MEAT TRADE "WITH AMERICA.

Press, Volume XLIX, Issue 14834, 27 November 1913, Page 6

MEAT TRADE "WITH AMERICA.

Th© complaints mado in San Francisco that tho importation of Australian meat is seriously impeded by the shortage of steamships to transport produco from the Antipodes is more tho concorn of Australia than New Zealand. This country has been alire to tho possibilities of trade with the Pacific coast, and has already opened tip a good market with Vancouver and San Francisco in various lines of produce, and especially in butter. Tho Union Steam Ship Company is subsidised by tho Government to maintain the necessary steamship service, and tho new American tariff has made it possible to extend trade to tlie United States. Although Australia is in a better position to supply American requirements in beef, and her mutton could be offered cheaper than that from New Zealand, there is no reason why the Dominion should not endeavour to take full advantage of the market that is now open. Tho American demand is: of auito recent origin, however, and. until the new Tariff Bill was finally passed no one knew for certain whether such a market would be available or not. There has been little time, therefore, for Australia to arrange for the necessary shipping, and it can scarcely be expected that tho New Zealand vessels can at present supply the whole of the apace required for both the Dominion and Australian meat and produce. New Zealand shippers should strain every norve to compete successfully with Australia in the export of mutton , and lamb to the Pacific coast. Our exportable surplus of beef is not large, but if our beef could be sent to San Francisco in a chilled instead of frozen state there is no doubt as to the demand there would be for it. Messrs John Cooke and Co. recently received advice of the successful shipmoivt of 400 quarters of chilled beef from Sydney to San Francisco. It was very highly spoken of, and found a ready salo. It was carried at a temperature of 31 and 33 degrees. So far as New Zealand lamb is concerned the high prices ruling for it in tho English market ■ may prevent any quantity being diverted to the Pacific coast, but we aro informed that there is a good prospect of shipments being made via London to New York. In the meantimo New Zealand has. already a largo and increasing market for' butter and other produce on the Pacific, coast and tho diversion of Australian and South American meat to tho United j States will lessen the competition in England against our mutton and lamb. Already tho prospects of higher prices are apparent. The strike has, howover seriously interfered with the early shipments of frozen meat from the North. Island.

1) ■ - The incident in the House of 'Representatives on October Ist, 1902, tc# which reference is made in a Feilding telegram to-day, supplies another pre- ! cedent, if on© is required, for the action of the Chairman of Committees and tho Speaker in rescuing the. business of Parliament from the hands or tho stonewallers on Tuesday. A group of members wero etrongly opposed i the Seddon Government's Midland Railj way Petitions Settlement Bill, and on the Bill going into a committee they i set up a stonpwall, commencing with, tho short title. The obstruction, went on all through the night and various members relieved tho chairman. At last Mr F. Pirani was in tho chair, and he resorted to strong measures in ordor to prevent needless and tedious wnste of time. An appeal was made to the Speaker, and Mr Pirani oxplained that tho House had been ii Committee for seven hours on two stonewalling motions. He had eventually refused to allow members to ; wander from the point. It is interesting to recall that one of the newspapers londest in protest against tho endin;j of tho recent stonewall was almost a3! a loss for language sufficiently " con- j demnatory of the stonewall of 1902. Si* Joseph Ward himself, although he has j never been strong on fundamentals— has never been what we may call a bed rock thinker—seems to have understood something of the principle involved, for ho sharply reminded tho etonewallers that they were not the only members' who had a trust to carry out. Tho majority also had a trust to carry out, jis ho very truly observed. The principlo involved has not changed since 1902, or even since ISBI. <

Another change in the organisation of tho British Army is foreshadowed, but it is only a reshuffling. Tho proposed change reminds one of the man who said he had invented a new drink, and was quite proud of his achieve"ment, but had to admit, in answer to questions, that the concoction was merely tho old brandy and soda, with rather more brandy than before. The proposed rearrangement of the Territorials- and the Special Reserve would not touch the root of tho problem of British land defence, the lack of men, and it bos to be shown that it would

give the men who do offer themselves, bettor training. The Regular Army is short of men,, the Territorials are short, and tho Special Reserve is short, after great efforts to stimulate recruiting, so why not face the problem boldly and honestly?

Lord Haldane is sure to tie severely handled for his latest utterance on the question. To give a few monuis* compulsory training, he eaid, -would require an enormous number of officers, and he did not know where they were to be found. Does Lord Haldane wish the world to believe that Great Britain could not supply sufficient officers to train and lead her manhood in arms? SuTely Great Britain could do what Switzerland does. The fact is, when Lord Haldano speaks of officers, he means officers as they are selected, paid, and generally treated under tho present system, and it is quite likely that under a system of national training the supply of such men would be short. . But tho whole treatment of officers in the British Army is anomalous, and, indeed, scandalous, a relic of days when tho Army was not regarded as a serious profession. The "War Office could get as many officers for its regular troops as it wanted if it paid them a living wage and widened the area of selection, and it should have no more trouble in officering the Territorials under a national system than we have in the colonies.

According to a cable message published this morning somo difficulty is being experienced in finding a successor to the Governor of Victoria, suitable men not being willing to accept such posts. This is not at all surprising. Tho office of Stat© Governor in Australia was shorn of much of its importance and prestige when the Commonwealth came into being. There is a strong feeling in somo quarters in Australia that the practice of appointing Englishmen to the office might well bo discontinued, and the Canadian plan of choosing a Lieutenant-Governor from prominent local men should be substituted. The maintenance of six State Governors and their staffs is a very expensive item, and it is a question whether they might not bo abolished altogether. Tho Governor-General would remain to serve as a link between the Crown and tho Commonwealth.

Tho adapted French farce mentioned this morning as having caused a etir in London, is only one of several similar importations from Paris staged this year in London theatres. Generally something of the kind can bo seen on tho metropolitan boards, but just now there seems to Tbe a boom in this very questionable form of entertainment. "Truth," not a particularly squeamish paper, made a strong protest against the morals of "Oh, oh, Delphine!" a musical farce from over the water, declaring that it should not havo passed the Censor. "This Way, Madam 1" another of the importations, seems to be several shades worse. Its hero is a dressmaker's designer, who builds up a most lucrative business by exploiting, in a flat with one entrance and several exits, his fascination for women. One writer says of it that it is only saved from "exceptional nastiness" by clever acting and singing. Judging by reports, neither "Oh, I Say I , ' nor "The Glad Eye," both of which have proved very popular, is particularly, savoury. The chief objection to this kind of play is the objection that Macaulay made to the Restoration drama, that "whatever is constantly presented to tho imagination in connexion with what is attractive, will itself become attractive." Attractive . qualities are given to the loose and the vicious, and deceived husbands and wives are made butts of the audience's laughter. The strongest clause m. tho indictment against the Censor is that he allows virtue to be treated with contempt and vice to be gilded, in plays liko "The Giddy Goat" and "Dear Old Charlie," while he will not license certain plays in which questions of morality aro treated seriously.

It is good to see players of the standing of Mr H. B. Irving and Miss Gertrude Kingston ranging themselves publicly on the side of propriety. Moat British actore and actresses are on, this side, but it ie seldom that any of them expresses.opinions about any particular play or performance; they are restrained, no doubt, by a cense of loyalty to tho profession. But a strong stand by leaders of the profession might do much good. Ono reason why the higher drama does not got tho support it deserves, is that a large section of the intellectual middle-class, especially the Nonconformist middle-class, holds aloof from the theatre as a place from which no good can come, or where the good is submerged in the bad. Every play tainted with lubricity hardens some of those people in their opposition to the theatre. If prominent actors and actresses camo out into tho open and fought tho evil they would do more good for tho legitimate drama than the building of a National Theatre could do.