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PARTIAL SUPPORT
FOR MEAT SCHEME
Qualified support for the proposed 15-year
meat agreement with Britain had been given
by the Australian Meat Board at its last meeting,
Mr. R. B. Williamson, a member of the board,
said yesterday.
Mr. Williamson said that
negotiations are now taking
place in London between
the British Ministry of Food
and the Minister for Com
merce (Mr. McEwen).
Mr. Williamson said that be
fore his departure for Lon
dtn Mr. McEwen had asked
the board to define its atti
tude to the agreement.
The board had never before
been asked to express 'an
opinion. By mutual consent
the agreement had been op
erating for two years but had
not been signed.
It was therefore not a firm
contract and could be termin
ated at the end of each meat
export seasop.
The board' Mr. Williamson
said, decided, by a majority
vote, to support the agree
ment provided it embraced the
principles recommended by
the board and that the two
Governments were sincere in
their desire to implement the
contract in accordance with
these principles and their
spirit. It also stipulated that
it should be given an. oppor
tunity to consider the draft
agreement. A minority of
members considered that Mr.
McEwen should be told that
the board was opposed to the
agreement.
The principles were:
* There should be a mini
mum price for lamb for four
years and for beef for a speci
fic period..
* Prices should be reviewed
annually and related to Aus
tralian production costs, plus
any incentive required to en
courage output.
* The board should have
the right to allocate some
meat for sale to hard cur
rency areas.
* The Federal Government
should undertake developmen
tal work to increase produc
tion.
* There should be no de
lay in announcing seasonal
prices.
Experience since 1949;
when the agreement was con
ceived, showed that it was ex
tremely unlikely that Britain
and Australia, regardless of
governments, would observe
these principles.
The board's strictures would
not encourage Mr. McEwen to
complete the negotiations and
to sign the agreement on be
half of Australia.
"Able To Dictate"
Speaking as one of the min
ority, Mr. Williamson said
that he was strongly opposed
to the agreement.
Britain, being the sole buyer
of Australian meat, would be
able to dictate prices and con
ditions.
Australia would have the
right to sell only one per cent
of its total production to
"hard" currency areas, where
prices were up to three times
r than those paid by
Britain.
Britain insisted on payment
in sterling and refused to
undertake to make immediate
price adjustments in the event
of exchange alterations.
At present, Britain was pay
ing more for Argentine and
New Zealand meat than for
Australian.
Under the bulk pyrchase
system prices were undoubt
edl_ manipulated for political
Mr. Scully, the wartime
Minister for Commerce, re
fused a higher price from Bri
tain for lamb so that more
could be obtained for butter.
There was strong opposition,
especially by lamb and pig
producers, to the proposals.
The wool marketing vote
showed how .producers felt
about government controls
and interference.
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