POSITION OF THE MEAT BUSINESS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 279, 21 August 1919, Page 8

POSITION OF THE MEAT BUSINESS

| THE PRODUCERS' VIEWPOINT OFFICIAL INFORMATION NEEDED SHORTAGE OF REFRIGERATED STEAMERS By Telegraph—Special Correspondent. Wanganui, August 20. Tho serious position of the meat business is at present engaging the closest attention of the us well as the freezing companies and'(be Oovernment, and in the course of an interview on the position to-day Mr. W. J. 1 Olson said ho hoped to see definite action taken in the course of ft day or two. Is it not unfortunate that this matter was not foreseen a year ago? he was asked. k . i. i "Well." said Mr. Poison, "while wo had made up our minds that it was necessary for something to be d°«o. 1 naturally waited for the return of our Ministers to Now Zealand, in case they might havo a scheme for relief, of uJiicJi the Imperial authorities had approved, tor submission to Parliament, AVe har y expected it because.. they liad been so busy with matters of much vaster:impor - nuco to the Empire nt large than the k'ew Zealand ment business. The a™ o "?' of work they did in connection with tha i Teaee Conference was no doubt enoimous I and highly responsible. Ihey could ha\o had little time for subjects of l*« or portance. The consequence was that Mr. Massey was not able to tdl us all tha things we wanted to know. He did not know, for example, how much nan meat remained to he lifted, or what quantity of meat lay in the Impwial stores at Home, or whether the papula--tion of England was consuming less meat than prior to the war. Pheso are points of very importance, of which wo have had information m New Zealand, no doubt reliable, but of course not official. It is unfortunate that they could not enlighten us, because the future of tho industry is moro or less associate 1 with these points." Mr. Poison coiCiijiied: Mr. Mnssej ie.ied on the shipping prospect to gna us the relief we require. He is natm ally optimistic, as becomes any Minister of the Crown, -butit requires.a.great amount of optimism to helievc tha. the ehippinpt in sight will lift 12,000,(W) carensses of meat in eleven months, to say nothing of butter, cheese, and wool, wlncli is practically what will be required to plnav our stores by Juno 30 nfti.. .Joseph Ward, on the other hand, informs us quite frankly that tho number of refrieerated ships had fallen from 99 to the war t0.53 now with half the capacity. We have flirt « information from other sources fhat only nino new refrigerated vessels are builu ing. How, tiierefore, can shipping gno US *'Now! here is the crux of tha wholo question." said. Mr. Poton. The slnnping must kave us m .Tune, with nraoticallv as much meat in store as w a had last June, •lnggle with _the I Rgures bow you will, you cannot make 50 ships do the. work of 100, and while we expect some relief we cannot expect to overtake tho arrears of the past three or four years. It is to remedy the disaster that such a condition of things would sdoll that the sußgestions wo are to consider at Palmerston are made. Now, there are two points of view m connection with this mattor-the .purely frewing companies' point of view, and tho farming community s point of v.ien. Hie freezing companies could not complain of a condition of things which gave thoin (1) continual storage at Impenat cost, and (2) a prospect of making money by purchasing meat later at a low cost, after the farmere had grown sick of paying Btoro ge oharges and become ha^rd up o cash. I have pointed out already that if it is impossible to ship meat, let alone sell it, finance will he unobtainable exoept perhaps from Amorican sources, and .that-farmers will probably he nskod to freeze their own meat and hold it tor shipment. The farmer's point of view ol course, is th<it there sliould bo no hiatus between the cessation of the commandeer and the marketing of his own meat. To prevent anything of this kind occurring, we have both interests represented at the- conference at Palmerston, and I want to sav something on the point. Mr." Poison went on to say: A prominent freezing company's managing director—l refer to Mr. Coopor-has told the faraiers in the Wairarapa district vimou", tilings which I have read with interest. In the first place, lie told them the olhor day thai; it was foolish to discuss sending' a committee home, becauso Mr. Massev and Sir Joseph Ward would know all there was to he known on tlia subject, and would inform us on their Teturu. Beth statesmen must have been flattered at Mr. Coopor's belief in their omniscience. When Mr. Cooper found that they had not all the information on the meat question we would like, lie reiterated his ijdvico to the farmers, who gravely ixassed him a vote of thanks for telling them not to lock the door until after the horse had been not oriiy stolen, but had subsequently died of old age. Mr. Cooper eidmils, as who can deny, that the position is serious, but suggests in so many words that it is a waste of time to do anything. That is typical of the advice that the purely freezing mnti would naturally give the farmer. Let me illustrate: The company .with whioh I am associated is at present building a huge store, knowing full well that one year's storage will more than return the whole expense of the building."

Mr. Po'.fon concluded: "But the worst aihl roost astounding statement made by Mr. Cooper, as reported in the Pre.=s, was ns follows: 'From liis own observation, the anent kept iu store for the use of his own men was not worth much a Hit the expiration of it year.' I don't nrofess to know how Mr. Cooper freezes Ids moat, but he does not speak for other freezing companies.' I say envnhatically that our meat as a whole is not. anpreeiobly deteriorated in twelve months. If there is a deterioration it is at the other end. We h?ar all sorts of stories of what is happening there, and it is time it tvns Hosn to, or tho future of our trade will! be ruin»d by the newlv-created prejudices fostered by the injudicious remarks of men like Mr. Cooper. Fnmethins must be done, and, as Mr. Massev says, it ought to be done right away."