MEAT AND WOOL.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1748, 13 May 1913, Page 8

MEAT AND WOOL.

AN EXPORTER ON N.Z. TKOSPECTS. One of the largest exporters of frozen meat from Australasia, Mr. .Tolm Cooke, who, by tho way, was for somo years manager of' one of the branches of the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company ill New Zealand, but has tor a long time been operating in Australia, 'holds the opinion that New Zealand cannot hopo to keep pace with Australia's progress, either in regard to wool or meat production, believing' that the Commonwealth has much more opportunity for increasing her .exports. Mr. Cooko passed through Auckland last week by the Niagara, ou his way to England, via Vancouver, and, speaking to a Star" reporter, he pointed out that last year Australia exported about 3,000,000 carcasses out of 95,000,000 sheep, whereas New Zealand exported 5,500,000 out of 24,000,000 sheep. He thought that within n few years Australia would ba ablo to quadruple th« present export figures, and ship, say, one fat carcass out of every six or seven of the sheep stock in tho Commonwealth. England, he said, now slaughtered about 25 per cent, qf her sheep stock for food. Mr. Cooke considered it a pity that a foreign country liko South America nt present held tho key to the situation as regarded Great Britain's supplies of imported meats.' That country had .last year supplied (it per cent, of "tho meat imported into tho United Kingdom, against U per cent, from Australia and 18 per cent, from ■New Zealand.' In giving evidenco before the Dominions' Trade Commission in Melbournerecently, Mr. Cooko said lie stated that it would bo a bad day for the Empiro when its meat supply came under the control of dangerous combinations, whoso interests in times of distress might leave the masses of the Home country in a slato not far removed from starvation. Great foreign operators (principally.North Americans) had already obtained a largo slito of 'the Argentine meat trade with England, and agents were similarly engaged in Australia, their object being to obtain complete control of. the British market. lie urged closed attention to bleeding in order to improve the quality of colonial' meat, and expressed the opinion that tho Argentine produced bettor beef than Australia because of that country's greater attention to breeding.