THE EGG FROM CHINA

Nelson Evening Mail, 29 September 1916, Page 7

THE EGG FROM CHINA

A petition is being prepared by the poultry farmers of the County of Cumberland for presentation to the Minister for (Customs, says the Sydney Daily Telejrapn, asking that the duty at present imposed upon the importation of eggs may be increased by 6d per dozen. The reasons to be given"" are : (1) That the industry, which affords healthy occupation for a large number >f men an<i women, han dining the last lO years increased enormously. '(2) That the industry is being seriously menaced by the prospect of increasing competition of egjrs from China, where conditions for production are not only of the cheapest, but believed to be insanitary and unwholesome; consequently the suitability of these eggs for human" consumption is open to grave doubt. ■lt will be pointed out that poultry farming—eii'tailing light labour—is eminently suitable for those returned soldiers who are incapable of indoor work or ordinary farm or station labour. "This industry has been 'built up byenergy and ' perseverance over a number of years," according to the petition, and although a certain amount of protection is already enjoyed under the Commonwealth tariff, it is found to be insufficient •n the existing circumstances to assure the future of those embarking on poultry farming,, or to safeguard' Australian producers at a dc=irabje\sta.i:dard of living against the competition of the product of the extremely low level of the' Asiatic conditions."