THE DAIRY INDUSTRY

Waipa Post, Volume 48, Issue 3480, 16 June 1934, Page 5

THE DAIRY INDUSTRY

NEW ZEALAND’S POSITION. quantitative restriction. (Special to The Waipa Post.) WELLINGTON, Friday. ‘- The recently-suggested policy of the British Government to impose quantitative restriction on imports of dairy produce is viewed with apprehension by the Dominions. So seriously is the situation regarded here that the Government ha<> decided to assume, full responsibility for the negotiations with Britain, and a Royal Commission has been set up to investigate all aspects of the industry.’ 1 So said Sir Harold Beauchamp in the course of his addrtus at the annual meeting of shareholders of the Bank of New Zealand to-day. Continuing, he said that it must be frankly admitted that Britain’s decision to help her own farming industries is one of which, on general grounds, no exception can be taken. Nevertheless, the consequences of- a change of policy mjUjSt be set-ions and far-reaching, not' only to those Dominions whose' market may be restricted, but also to the Empire as a whole. “ New Zealand is primarily a farming country, producing large quantities of butter and cheese, wool and meat, for export. Her secondary industries are relatively small. She has relied on Britain and other countries for a large portion of her requirements in manufactured goods, just as Britain has relied on the Domiinions and others for a great deal of her food-stuffs and raw material. Development and prosperity have always appeared to be along the lines of making two blades of grass grow where one grew before, of improvement to herds, and increase in production. Succeeding have pursued a policy of encouraging men to settle on the land. Laige blocks of virgin country have been thrown open for settlement, estates have been acquired for subdivision, and easy financial terms made available by‘the Advances to Settlers Department to enable the man who desired to go on the land to acquire a farm cf his own. This policy, based on the assumption that there would always be a remunerative market for our produce, has resulted in a very great increase in the output of dairy produce, the expansion beingy assisted in recent years by sheepfaimers taking up dairying when the low price obtained for wool made it necessary for them to their incomes. At the same time, Australia has also been energetically developing her dairy industry, and her increased exports of butter, and the larger supplies from other sources which —owing to restriction of imports by Germany and France have sought a market in Britain, have materially contributed to the present difficult position.”