EGG PRODUCTION

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 17128, 25 April 1921, Page 10

EGG PRODUCTION

AN INTERESTING REVIEW. * An interesting review of the egg-pro-duction enterprise in Canterbury during the past year was presented by Mr J. Liggins, president of the Canterbury Egg Circle, at the annual meeting of the Circle held,on Saturday night. The president said that during the past year the Circle had made great progress, many new members having joined the Circle, the membership of which to-day stood at over 400, which showed that the work of the Circle in marketing and maintaining prices was appre-* ciated by poultrymen. Good prices were realised for eggs throughout the year, with the exception of a few weeks towards the latter part of last year, when the market was disorganised with imported eggs.' The 2s per dozen for eggs which the Circle received for the three months August, September, and October, was, easily a record for a summer price, and one that might not be obtained _ again for some time, although the price was not out of proportion with the high cost of. feed. This year poultry food, with the exception of wheat, was considerably lower in price, and would no doubt help poultrymen to raise more stock and maintain them with less cost than formerly. With the high cost and scarcity of. fowl wheat, many poultrymen have substituted oats for wheat, and he affirmed that the continued high price of fowl wheat was a blessing in disguise. He believed that, given the right class of good, short, plump oats, especially the clipped oats which had recently been placed on the market, satisfactory results in egg-pro-duction would be obtained' at considerably less cost. Poultrymen had long suffered an injustice in the purchase of their fowl food. Pollard and bran, which were freely used by all poultry breeders, could only be bought through bakers or storekeepers, except in a few instances, at retail rates. That added considerably to the cost, while the quality was often very inferior. Again, many people often paid more for fowl wheat than was paid for prime milling wheat. That should be reversed. In .fixing the price of fowl wheat at only 2d per bushel less than prime milling wheat the, Government had done an injustice to the poultry industry. The one great need or poultrymen was centralisation. If they could only induce all producers of both eggs and poultry to market their produce through an organised channel, the market could he controlled and prices maintained much better than at present. "There are some men," he added, "who sell their eggs to the grocer or baker rather than join a circle which would assist to place the industry on a sound basis. We should also be able to purchase our feed and everything we require pertaining to poultry at first cost, and I trust the time is not far distant,when, it will.be so, but it can only be done by organisation and cooperation." Imported Eggs.

"For n number of years the prohibition of the imported egg has been the great aim of every poultryman in the Dominion. In March of this year the Board of Trade held a conference in Christchurcn to take evidence from the bakers and poultrymen as to the advisability of prohibiting the importation] of imported eggs. After a discussion' which lasted nearly all day the Board of Trade decided to limit the importation of eggs to that which was imported in 1919, namely, £2OOO. In. 1920 £45,000; worth of egg pulp was imported »into; New Zealand, so it will be easily seenj tha't we are up against _ a stern proposition. It only remains for us to convince the Government we can produce all the eggs for our requirements, and I feel sure we will have no difficulty in securing the total prohibition of t"he importation of eggs from any country whatever. Mr J. B. Merrett deserves the thanks and gratitude of every noultryman in New Zealand for the able manner in which he has helped us to fight the imported egg menace. I sincerely hope that next-year, if not the following year, he will have the satisfaction of seeing imported eggs a thing of the past. Winter Prices. "At.the last meeting of the committee it was resolved to make the maximum price of eggs 3s for firsts and 2s lOd for seconds during the winter months. This, I feel certain, is in the best interests of producers as well as the consumers. In previous years, and last year, especially, eggs reached 3s 9d per dozen, but what was the result? The public almost ceased to buy eggs, and the following week they dropped to 2s 9d, a fall of a shilling in a week. This only tends to disorganise the egg market and causes great dissatisfaction to both the buyer and seller. It is much better to make a reasonable price and maintain it oyer a longer period, ana I trust the action of the committee in fixing the price meets with your approval. Summer Prices. "The question of the summer price is one that is of the greatest importance to us all. It is from the summer supply, of eggs that the poultryman makes up for the winter shortage, when little or nothing is made from the birds. Your committee has decided to meet the. bakers in a week or two and discuss what the price of. eggs is.to be during the coming season. This is a step in the right direction,' and I believe we will be able to fix an equitable price for crar summer supply. We must not expect to get the same price for eggs as we did last summer, but I nope we shall be within J2d or 3d of what we received last yeaV. At the present time the tendency is for most products to fall in value, and we as poultrymen must be prepared to fall into line with the time. vThe Export Trade. "The;possibility.of an export trade in | the i future must not ; be. lost.sight vf. I Erom • an: economic point of* view we I should be exporting eggs and not im-

porting. Daring the last year New Zealand has imported £15,000,000 more goods than she has exported. This alarming increase of imports over exports is having a disastrous effect on business. We as poultrymen must do our hit and increase production, so that it will be unnecessary to import. When we can supply our own requirements, then we must turn and develop an export trade, which would undoubtedly be the means of making the poultry industry a great national asset. In conclusion, I would like to express my thanks to our secretary for his excellent work, the committee and members for their support, not only to myself, but to the Circle. I feel certain the poultry industry is slowly but surely making progress! With cheaper and more"plentiful foods and the abolition of the imported egg we need have no fear to increase our flocks."