MEAT EXPORT

Waikato Times, Volume 117, Issue 19564, 1 May 1935, Page 12

MEAT EXPORT

MARKET IN BRITAIN. *ii*. REGULATION OF SUPPLIES. EFFECT ON NEW ZEALAND. In a bulletin prepared by the Department' of Economics of Canterbury College it is stated that developments in the British market for animal foodstuffs have caused serious and increasing concern in the Dominion. The bulletin goes on to say that this market has suffered severely from low prices, the first cause of these low prices being found in the depression which has affected the prices of all agricultural products and raw materials. « More recently attention has been concentrated on meat, and particularly upon beef, in the production and marketing of which the British farmer is specially concerned. The latest development is the publication of a White Paper in which the British Government suggests that Empire producers should •submit to a voluntary levy on imports of meat into Britain, with preference to Empire supplies, and that the proceeds of the levy should be used to subsidise the British farmers. The paper also suggests that, failing the acceptance of such a levy, drastic restrictions on imports may become necessary. These suggestions have been rejected by both New Zealand and Australia, the Empire countries which are chiefly concerned in meat export. Negotiations are still being . continued. ,They are likely to be carried further, and. efforts will be made to reach a workable solution in London, where a large Australian delegation has already arrived and a New Zealand delegation is proceeding. The negotiations, however, must be confined within the limits set by the Ottawa Agreements, which do not expire until August, 1937, and by Britain’s agreements with other meat exporting countries, notably Argentine and Denmark. The, Market for Beef.

The White Paper states the British Government’s Intention to safeguard Its livestock industry an important part of an agricultural industry employing normally 1J million persons and producing annually an output valued at' "'£2s4m. The Immediate intention is not to protect the whole of British argiculture, much of which Is already sheltered,-but to raise beef prices, and beef accounts for only about one-eighth of the total production of agriculture and is valued at about £3om. per year. Moreover, the total persons engaged in agriculture In Britain constitute only 6 per cent of tke employed population, and New Zealand is not yet convinced that a complete change in British' polioy, involving dearer food for 94 per cent In order to safeguard the Interests of 6 per cent of population#* is either so necessary or so completely agreed upon as to Justify the far-reaohlng changes which must follow as a consequence in the exporting countries* It Is doubtful, too, whether the British diagnosis of the present position In regard to beef Is oomplet'e, and whether the oura suggested would remedy the present difficulties. 'Home production supplies 56 per cent of the total British beef consumption. Beef prices have fallen, and the British statement assumes that the fall Is due largely to over supply, and would be remedied If supplies were reduced. The figures available do not support this conclusion. New Zealand’s Attitude.

The British White 'Paper states plainly that the British Government Intends to safeguard the British live stock industry. It says that under existing agreements the only method open Is a drastic restriction of imports, but If the Governments concerned will agree to variations of these agreements and accept the levy proposed, then the compulsory reduction of imports may be avoided, and regulation might be left to voluntary agreement among the exporting countries. But the statement explicitly sets out the alternatives—either the levy or the resrlotion of imports, and the New Zealand Government was Invited to accept the levy. It was to these proposals that the New Zealand Government had to reply. Neoessarily the reply is confined to the subject matter of the British Government’s request. Necessarily, too, the British Government, having jurisdiction over the British market, can enforce any conditions of entry which it pleases, and New Zealand and other exporters to the British market must submit to these conditions. A levy, if imposed, would be collected by means of an Import tax on British imports of New Zealand meat, and the immediate effect would be the reduction of the New Zealand exporter’s receipts by the amount of the levy. Restriction of meat imports from New Zealand under present conditions would necessarily mean restriction both of New Zealand’s meat exports and of her meat production. Under cither of these methods, the Dominion would have - to bear an undue share of the cost of solving a British beef producers’ problem which is due mainly to reduced remand from the British consumer. It would be better for New Zealand to stand fast by the Ottawa agreement and to seek some more acceptable solution of the problem before that agreement expires in 1937.

Now Zealand’s Strong Claim.

But while discussion remains open, and that discussion is confined to the immediate question, New Zealand has also a very strong claim both for special consideration and for special treatment. The grounds for that claim arc her low tariff against British goods, which is only about onequarter ns high as (lie tariff of some other Dominions, tier very high purchases per capita of British goods and services, her nccessiljy for an excess of exports to pay for interest on debt, shipping services, cic.. her extreme dependence on llie export of animal foodstuffs to the British market, and her very small share in beef supplies. She might well point out, also, that the differences among the supplying countries are so great that a general agreement with the'Empire countries as a group would be inequitable, and on these grounds press for special and individual treatment.