MEAT—THE SWISS MARKET.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1186, 22 July 1911, Page 8

MEAT—THE SWISS MARKET.

WHAT ARE OUR,PROSPECTS?

Messrs. A. - 11. i'unibull, of - Christ--church, have received iroin Messrs. Vied- ' dell • and' Co. reports on tho prospects-of ft'cw Zealand frozen iueat ou the Continent . of L'urt/jiai .'•;:■-. 'Regarding Switzerland, which country recently decided to permit the importation of .frown nioat, tho report guys: "'i'ho circumstances leading up to tho decision of the I'edernl'Gayermnent to allow frozen njent to Ijb imported aro in the, main similar to those- which have brought 'about a similar.result in other countries. The: prices' of incut had been for somo considerable time past steadily risinj;, and this tendency had, by nirtunm' of last year, reached such an extent that a gen'eral popular demand for cheap meat iin.pellcd the Federal Council to go seriously into tho qnretion of the importation of frozen meat. To this end a special'officer iras , . sent'to LondciiV and on tho basis of. his report the Federal .Council decided iii February of this, year (a permit the im-" poijtatioii of frozen .iueat 'experimentally., and'-until further notice' The conditions which govern tho trade aro in the main reasonable-.and satisfactory. No limitation of .quantity "was imposed, b'ut of course, in yiew.of Ihe experimental nature of the trade as at present permitted, and the. risk , ot the permission being withdrawn ■?t any tini(\ at the'pleasure of tho Federar Council, thorp is little likelihood of the necessary installations for the proper conduct of the- trade being established by, private enterprise, under present conditions. Special permission to import must bo sought in respect■ of each parcel, not from the Central Government, but from the' Cantonal* Government, for which tho nicnt is intended. . Sanitary certificates issued'.-in the country of origin -must accompany the.:goods..

Agrarian Antagonism. .. , ' ''Sanitary inspection is carried, out by Swiss.veterinary" I .officers,'.at the destination of tho. meat. The condition which aroused the greatest, antagonism in the country was that wliicli fixed.the.import duty on. frozen me-it at 25 francs" per , 100 ,kilos.ylu■'■fixing- this 'tariff the Inderal Council, came to tlie : !;oxtraardinary decieioij* that"frozen meat, must be regarded noK as fresh meat ; biit:,TS preserved meat or 'preparation of meat,', and as such ■inusf bp liable to tho duty applicable to' such meat instead, of coming under the heading of fresh meat and being liable to a, duty of only. 10 francs per 100 kilos. The protagonists of frozen meat have pfptested with such effect against this tariff that a special commission was appointed to consider the question of duty, and this commission has proposed to the Federal Council that the duty should be reduced to G fraucs per 100 kilos—a reduction .which one-can hardly think will frozen meat ".party. "The Aipm'ty in Switzerland which is" , mo-,t>'.afitngonistic j'to'-'-ifvozon meat is,' asf elsewhere!;: the agrarian-party, and natur-: ally this party is yerystrong in a- conn- , rry-like'Snitzei'laml. Public opinion has for the time being prevailed agoinst'tho , landed interests, but in view of . the etrdngth and. influence of the latter ono ■cannot' regard the .frozen meat'trade as a permanent find established factor in tho, /jcconouiy.of tho country. !

•.Trartspb>t', | Difh'culti : 'iis;"'"' • ■ . 'cq'nditi-on.v An- Switzerland are), of.course,, very different from those whichobtain .-in most ether cpiintries which ira- , ■ port frozen produce. Tho absence of a seaboard involves bf : course great difficulties .; in.respect of .the transport and distribu- ■ • tiob of frozen - meat. Up to tho. present. . itime all the importations have been drawn ■' from London, Genoa, and Trieste, and/for . ; varujus-reasons it-dppears that the par--oeU v frtftf'Tificstp lJiW.fi.tthived- in the best- . condition. As regards London, there is. thetlffh'culty of two railway journeys witli ■. a sea journey in between to contend with,. . and:tlie/repeate(l handling caused thereby' is a. factor..which .militates' against ■'.this. source of supply. --Tlio-inadequacy..of the -.port of Genoa, and the iiotorjduslv inefiicient railway service given by tliVltal-i ian/State'railways is a sufficient reason why the service from that port has not' ■beeiryntiroly satisfactory. y "With regard to the prospects of tho trade in; Switzerland, even assuming fhat ' -everything igoes on favourably, ono ?cannot look for tho sharo of the country in ■thn world's consumption being more than .a very .small fraction.- The total populaKloiUs only about.,threq- and u half'mil-. ilionsiiaiid-.therp arcr,fto'i,very. large centres. of popiiKitian, the inhabitants being pretty'.well spread over ; tho less mountainous' .parts of the ■.country, but for three ■ months in the summer the consumption [.might bo quite considerable. In order iithattho trade should 1)0 properly organ-ji-«d it would be necessary that stores should ba , established ■in bno or , two of ■the.■'-large , .towns, which as .'tlistrlbiitiujf centres. -Basle for the uorth--ivest,■■■•/.nrich- for the -• north-east, and. Geneva-for the soirthj■-suggest themselves ns tlie iiVost' favourably-situated towns for ■ .sucK a'pilrpo-e. ; . I '".':..:■ ■ • ■ . ■ .

i What -Suits the Market. •'_ "Up to tho present time the quantities [imported into tho country have been liniiited. A good deal of timidity, natural no (doubt on account of tho novelty of the jtrado to the country, has kept back a [number of potential btfyers from making ftho plunge. Those who have gone in for jtlie trado report, however, almost unaniiiiiously in a favourable sense. With' Hie I advent of the heat oi summer it is doubt,fill if aiiy'considei-abTe quantities of meat ■ will ;be.r;imported, but,there is no reason to-doubt that the importation will be re-' ; mimed in the autumn on a larger scale' (than has hitherto been the case, and, unjless political intrigues stille it, the frozen inieat trade' should assume a permanent andrecogniEcd'role in-tlie problem of the 'food supply of Switzerland. > "The class of beef which suits the Swiss end .other Continental markets is lean ■and rather small quarters, and tho inside .fat should bo stripped out. In Switzerland, as well as' in the other Continental markets, the cry was raised at tho begini ning that the meat which was being sup.plied as frozen meat was too fat; this complaint.was really caused by the suppliers sending moat of too good quality. Now that suppliers 'understand exactly tho class of meat that is required, there are no further complaints on the score .of tho meat being too fat. Tho market for mutton is a very limited one, but doubtless a taste for this cl.a-ss of meat cwild 'be cultivated, especially as the quality of the mutton imported to England, in a frozen state'is immeasurably superior to tho mutton consumed on tho Continent"

It 13 reported that as a result of rabbitterpnvng on one of the large runs near To'Whornn (AVnirarapn) the'pest lias been practically wiped out, while (rood wases wero won by the.men who undertook tho work. 'Other properties are now to be tried.': A Kiverndale farmer told a Canterbury reporter that the early-sown cereal ciops aro locking particularly vrell, and tho grass grub, owing t<» tho rain-and severe frosts, has ceased working to any extent. A spoil of lino weather, however, is wanted to enable farmers to complete the Bowing of winter cereals. The matter of apple taint in Australian butter Jias become a question of serious concern' to thn (iairyiiis; intdustry, ami farpdrding to a. Sydney paper) demands attention. That its imnortanco is fully Tcalised. on Hie other side may bo gaugail from the fact that a meeting was bold'in london on May 21), at which the follo-v----■iii!,' resolution was carried:—"That in view of. the importance of tho question of applo taint to tho (lairyins; industry of the...Commonwealth of Australia 'this jiie.et.inf ur-ies the High Commissioner, and the .\3ent3-(ier.eral to bring pressure;'upon the shipping companies to take steps lo pi-even^'the rt'CiiriTiico of the defect, which is having a serious ami prejudicial effect upon tho reputation of Australian butter."

Dairy farmers must liavc strong porviceablo and easily-cleano.il cans. Victor is tlio name of the; can that suits every requirement, and it pays handsomely to u>o t.hesD cans and no other-. Every lid williit every. tun. Semi..for a catalogue to Albert jVTartpn, "Cartirto'n,. ■' ♦ i