TRADE WITH CALIFORNIA.

Press, Volume L, Issue 14985, 4 June 1914, Page 10

TRADE WITH CALIFORNIA.

ENOKMOUS MEAT PROFITS,

(FROM A CORTtESrONnENTA SAN FRANCISCO, May 12. Some striking- revelations are being made at San Francisco of tho enormous profits being reaped by traders handling Australian and New Zealand meat there. Consumers are being fleeced on a wholesale scale, and although the imported commodity has been landed in the Californian metropolis for 9i cents a pound, no less than 25 cents a pound has been extracted from tho public for legs of lamb. As a rule the price is doubled in San Francisco, yet wholesalers complain that the prices in "Australasia are so prohibitive that the business of importing meat from the Antipodes is in danger of extinction. Mr Edmund Clifton, the New Zealand Commissioner to the Panama-Pacific Exposition at San Francisco, has shown that the retail prices of meat at Christchurch a few weeks ago, were as follow:—Forequarters of mutton, 6 cents a pound; half-sheep, 7 cents; chops, 8 to 10 cents; ribs of beef, 9 to 10 cents; rolls of beef, 10 to 11 cents; sirloin, 12 cents; forequarters of lamb, 8 cents; hindquarters of lamb; 10 cents. In viow of the fact that this meat can be shipped to San Francisco for 1J cents a pound, with an additional | cent a pound for placing it in cold storage afterwards, there would appear to bo a splendid opportunity for the opening of a New Zealand meat storo on a large scale and conducted by persons understanding tho business. By eliminating tho rapacious middleman, tho high cost of living would bo greatly reduced, and a larger margin of profit would result to tho Antipodean herder. Despite the acknowledged fact that hundreds of thousands of pounds of Australasian meat are unloaded in San Francisco and actually sold there, not a single retailer will admit that ho sells tha imported variety. He contends that* it is all local v fresh meat, and demands the highest prico for it, although tho quality and shape convince the purchaser it is not the American article. If some enterprising firm of retailers would open a chain of central stores in California, prices to consumers could be decreased and profits enlarged.to the Australasian shippers A now direct steamship servico has just been inaugurated between San Francisco and Melbourne, and San Francisco traders aro now urging Melbourne agencies to send their best fruit direct to the Californian markets, palpably to offset the efforts of New Zealalni to share in tho American market. Already Victorian onions havo flooded the market, and by the new direct lino £1 a ton will be saved, as hitherto Victorian produce was transhipped to Sydney from Melbourne owing to tho break of gauge on the railway line. By sending direct from Melbourne by steamer the £1 a ton will go as profit to tho producers. As New Zealand also has a direct service to San Francisco, it is believed that New Zealand fruit producers can favourably compete with then Victorian confreres.

When Earl Groy and his party arrived at San Francisco from his tour of tho Antipodes, ho was bubbling over wit _ enthusiasm for New Zealand, and .said he hoped England would participate in ths Panama-Pacific at San Francisco. "Her children in tho Antipodes," said his Lordship, "have determined to ("end a vast and splondid exhibit, in order to show tho world the wonderful resources of Australia and New Zealand. They have a wonderful country down there. The cream has not been disturbed as yet, and a wonderful opportunity is presented there. All that is needed is men and a bit of money. At - the subsequent banquet civen in Ins honour by the directors of the San Francisco Exposition. Earl Grey frequently referred in eulogistic terms to New Zealand as a model to tho world m various respects, praising it for its enterprise and good government system.