dropped recently in political quarters indicate that the board in its quota stand has not the support from the Government to which it believes it is entitled. “ Frankly, I believe Britain will not ask for restriction if we can show we have carried out our share of the Ottawa bargains.” said Mr W. Grounds, a member of the board. “ However, apart from that aspect the industry has to face pressure from certain interests at Home which will benefit as a result of the quota. “ Defeatist Attitude.” " New Zealand must show plainly that it does not want the quota, that it believes restriction will not be in its interests. If influential parties in the Dominion adopt a defeatist attitude that will only strengthen the hands of the unfriendly sections in Great Britain. It seems some leaders in the Government are coquetting with the idea of a quota, without realising that this attitude is daily increasing the inevitability of its application. “ Too much suspicion and lack of cooperation in the industry account largely for the present deplorable position,” said Mr Grounds. “ The industry seems to have lost its sense of direction, is wandering about in a whirl. Co-operation and trust in leadership are essential. We have to recognise that marketing conditions are infinitely more difficult than they were a few years ago. Then Great Britain was more dependent upon New Zealand production and the Dominion had only to maintain a regular supply to obtain satisfactory prices. The British market is now drawing supplies from widelyscattered areas and competition has become far more keen.”