MEAT IMPORTS.

Wairarapa Age, 8 July 1936, Page 5

MEAT IMPORTS.

BRITAIN’S SAFEGUARDING POLICY. DUTIES ONLY ON FOREIGN BEEF & VEAL. HEAVY SUBSIDY FOR HOME CATTLE INDUSTRY. RUGBY, July 6. Proposals for safeguarding the livestock industry were disclosed in the House of Commons this afternoon by the Minister of Agriculture (Mr. Walter Elliot) in reply to a question. He said that the Government proposed to proceed on a basis of a regulated market with maximum supplies for the consumer, consistent with a reasonable level of remuneration for the producer. It was the Government's desire that at the earliest possible date the responsibility for securing stable market conditions should be assumed by the producers in the various countries concerned and exercised in the light of a joint discussion of the problems involved. This discussion would be secured by the institution of an Empire Meat Council, representative of the United' Kingdom and the other Empire countries concerned, and an International Meat Conference, representative of the United Kingdom, other Empire countries, and the foreign countries supplying substantial quantities of meat to the British market.

It would be proposed that, unless jt was agreed otherwise, aggregate exports to the British market of beef, frozen and chilled, and the meat equivalent of fat cattle during each of the next three years, should not exceed recent levels. Further proposals as to market regulation were under discussion with the Governments of countries concerned.

The Government proposed to invite Parliament to make provision for a permanent scheme for payment from the Exchequer of a subsidy to producers of fat cattle in the United Kingdom, which, while not stimulating an artificial expansion of the Home industry, would continue for so long as and to the extent that the situation might require.

Immediately after the summer recess Parliament would he invited to pass legislation providing for the collection of Customs duties on imports of chmed, frosen, and other descriptions of beef and veal from foreign countries. It was not proposed that there should be duties on imports of beef from the Empire countries or on Imports of mutton and lamb from any country. *

The Government proposed to seek the authority of Parliament to apply to the assistance of the cattle industry such sums (not exceeding £5,000,000) a year as might from time to time be needed. As an offset to this liability the Exchequer would benefit to the extent of the revenue from the import duties. The Cattle Committee, which administers the present temporary sub sidy, will consult with the various interests concerned so that payment to the Home producers of fat cattle will I be so adjusted as to encourage quality production. As regards mutton and lamb imports, which are at present regulated in th© case of foreign imports under Statute and, in the case of Dominion imports> by voluntary arrangements, the Government proposes to continue the present system for the year 1937. The question will fall for consideration in due course whether thereafter the International Meat Conference, in association with the Empire Meat Council, should operate in regard to exports of mutton and lamb to the Home market. As a precautionary measure the Government will ask Parliament to give general power to regulate the imports of livestock and meat should the need arise.—(British Official Wireless. ) AUSTRALIA SATISFIED. CONFIRMATION OF FORECAST. LONDON, July 6. The fact that Mr. Elliot’s statement was confined to an outline of policy and did not include detailed figures has not Australian quarters which realise that they are dependent upon consultations with other Dominions and Argentina. Nevertheless, the statement confirms optimistic forecasts of the nature of the agreement and indicates a substantial change in the outlook of the president of the Board of Trade (Mr. Walter Runciman) and Mr. Elliot since the negotiations for a long-term policy began last year and were hastened by the persistent demand of the Australian Minister of Commerce (Dr. Earle Page) for an increasing market for Australian beef. No definition has yet been reached of Mr. Elliot's phrase “recent levels’* but the total imports for the next three years will probably be fixed on the basis of the calendar year 1935, in which Australia’s shipments of 1,696,000 cwt. of beef compared with 961,000 in 1932. The Australian Associated Press agency understands that the Yorkshire Post’s" forecast of a compulsory reduction in the quantity of Argentine supplies was well founded and, as the total imports remain unchanged, Australia and other Dominions would share in a combined increase in the neighbourhood of 10 per cent. As the o°o™ AA^ mp!re - su PP lies of ‘beef were 2,879,000 cwt. in 1935, compared with the total foreign supplies of 8,764,000 Argentina's share was 7,642,000, Argentina will therefore continue to export to Great Britain more than twice as much as the whole Empire.