FARMING & COMMERCAIL

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 288, 1 September 1919, Page 8

FARMING & COMMERCAIL

AUCTION SALES

| - AUCTION SALES ;• FORTHCOMING FIXTURES , J : TO-DAY. Beach Road, Waikanae, 1 p.m.-Stock sail !•- . (N.Z., Eoan'Oo.l. „ 'Lambt-on Quay, Wellington, 1.30 p.m. J? ur ti■ ■ uituro sale (A. L. Wilson). - | TO-MOIUtOW. [fiucen- Street,' Levin, 11. a.m.-liand sail ! (Dalgety aid Co.). [lievin : Yardß, 12.15 p.m.—btocl: eale (N.Z } Loan Co., Abraham and Williams, ant t • ■Dolgety-and. Co.). >' . . j4s'Manners StV Wellington, 2 p.m.-Furm I.' - turo Ba|3 v (Badford and Co.). 1 ', 'WEDNESDAY. I'Ja'Hbro' Yards. 12.15 p.m.-Btook sale (Dal L. gety and 00. and N.Z. Loan Co.). I Shannon Yards, 1 p;m.—Stock sale (Abra fjj ham and Williams). '154 Feftthorsfcm St., Wellington, 2.30 p.m- ---|: City and suburban property sale (Be (r thnn'e aod Co.). Ilown Hall, Upper Hutt, 2.30 p.m.-6uburbai ■ projerty sale (A. L. Wllsoji and Co.). FARMERS AND THE MEAT SHIPMENTS

I PROPOSED COMMISSION TO EUROPE I MEETING AT MASTERTON j-'v By. Telegraph.-Special Correspondent. 1 Masterton, August 80. Ki About ninety farmers and others atSteaded the meeting at Mast'erton to-day, |ot which Mr. W. J. Poison explained ithe 'situation >as regards the meat industry, and put forward ths reasons why 'the-proposed commission should be sent to England. Mr. Hugh Morrison, presi[dent of the Wairarapa Farmers' Union,. iSvas' in the chair. At the outset the secretary, Mr. D. Hinton, read to the meeting ;the recommendations of the Select Committee (as published in The Dominion)., I Mr.'' Poleon prefaced his remarks by i'stating that he was not an expert, but I jierely'-.a fawner "who had. taken a keen [interest in the meat question; No man, •he said, could claim to be an expert who -had not studied the situation both from [the English and, the New Zealand ends, f«nd>iKW"was the"time for;united action, to secure for their meat the; conditions of marketing to wliioh it was entitled. During tho past five years they had pursiiod ft policy of erecting stores at a cost of , millions of pounds. Had this money been spent on shipping they would Live ■sow: been in a position to transport the meat as fast as' it was killed. Instead this they were faced with a, shipping shortage, and at the other end a decreasing demand for Nep Zealand meat. The people at Home hod beoqme used to eating less meat owing to its scarcity, and 'there wns afeo the fact that the Imperial authorities had made four increases In' |,price..that facilitated the further operas'tions of the trusts, and must/have the serious attention of the commission.' He ! had.had.cabled information the previous night, that the Old Country stores wero full;- but liable to fluctuation. The. position was' that the stores were full at botlfehds, and, in addition, the com-, 'mandeer; would be lifted : shortly. This ttfate : -of .affairs was most unsatisfactory, j and''if "the freezing companies could not ('dispose of their meat the . trusts'would lliave a great opportunity.. 1 t E' Dealing with the shipping question,' Jft. |;Polsqn said- that the total Of the primary v'p'rqlucts in store in New Zealand, in 1918. j vya's:"equal to two and a half million j freight carcasses. This had increased to ! ; a "bulk equalling five and a half million feawases, but the amount in store beJ tween May and November of next year ( •■would" bo equal "to' nine million carcasses, j Sir Joseph Wnrd had told them that they ( had only' fifty-three ships to take .away f. their produce, in comparison with ninety [. prior to the war. In order to clear by jiiiext 'July -they . would have. to ship ('•eleven > million, carcasses, exclusive .of [' : meat,':.''.butter, and • cheese,,; and that ; was impossible. Even if they doubled i' llieir present figures; ' they would i be left with five million caroasaea; in {."store".ibe 'season after next, and if strikes' f: occurred the position would be worss 1 | "still.'' The reason the stores were full J at; Home was"'that owing to the euVJ !;'.marine it had not been 'advia- j ['iible to-send beyond America for sup-j p.pliea. 1 The result had been that the i !;Americans,had unloaded a lot of meat! ; that had been in store for a long time j l-.md-for-which--they received from lljd. i [■to-Is. 3d. per pound. A great propor-i |. .tion was convei-ted into manure on its jfaTrival'' . Our meat cost tho !: liripmal'\Government 'BJd; To equalise t "the meats were pooled, which j; to'-a'serious matter for. the New Zea;;land producer;because it set up a higher [liprifib and.consequently -decreased the de. .'The Imperial Government had ''made"great profits out of New Zealand's p.iui&UV Another 'intonaoii.a!iy .iv not, and, [.■thought the .speaker, tho authorities I' readjust the matter if ap-ji-proached.'in the right spirit. The coiiji mandeer should be ended as soon as posf eible,. as. it deterred them from entering j' : fresh ' markets, of. which there were litany, even in the Bast. The remedy [.'.was to.dispatch the commission. Thero | was at present a large amount of meat [. .stored-in-Anierica at the cost of the iT'linperifll ■ Government, who under . tho [-/terms of contract were pledged to give l- it. priority; of Shipping. The ■ coiumiswiild'ask the authorities, to maka j

pertain. sacrifices in connection.with these American contracts in order to place the ■New Zealand meat on a'better footing. He .had received a good daai of criticism

i ; regarding the proposed commission, but j ! be would leavo it to the meeting to | judge'if. the scheme were worth while.) r Jf a : tithe of the recommendations were | ['. taken/advantage of the eipensc would I L; be'/more' than justified. 'It had been j j 'eaid that the High Commissioner was j j Voapable of doing all that was required, j Jbut ho, the speaker, did not agree with j j- this. ; Sir Thomas itackenzie uad been j pa :party to the placing of an embargo i j'on the products of the British and Do- [ minions Producew' Association. The in-. ■'' terests. of the freezing companies and [■"farmers' were very often allied, but not* iso in this case. He hazarded a guess p.that, a certaij . company was collecting 'as much as six thousand pounds per •, nionth for storage. All the freezing [': companies wero in . positions equally as '/fortunate, and it paid them well for the !•■■ conditions to remain as they were now. I' .This i was, however, .opposed to the. real iinterests of fanhers. ', !■' -Mr. J."C. Cooper, managing director r ; of. the Wellington Farmers' Meat C.ompany, said that Mr. Poison had reiterated ; many aspects of the question which had | , been advocated by himself from time «> ' time. Apart from his connection with [ the freezing company, he did ; not want to [ see the commandeer continue, as it was against the interests, of the producer. In reference to the proposed commission, j he did not want to find fault with ins dividual members, but it was no use the [: commission going to England to get ships I if there were no ships to get. Despite 1 the' fact that Mr. Poison did not like Sir I Thomas Mackenzie, "that gentleman, in , coniunotion with the Ministers, had done ; everything possible to relieve the shipping \ situation. He agreed that the produci erg should take up the work which in ;■ the past had been dono by the freezing . oompanies' representatives. The retail | price of meat on the Home market had j risen 100 per emit., which meant that ' veal was soU at 2s. per lb. to the ; consumer. Either there wus a shortage of meat in England or tho Imperial Govj. eminent wero deliberately starving forty millions of people, and the latter he re- !' fused to believe. Ho was sure that the would got the meat away as [ soon as ships wore available. Ho be- ;• lieved the best field of labour' for the commission would be investigating tho j market conditions in England, and later i in inquiring as to the opportunities for j activity in-'European coantries. j MrJMI B. Matheson moved r / this meeting supports the proI • posal laid before it, and 'recommends that tho soopo of tho commision be en- ' larged.to embrace all questions concernj form products." Mr. G. Ti. .Sykes, M.P., seconding tho | motion, said that after hearing Mr. Polhad been oonverted as to thead- ,

NEWS AND NOTES

•. visableness of the commission, not, how ever, in reference to the shipping qups tion (as all possiblo had boen done), bu 1 because thero were further question which might be kept in view. 'l'h< speaker went on to refuto the imputatioi against Sir Thomas Mackenzie, who hai been in the minority when consideriu; 1 the problem under' review. j The motion was then carried, then beiug only two dissentients. On the motion of Mr. Cooper ft vote o thanks was. passed to the chair and ti Mr. Poison. COMMISSION NOT ENDORSED BY TIMARU.

By TeleeraDh—Press Asaociatlon. Timaru. August 81. The South Canterbury Farmers' Union Executive to-day decided in favour of tho mc.it comianndenr balng continued until the stores are freed of Imperial meat. The AVanganui suggestion that a commission bo sent to England was not endorsed.