DISPOSAL OF FROZEN MEAT.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 856, 30 June 1910, Page 8

DISPOSAL OF FROZEN MEAT.

-INDEPENDENT SHIPPING ADVOCATED. The chairman of the Hawke's Bay Farmers' Co-nperative Association (Mr. A. H. Kussell) made the following reference to the frozen meat trade of the province at the annual meetiug of the'association :— "Prices for frozen meat were very unsatisfactory last winter. At that time there wcro full stores in London,, largo shipments afloat; and in face of them a demand weakened by the small purchasing power of those who buy our meat. To-day there are still large shipments afloat, but the,stores are comparatively empty, and the ease with which the market absorbs fresh arrivals is a eure sign of the better trade conditions obtaining in England. The ■ Argentine seems .for the moment to have reached high-water mark in this class of export, and it is the increase in the Australian output which is most to be feared. On the whole the outlook is encouraging, and prices should bo .stable." There had lately, he proceeded, been considerable controversy, concerning, prices for frozen mutton in Canterbury and in Hawke's Bay. It war. outside his province to discuss that, but ho could suggest n remedy for those who were, dissatisfied at getting no more for Southdown cross lambs than for Romneys— that was, that growers should ship on their own account. "Those who have done so," he declared, "on an average have never failed to realise a good deal more for their stock. Isolated shipments may prove a disappointment, but the general- result is highly satisfactory. . . . Co-operative freezing works, which I see are suggested by some (a project with which, as chairman of the association, I cannot but be in sympathy) cannot affect the question of the price realised in London. It might well be a saving to shippers, but to realise full values, I repeat, growers must take the risks of the markets themselves. Whatever those risks are, you may be sure that buyers make a liberal estimate when fixing what they are prepared to give."