Meat For Palestine

Wanganui Chronicle, 8 June 1948, Page 5

Meat For Palestine

HEAVY BUYING IN AUSTRALIA Sydney, June 6. Fighting in Palestine has cut off a thriving export market for Austral a. Annual exports to Palestine are • alued at more than £2,000,000, including £497,000 worth of food like meat, cheese and butter; £390,000 worth of Hour; £238,000 worth of breakfast food; and £76,000 worth of millet. Because of action by Egypt in the Suez Canal zone, ships from Austra'ia will be directed away from Palestinian ports. But that has not stopped Jewish agents from buying heavily on the Australian meat market. With Britain's approval Palestine is allocated a yearly quota of 1600 tons of Australian meat, which is divided approximately into quarterly shipments. The Jewish agents have concentrated the’r buying on the Melbourne 'Victoria) market, with the result that prices here have risen as much as 2d and 3d a lb. This has alarmed the Victorian meat trade which c ! aims the orders should be distributed among all Australian buying centres to stabilise prices.

It is likely that the Federal Government will ask the agents to transfer some of their activity to Sydney and Brisbane.