Limited Concessions

He felt that the Six were inclined to insist that Britain must take the Treaty of Rome largely as it stood, as the concessions the Six would make, were limited by the desire to preserve the fundamental principles upon which they originally agreed, after very hard bargaining.

Speaking of EEC entry as it affected N.Z., the Professor told Salient that N.Z. wanted her existing arrangements for trade preserved. At present, he said, terms offered by EEC for butter cheese, lamb, and mutton were not acceptable to us. N.Z. hoped that lamb and mutton would continue to be granted fairly free access to the British market, as continentals were not great producers or consumers of those meats. Britain was the only big market in Europe for them.

He spoke of butter. "We want future arrangements for butter to allow entry at least at the present level, and preferably expanded." He said that N.Z. could expect reasonable terms for lamb and mutton, but continentals were producing increasing surpluses of butter and wanted to dispose of them in the British market. Prices would fall too much, unless outsiders were kept out.

The Professor said N.Z. must present for transitional arrangement—firstly a share of the market at current levels, and secondly, suitable World Commodity Agreements. In these, it was proposed to sell all surpluses in underdeveloped countries at very low prices. "What is not known is what share of financing the surplus N.Z. is expected to carry," he commented. The less developed countries would naturally want guarantees of regular supplies on concessional terms.

He felt that N.Z. could not forecast the pinch until final terms were known. To employ her people N.Z. needed imports. With unsatisfactory terms, she would naturally have to place more emphasis on developing new exports and new markets and on building up industries dependent on domestic resources — for example, aluminium and forestry industries.

Referring to alternative markets, he suggested for meat, North America Japan and the underdeveloped countries when their living standards improve. "But Britain remains by far the largest market for our lamb and dairy produce," he said, "and this is why we have such a strong interest in obtaining assurances of reasonable terms of entry in the present negotiations."