AUCTION SALES

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 141, 10 March 1920, Page 10

AUCTION SALES

FORTHCOMING FIXTURES < TO'DAY. . ( District Lands and Survey Office, Welling- j ton, 11 a.m.-Land sale. Koputaroa, 1 p.ro.-Salo of dairy cows > ' (Abraham and Williams).- « Te Horo Yards, 1 p.m.-Stock sale (Dal- 1 ff Bty and Co., and N.Z. Loan Co.). f Town Hall. Waverley, 2 p.ni.-Land sale s (Farmers' 00-op. Oragmsation, and Pal- , mer and Got). I 137 Lambton Quay, Wellington, 2.30 p.m.Property sale (Hopkins, Carver and Co.). Town Hall, Wellington, 2.J0 p.m.-Sale of J unclaimed goods. E TO-MOKEOW. Nuaurukehu, 10.30 a.m.-Stock role (Murray, Roberts and Co., and Levin and Greytown, 2' p.m-Property sale (31. Ma* i 157 01 Lambton 0 ' Quay. Wellington,- 2 p.m.- , Sale of unclaimed cargo (Johnston and , AdSin'ston fihowgroiindß, Christchurch- ' Sao of stnd Bhcep (Pyne, Gould and Guinness Ltd., and Matson ™<1 Co.). . liongbush. Mnnterton-Sale of stock and implements (Wairarapa Farmers). FRIDAY. ' Tory Street, Wellington, 10.30 a.m.-fiale of. building material (E. Johnston and Co.). Powdrcll's Iload, l.teanee. 11 a.m.-Salo of stock and implements (Dalgoty and C 0.).. Featherßton Camp, 2 p.m.-Sale of furniture, fittings, etc. (Bethune andl Co.). 195 Lambton Quay, Wellington, M im.City property sale (Harcourt and Co.). MEAT EXPORT TRADE EXTENSION 6TcOMMANDEER FAVOURED By Telegraph.—Special, Correspondent. Palmerston North, March 9. . A meeting of delegates' from branches of: the Farmers' Union was held in Palmerston North to-day to consider tho present position of the moat expert trade and tho question of sending a commission Home. Over 30 delegates from all parts' of tho West Coast attended.. Mr. G. Marshall (president of the /Wellington provincial executive) presided. "Commandoer Should be Extended." The'chairman, referring to the question of the commandeer, expressed, the opinion that the practice of fixing prices for primafv products was not in tho best interests of the producer, and had. not the desired effect, of protecting both consumer mid producer from unduly high prices. He regretted that the' Government had decided to continue pricefixing. It appeared, he said, as if they

were-going to.have tho price of-every-thing fixed, iliul that would prevent their going on to the open-markets. as meat was' concerned, it would be better for the Imperial authorities to keep control until the trade got back to normal conditions. The commandeer should be continued until the meat taken under it had boen got rid of. The American Trust, i -Mr A. Buchanan pointed out that the American" Meat Trust was getting its output straight on to the London niar-

W, "whjile "New .Zealand meat was bei'i" kept in store until it got stale, and was, not so tempting to buyers. Ho was satisfied that if the commandeer was lifted we should do better.on the open markets. Tho business should be placed in the hands of the firms that dealt v.-iHi it before tho war. He did not think tho matter of finance should worry them, as there would be no difficulty in getting sufficient advances to tid.o them over until the meat was sold. Mr W. B. Matheson said that only after war broke out had they realised -the' stranglehold that th« American Meat Trust had on the meat trade in England. The Americans h"d "A tho tl'pn end of the'wedge in, and wero up against both the Dominions and the Imperial Government This should act as a warning to them to use every endeavour to keep the'trust-out of the Dominion,.and ..K-, '-•> '.-•- —Hii--. to «'•• wi(-h io-eiyn money, otherwise, they.might find-them-selves in the position of 'dealing with the money of a country which, would .have -(no dealings. .with them m return. It was imperative, that thev should deal -only _with British money. They would then have no need to "o to America for finance. Tha country had profited by tho war. and had not come in until tho last minute, and yet it claimed credit for haying won tho war The Dominion should bo prepared to suffer loss on its meat m the meantime in order that it might eventually come nut on top. That might be tho means of killing the American rorniopolv New Zealand was fully justified ' in standing by Britain dicing the .war in every way. but it must now act cautiously and for its own good. The l.mnerial Government had.bought its produce' at a' fair figure, and the Dominion must now be prepared to share in any low which might- be sustained on commandeered meat. He suggested that endeavours should to made to prolong the commandeer until matters righted

themselves. ' , Mr .T. \'. M'Leavv said tli.it he was stronklv. opposed to prolongation of tho commandeer. He maintainor that tho Imperial Government was rnnkine money out nf New Zealand meat, and that, its authority should he got rid of as quickly as 1 possible. Open Competition What.Trust Wanted. Mr. Campbell said it would he a bad thing for the Dominion if the commandeer was not extended till tile stores were clear of the meat. Open competition was just what the American Meat Trust wanted. ■Mr. Hodges favoured continuance of

the commandeer, and asked if they got a, free market where were they going to Eet ships to carry their meat? If the commandeer was reimnosed for another year it would Rive tho Dominion a chance to start afresh on a free market with emptv stores at Home. Mr. H. Booth contended that if tho commandeer was lifted now, the _ Dominion would be in a worse position than ever. It should be continued until the stores were clear of the old meat, much of which had been there too long already. Mr Buchanan said it was an impossibility for tlie Imnerial authorities to clear the stores while tho American trust was filling them up as fast as the meat was shipped from here. If the commandeer wc«e extended for another

year the stores would still be full of 'meat which was Retting stale. Several other delegates stated ':hat their branches were favourable to extension of the commandeer until the stores were clear. ~..,',. Mr. R. Farley said that if this were doneiit would Rive the Imperial Government a'chance to pet rid of. the meat now on the Home market. "A Conspiracy of Silence." Mr. 0. P. Lynch said it was almost impossible to Ret at the correct facts at the other end, for in England there seemed to bo a conspiracy of silence on the matter. The secretary to the Food Commissioner had made two statements in one week which were quite opposed to each other. At lirst he had said that there was no glut m the stores at Home and within a day or two ho had -made the statement that the stores were slutted with meat and that ships wore lying at most of the porta and off the coast yraitiiiß to get discharged. So far as wool was concerned, if the whole quantity in store at Home were put on the

market at once it would force down tho price of this season's clip. Ho suggested that one way out of the difficulty was for the New Zealand Government to make advances on our meat and wool in store to the extent of about twothirds of the value. Mr. A. Howie expressed the opinion that if the commandeer was lifted and our meat was sent Home to a glutted market it would mean disaster. Mr. Lynch thought it was a mistake Hint the Food Controller had not taken Sir Thomas Mackenzie's advice. Mr. W. B. Mnthoson drew attention to ,the fact that so far as they were aware the Imperial Government had not offered to extend the eommaodeer, and possibly mißht not agree to tnat course

unless some concession was made by the doSoU He suited.that our meat should be ottered at u price, say, 10 per ccnti lees than that ruling under the commandeer about, to empire, on theunderstanding that they should take J n»r]ocnt. more out of store each month than was taken in. This would graduallv relieve the position. - ■ The chairman said he had been told by a returned business man who had went four months investigating the position at Home, that the. crux of the whole situation was the shortage of shipping, and that, if sufficient 'boats were provided matters would soon became normal again. His own idea was that tho commandeer should be' extended until the. stores were cleared. Resolutions. After further discussion the following motion was carried: 'That it lie an instruction to delegates to the. conference called by the Board of Agriculture to vote for 'an extension of the commandeer on condition that the stores are emptied at a fixed percentage greater than the amount of meat received."

After another lengthy discussion the meeting passed the following resolution also:-"That this meeting urges the formation of Dominion-owned and Stateaided shipping companies. On the question whether tho proposed commission should be sent Home or. not opinions were about equally <llvl<l ,™' Eventually it was decided to leave the delegates'a free hand in the matter \ resolution was carried to the eilcct that if Mr. David Jones, M.P., who had been chosen as one of the commissioners, was unable to proceed Home Sir Thomas Mackenzie should 'be asked to take his place on the commission Mr G. Marshall and Mr. C. Smith were'elected delegates to the conference.