"ADJUST THE TARIFF"

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 12, 14 July 1933, Page 7

"ADJUST THE TARIFF"

AND EXCHANGE RATE

MR. GOODFELLOW'S ADVICE

"It is my emphatic opinion, despite everything that has been said to the contrary, that the attitude of the British Government in regard to restricting the exports from the Dominion is the natural result of the failure of both New Zealand and Australia to carry out the Ottawa Agreement," said Mr. William Goodfellow, managing director of Amalgamated Dairies, Ltd., in an interview.

Mr. Goodfellow said the United Kingdom farmer was strongly of opinion that by exchange inflation existing competition was very unfair, and that both Australia and New Zealand were in reality dumping produce into the United Kingdom. Inflation of the exchange, without making a similar reduction, had caused both the farmer and the manufacturer of Great Britain to develop a real grievance. The maintenance of a free market in the United Kingdom for New Zealand's produce was a matter of supreme importance to the whole population of the Dominion, Mr. Goodfellow continued.' Accordingly, the Prime Minister should be requested at once to find out from the British Government what tariff and exchange adjustments were required to

retain a free market for New Zealand produce and comply with the Ottawa Agreement.

The meat quota had been a great help to the United Kingdom farmers, who produced 50 per cent, of the beef consumed, in addition to large quantities of both mutton and lamb. A butter quota, however, would be of little value, because the British farmer sold his milk mainly for town supply; and doubtless that was the main reason why a quota restricting foreign butter was refused at Ottawa.

The London dairy produce market, in Mr. Goodfellow's opinion, had already seen the lowest prices, and next season, with a smaller production of butter and less produce available for export from other countries, we would sco a gradual improvement in price due mainly to the rise in the value of both wheat and wool.