THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. THURSDAY, AUGUST 31, 1933. QUOTA RESTRICTIONS.

Wairarapa Age, 31 August 1933, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. THURSDAY, AUGUST 31, 1933. QUOTA RESTRICTIONS.

i Reviewing, at the annual meeting of ] the Mauriceville Dairy Company, the 1 trading conditions of the past year—• i one of great difficulty for dairy farm- [ ers and for primary producers generi ally—Mr. V. K. Lemberg contended ! that quota or other restrictions on the 1 export of produce would be one of the ■ worst things that could fall on New J Zealand. With this there is likely to ■ be unqualified agreement, but it may ‘ nevertheless be very difficult to escape ■ this undoubted misfortune. The only ■ hope of escaping the quota, indeed, apJ pears to rest on more rapid and re- • markable progress in general economic J recovery than can be anticipated with 1 any confidence. We already have quo- ! tas in operation where meat is concern - ' ed. Even should it prove possible to ■ escape the imposition of restrictions on J dairy exports to Britain after the exi piration of the Ottawa Agreement in ! 1935, or under pressure of British 1 opinion before that date, it may still ■ be necessary and wise to review the 1 conditions in which we are as extremei ly dependent as at present, chiefly on [ one market, for a very limited range ■ of products. ! Mr. Lemberg, as he is reported, sug1 gested that Now Zealand’s policy should be “to let Britain have a free entry into New Zealand as New Zealand had a free market into Britain.” It has been made'(finally clear, however, that no adjustment of tariffs by this country will be accepted by Britain as doing away with the necessity of regulating her imports of primary 1 produce. The ruling consideration is ' the protection of British agricultural ’ industry, which is regarded, naturally enough, as having even better claims ■ to consideration than the corresponding industries of the Dominions. Even if this were not so, the sudden scrapi ping of any considerable part of our 1 existing secondary industries by the withdrawal of protection would be a policy of doubtful wisdom from the national standpoint and not least from that of the dairy industry, which finds within the Dominion a valuable and growing local market. 3 i v Tariff concessions, particularly to Great Britain, no doubt must have a place in the process of redressing and adjusting the existing economic situation. All secondary industries that employ a considerable body of labour are, however, entitled to sympathetic consideration. Even where a given industry is shown to be leaning unduly on tariff protection, it may be expedient from the broadest national standpoint, and taking full account of the interests of primary industry, that this state of affairs should be redressed gradually—that is to say, that the industry in question should be given every reasonable opportunity to find its feet. An extreme development of economic nationalism is to be deplored, but so also is an extreme dependence on foreign markets for a limited range of products. In the policy that is needed to put New Zealand safely on its feet again scope should be found both for raising the efficiency and varying the products of primary industry and for fostering secondary industries to the greatest extent that is reasonably possible. AN IMPROVING MARKET. Although it may be accounted for in part by a decrease in production, the rise in prices recorded at the Sydney wool sales is an undoubtedly encouraging sign of the times. There are now a number of indications, amongst them the reported renewal of activity in the British wool textile trade, that bet- i ter days are in store for the wool- : grower he has enjoyed for a number of years past. The decided improve- f

mcnt in the market for merino wool no doubt means, that in the coming sea- i son appreciably better prices will be I obtainable fbr crossbred and half-bred I wool. In any general movement of trade recovery such as now appears to be under way in Britain and elsewhere, there should be- plenty of scope for a fairly considerable increase in wool prices relatively to those of other goods and commodities. Wool was hit early and hard by the slump, probably for the reason largely that much of it is converted into clothing and other goods the consumption of which, is at once restricted severely in- hard times. Every real step towards more normal conditions is bound to entail a revival in the demand for wool. The outlook may be regarded the more hopefully since there is comparatively little in the way of accumulated stocks of wool, in spite of the fact that over a lengthy period' it has been fetching prices that are well below the cost of production. On the whole, growers have met the market and made the best of it and they are likely to reap the benefits of this policy in the better conditions on which they appear now tO' be- entering.