IRRITATING EMBARGO.

Evening Star, Issue 22464, 8 October 1936, Page 8

IRRITATING EMBARGO.

Unity appears to be the keynote of British representations aimed at the removal of the embargo placed by the New Zealand Government on the importation of British live stock. The opinion of British farmers on. the point is well known, and their protests have the support of every influential body in the United Kingdom. A strong plea for the removal of the embargo was made at yesterday’s final session of the Congress of Empire Chambers of Commerce by Sir Albert Atkey, whose views, not untempered with reason, were largely based on the effectiveness of the quarantine and inspection, system observed at Home. The worth of this system has also been recognised by veterinary authorities in New Zealand, so that it is safe to conclude that the far-reaching restrictions on imports are in very truth the unhappy results of a “ false alarm.” In the discussion that followed Sir Albert’s remarks Mr Ross, of Auckland, said that the farmers of New Zealand, by a large majority, were in favour of maintaining the embargo. The apprehension seems to be more strongly marked in the North Island than in the South, and in some cases the reason submitted for it is that foot-and-mouth disease would be likely to spread in an uncontrolled manner among animals that mm wild in the bush. Admittedly it would be more difficult to keep the disease in check in New Zealand than in Great Britain, but the misgivings which have been expressed do not take into consideration the fact that under the existing quarantine system it is impossible for an infected animal to be included among the migrants. In his address to the Congress the Minister of Agriculture (the Hon. W. Lee Martin) presented the most hopeful view that has yet been heard from a New Zealand Governmental source. He made no secret of the fact that expert officers of the Department of Agriculture were strongly in favour of the removal of the embargo, and, although he left his colleagues and himself a loophole by stating that experts often made mistakes, he promised that the fullest investigations would be made and that, if the removal of the ban could be effected without danger, the Government would do what was best in the interests of all concerned. Despite Mr Lee Martin’s apparent la6k of complete faith, we think that the findings of the experts, who would have ceased long ago to be experts if they “ often ” made mistakes, should be accepted without fear. In addition to the sentimental need to prove to the Mother Country that the Dominion is as kindly disposed towards her as she is towards her offspring, we must not be oblivious to the advantages of an infusion of British pedigree blood into our stock.