THE BUTTER MARKET.

Waikato Times, Volume 113, Issue 18874, 18 February 1933, Page 4

THE BUTTER MARKET.

REQUEST FOR RESTRICTION VIEWS OF PRODUCE BOARD. “NO NEED* FOR ALARM.” On his return from Wellington this morning, Mr Dynes Fulton, chairman of directors of the New Zealand Cooperative Dairy Company, in an interview with a Times reporter stated that the New Zealand Dairy Produce Board held a special meeting on Friday last, for the purpose of considering the request from London for a restriction on the quantity of dairy produce exported from this country. The request, said Mr Fulton, was alarming from our point of view, first of all because of the fact that the price of all other commodities of production from the farm were at such a low ebb and indeed the price for dairy produce was so low 'that it was essential for us to produce and export as much as possible to meet our financial obligations in London. In view of the recent Imperial Conference held at Ottawa, at which New Zealand was represented, supported by Mr Wm. Goodfellow in the capacity as a technical dairy produce adviser, it was deemed advisable to have Mr Goodfellow present at the Dairy Produce Board meeting. A very lucid explanation was given by Mr Goodfellow, pertaining to the Ottawa Agreement setting out that New Zealand had a definite agreement with Great Britain for five years for free entry of our dairy produce into Great Britain, subject to the right to review the position at the expiration of three years. This agreement of course,* was contingent to certain obligations undertaken by our New Zealand Government in connection with ■the reduction on imported British goods. Mr Goodfellow stressed this point very strongly and pointed out to the Board that he had made it quite clear at Ottawa that It was impossible for New Zealand to restrict production of dairy produce as we had so far prepared and advanced in New Zealand with the assistance of borrowed money from Great Britain to continue increasing our production, an( t would be ruinous if any restriction was imposed on. our activities. After discussing the position from every point of view, the Dairy Produce Board unanimously decided that it was impossible to restrict the production ot dairy produce in New- Zealand and could not agree to any restriction being placed on our annual exports of dairy produce. The board was further unanimous in its opinion that it was essential to aim at a policy of free trade between the United Kingdom and New Zealand. It was therefore arranged that the chairman of the Board, Mr lorns, anil Mr Wm. Goodfellow should wait on Cabinet and submit the decision arrived at. , The conditions existing at the present time, stated Mr Fulton, brought conspicuously under our notice the necessity of purchasing British goods and also for the Government to make an immediate announcement of a drastic reduction if not the abolition of all tariffs on British goods. In view of the Ottawa Agreement between Great Britain and New Zealand, he added, there was no necessity for alarm at the trend of events, as it was his opinion that the agreement would be honoured to the letter by each country