The Dominion SATURDAY, AUGUST 16, 1919. MEAT EXPORT PROSPECTS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 275, 16 August 1919, Page 6

The Dominion SATURDAY, AUGUST 16, 1919. MEAT EXPORT PROSPECTS

■ Is. what they had to say to tho deputation of producers which ■interviewed theiii yesterday, the Prime Minister and Silt Josbi'h Ward assisted to promote an ainderstandiug o£ what, is actually involved in restoring the meat export of the Dominion to something Jike its pte-war position. It has been urged insistently on behalf of producers that serious injustice to the Dominion 1 is involved in the slow reduction of the vast accumulation of meat in its. stores, and much has' been said algO.-in condemnation of the ar-' rangement under which • the - British (government pools American and Now.'Zealand meat'in - order to sell .-both varieties at a common price/ I Since the American- meat, as compared with the Dominion product, is of inferior..... quality, and was bought at a much higher .price, this ari.'aYigement obviously is opposed aikmetrica-lly ■ to the -interests of !-Dominion producers, and'they hayo fan evident right, to ask that it should be discontinued as soon as ■possible. It was explained by Minis--tevs. in.yesterday's.discussion, however,'that the scheme-; under which the. British Crove.rnine.ijt. is limiting its..loss' on American meat is much important, as .an to the'restoration of "normal, conditions in the inter-Imperial- .meat. ■ trade than the serious shortage of shipping. Both Ministers discredited the idea that a i;educed consumption "of meat; in "Great Britain threatens the free- development ..of tbie'trade,' and .Hie point: was em-' ph'asiserl also that the United King--aom, ojving to* the extension of cropping', is less able to supply itself with • home-grown meat than for the. past twenty 'years, l We may hope that the Ministers are'oorrect in this'' estimate" of the situation. On the .other hand, the fact's of'the shipping position, plainly exclude the hope of anything better-' than d gradual, return• to' normal conditions in the export' of meat from' this country. Siu Joseph Ward'pointed'out that, whereas in 1914 there were 99 refrigerated ships, with space for 8,800,000 carcasses, available to transport .meat from this country,, the fleet available at a recent date consisted of. 0n1y.52 steamers, with a load capacity of 4.500,000 carcasses. He mentioned also .that the . cost of' shipbuilding, in Britain . is; at present- almost .prohibitive, and instanced the. case of. a- ship which before'the'war was- estimated to cost £110,000, and has lately been completed at- a cost of £450,000. To this it must be added that in view of existing conditions in Europe there is as little hope of any early reduction in 'the present demands on shipping'as. there, is''for the time being of materially augmenting tonnage by new construction. It is established that.the New Zealand Government has done, and is doing, everything tfyat is possible to -se'eure the most liberal. allocation of shipping to the Dominion that existing conditions will permit. , Even so, the best that can. be hoped for is that-the accumulated meat in store in this country may be reduced by the.end of the year to about four million_ carcasses—occupying something like half the total storage available—and that this ■ accumulation . subsequently- may be gradually reduced. On the facts in' sight a complete clearance cannot be anticipated for a considerable time to come. • . ~

Serious as., the outlook is,'there ir. nothing in the existing state of affairs to warrant, a charge that, the producers of the Dominion have been treated unfairly by the British Government. "On the contrary, it is evident that during ths war period the British Government went quite as far as could reasonably bo expected in conscrviug and safeguarding the interests of ..the Dominion. But for its action in allocating a great deal of shipping to this,, country at a time when, there was-a- strong temptation to employ, nil availablo tonnage in shorter' voyages.' the position in the. meat export trado and in other branches of export trade would have been very much .worse than it is, .to-day. Tim Imperial authorities made a material concession also in undertaking,. to pay storage for length? oeriods on produce which could not be .shipped, is 'Me: Massf.y, observed yesterday, the fact that a sum of more, than three millions sterling has beep disbursed in this way affords in itself convincing proof of a real shortage of shipping. Due weight ought to be given to these facts by producers and by the Dominion Government in determining future policy. It has to'be considered also that since the key to the whole problem is shipping the definite termination of the present understanding with the British Government when the commandeer expires next year might entail serious consequences. Shipping in that case would presumably be. employed . first, of all in lifting the meat bought by the British Government, and producers wonld.be much worse off than they are at present as regards both shipment and the disposal of their output. . Mr. Massey expressed a hope yesterday that when the commandeer came to an end next year it would be possible to dispense with Goyernmcnt interference except, in the degree necessary to set' that justice was done in connection with Imperial produce. Whatever detail arrangements are made, the British Government will no doubt be as ready as that of thi; Dominion to co-operate in as speedily as possible restoring normal conditions / of inter-Imperial trade. This is what should be aimed at. In whatever action they take producers in this country are bound to recognise that Britain is labouring under the heaviest difficulties,occasioned not only by the. shipping shortage and' dock congestion, but by industrial troubles and up-

hcavals of the gravest character. Nothing that is done at this end can appreciably modify these factors its they impede the restoration of normal conditions of trade. Nevertheless, the proposal that a delegation representing _ Dominion, producers should visit Great Britain commends its'clf as likely to serve a useful purpose. As Mr., Massfa' remarked yesterday, producers would thus acquire an insight into the conditions of the meat trade which they could not possibly acquire 011 this side of the world. In some matters the delegation might be able to obtain a measure of concession. It could, make out a good case, for instance, for discontinuing the pooling of American and Dominion meat, which is 'obviously detrimental to New Zealand interests, and more or less seriously injures a. permanent trade for the" sake of,an immediate adjustment. The delegation might be able also to do something to forward the wider distribution of New Zealand meat in the United _ Kingdom." The proposed visit is indeed an admirable idea, and if suitable men arb appointed should prove of great value in assisting to bring about that adjustment so neccssary to a successful restoration of our meat trade to pre-war conditions. ' It is to be hoped that this matter will not be allowed to hang fire, but will be pressed forward to an early decision.