MEAT QUOTA.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20483, 8 December 1934, Page 27 (Supplement)

MEAT QUOTA.

Restriction on Dominion Forecast. STATEMENTS AWAITED. An important statement regarding the quota restrictions which may be placed on the export of New Zealand * s likely to be made by the Prime Minister (the Right Hon G. W. borbes) within the next dav or two according to Mr H. D. A eland, a member of the New Zealand Meat Producers Board. Mr Acland made reference to the subject when speaking at a gathering of farmers interested in the killing of lamb 9 for export at the Canterbury Frozen Meat Company’s works at Belfast yesterday. Mr Acland. together with Mr John Deans, who spoke on behalf of the freezing company, agreed that the working of any quota system would entail many difficulties. New Zealand, it was said, would be under a restriction placed 011 the tonnage which it could export to Britain, and in that case it was essential that, to get the best monetary return for the country, only the best quality of lightweight carcases should be exported. Farmers should concentrate on quality in their lambs, and it would be better for the

finances of New Zealand if she exported just as many carcases as before, but made the weights lighter and the quality better. A concentration on the best quality might mean that inferior meat of all sorts would have to be restricted. Agreement With Argentina. The chairman of the Meat Board (Mr David Jones) was now in London and was putting up a great fight on behalf of the farmers of New Zealand. ; continued Mr Acland. Britain had I made an agreement with Argentine I some years ago, and by the terms of that pact she could not restrict Argentine meat imports without imposing a corresponding restriction on the colonies. That agreement would not expire for another eighteen months. The speaker believed that the levy system instead of a quota would be most satisfactory, a heavier levy being placed on foreign imports. Argentina sent chilled beef to England to an amount representing about twice the total exports of New Zealand. The British consumer wanted quality and lightweight lambs. There would be a certain restriction on New Zealand exports for the next three months, and it would be followed bv a long-term arrangement. If a quota had to be imposed, the only thing New Zealand could do would be to send the type of meat which

brought the best price in comparison with its weight. In that event pork would follow frozen lamb in order of importance. Exports to America. The Meat Board had gone into the question of opening up foreign markets and had sent some consignments to America, which country had replied by imposing an import duty. Almost every country had laws prohibiting such imports. It was hoped that as a result of the drought in America some export to that country would be possible. Ninety-five per cent of New Zealand’s present output went to England. Mr Deans believed that by concentration on the quality and lightness of lambs, farmers might, on a quota system, be able to send away the same number of carcases as before. He could not see how quotas could be worked without inflicting great hardship on breeders. Anything that restricted the initiative of breeders to increase carrying capacity was a move in the wrong direction. Some persons thought that a quota system was better than a levy, but if Britain collected a levy on meat she would obtain money sufficient to subsidise the home grower*.