The Dominion. MONDAY, JUNE 20, 1910. A POSSIBLE MARKET.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 847, 20 June 1910, Page 4

The Dominion. MONDAY, JUNE 20, 1910. A POSSIBLE MARKET.

We printed on Saturday a Melbourne telegram reporting the substance of a communication cabled to the Federal Government by Lord Crewe concerning the sale of New Zealand mutton in New York. Full particulars of the shipment referred to were given in The Dominion nearly a month ago, together with the views of somo local people interested in the business of meat export. These, it may be remembered, treated the report, which we took from tho New York Post, as of little account. Now, however, that slowmoving officialdom has discovered tho facts, and considers them of enough importance to be made the subject of a Colonial Office dispatch, a little more attention may bo given here to the possibilities of trade that we're so lightly dismissed at the time. No doubt the Secretary of State for the Colonics has communicated with the New Zealand Government on the subject—it usually happens, by the way, that Colonial Office dispatches of interest to New Zealand only become public through the sense of responsibility of tho Governments of other colonies—and it is to be hoped that the Government.will give the matter serious attention. The reason why New Zealand meat can be sold at a profit in New York is the acute rise of food-prices in America.. At the present time the pressure of the cost of living is so very severe, especially in respect of food, that even the Payne tariff cannot keep out any foreign stuff that comes along. The common opinion that there can be no early fall in prices, or even any early check to the upward movement, is not invalidated by tho first interim report of the special Commission appointed by the Massachusetts State Government to investigate the high cost of living. Tho report, which we print in another column, was issued on May 3 last, and it will be seen that the causes of, the trouble arp of a deepseated character, which, in a country so large and complex as America, cannot be removed at all quickly. The Commission thinks that tho tariff is not a contributory factor in the rise of prices, but it thinks that when the tariff is revised "the expediency of' removing the duties on food produets should be carefully considered." 'Even if the Commission has under-estimated the effect of the tariff, as we think it has, it is clear that the' problem is not mainly • a tariff problem. There is, that is to say, a real opening for foreign meat. Broadly speaking Australia is not at any material advantage over New Zealand as a possible exporter of frozen meat to New York, and there seems to us to bo no good reason why New Zealand should not establish itself as a largo supplier- of moat to the Eastern States. To obtain a footing in such a cosmopolitan food market as America would probably bo easier than it was to obtain a footing in conservative Britain. If it be agreed that the enlargement and multiplication of our markets is desirable it is then the business of the Government to make clear to our meat-exporters the case for considering tho dispatch of mca.t to New York. In these matters success goes generally to the first-comer, although, of course, only merit can make the success permanent. On tho face of it a regular export trade to New York may seom absurd, but that country does not get on nowadays that looks only at the face of things. Any careful study of American conditions will make it clear that prices will remain high there for a very long time, and will probably go higher. If a trade could bo established under the Payne tariff, it should certainly endure and increase after the downwards revision suggested by the Commission. That the duties on food-stuffs will be removed or whittled away to an inconsiderable figure is the only conclusion possible from the language which tho press, the politicians and the public arc using at the, present time Wc hope the Government will make public any dispatch it has received from Lord Crewe.