SHIPMENTS HELD UP

Wairarapa Age, 13 March 1935, Page 5

SHIPMENTS HELD UP

MEAT EXPORT LICENSES SUSPENDED. ACTION BY AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT. PENDING RESULT OF PRESENT NEGOTIATIONS. (Received Tuesday, 8.10 p.m.) SYDNEY, March 12. Nineteen thousand carcases of mutton and lamb, due for loading into three ships here to-day have been held up owing to the sudden suspension by the Commonwealth Government of licences for export, pending the completion of negotiations with the British Government for the regulation of the AprilJune shipments. The British Government had suggested that the April-June quota should not exceed the second quarter of lest year, about 405,000 cwt., which has already been shipped. The Commonwealth, however, expects to have 700,OOOcwt. of mutton and lamb available for export in the forthcoming quarter. The Acting-Prime Minister, Dr. Earle Page, explained to-day that the Commonwealth had asked the British Government to agree to a substantial increase in the quota and negotiations regarding the matter were now in progress. The Commonwealth Government, he added, felt that it would be wiser to temporarily suspend licences for further shipments, as the British Government, acting within its own rights, might impose definite limitations on the amount that would be allowed to land in England and it would be better to keep the meat in cold storage here than ran the risk of having it dumped overseas.

HEAVY LOSSES. SHIPPING COMPANIES SUFFER. (Received This Day, 0.55 a.m. MELBOURNE, March 12. The cancellation of the shipping space for mutton and lamb, reported earlier from Sydney will result in heavy losses to almost every overseas shipping company, as most of the vessels engaged in the - export trade are sent to Australia either in ballast or only lightly laden. The shipowners also complain of the brief notification given of the suspension of export licenses. (An earlier message reports that the Deputy-Prime Minister, Dr. Earle Page, states that if the British Government imposes quotas for the second quarter of this year based on the averages for the last three years, it will be disastrous for Australian industry. It will be unfair to Australia compared with its effect on New Zealand, because New Zealand’s record export year three years ago gave the Dominion the benefit of the average basis.)