Correspondence.

Feilding Star, Volume XVII, Issue 288, 11 June 1896, Page 2

Correspondence.

COLONIAL" CO-OPERATION IN THE FROZEN MEAT INDUSTRY. TO THB %bl_Oß%bF THK STAR. BiR,-J,wa»^er^ pleased to seeing your issue of the 30th ultimo that the ; vexed question bf satisfactorily dealing with the above named industry is again coming to the front, and that Mr J. G. Wilson, M.H.R., is convening meetings to discuss the question. - With your kind permission I would like to make a few remarks on the subject* and will commence by saying that I do not think the great differenoe^in-^»; price between tbe mutton of this coaat and tbat of tbe South Island is due to the system of sale as Mr Wilson seems to think, but to the evident superiorityof the sheep themselves, and do what we will in this Island we will never rival them; beef is our strong point as mutton is theirs. Having been: closely connected with the frozen meat ; industry for some years at Home, -If understand the ins and outs of the trade remarkably well as carried on there. I have made myself conversant as far as possible with how it is man-" 1.. aged here, so that putting the two ex- ; 4 : ■ periences together I can plainly see what is really needed for its improve- ••• '_ ment and what I sincerely believe will have to come to pass sooner or later. This is what I think : First, ,.' there must be combination amongst , meat shippers of both islands, that is * to say, all meat shipments must be under one joint control at Home and not (as I believe to be the case at ; . present) scattered amongst so many different agents to sell. When this is I the case it is next to impossible ib maintain regularity of price,— in Lon- : ; don at any rate-— the keen competition to effect sales preventing this, so that butchers can often obtain supplies on their own terms by simply beating, down the different salesmen in the) ' market. In the suggested combination the London representative should have a stall in the Smithfield market' aud supply the trade direct from that ''■■ one stall, selling New Zealand meat according to quality. The result is obvious. Butchers would soon learn r ' that this class of meat was not to be obtained from any other salesmen, and though there might be friction at first they would soon accept the inevitable '■ and be willing to pay a fair and reason- * able price for the meat they bought, such price being fixed according to tbe . grade. ' In the second place it is, in my opinion, absolutely indispensable for ' the well-being of the meat trade to have a fair proportion of the shipments. stored in otber centres besides London. When I left England six years ago there were cold air stores in Liverpool,Cardiff, and Birmingham, and since then cold air stores bave been opened , > in Manchester, and, I believe, at Briar. - tol also. It has always been a source^ of wonder to me that New Zealandmeat shippers have not cared to take * „ advantage of the cold storage thus provided in the centres named, and I ' think I can show that it would be to . their interest to do so even now, for hitherto they appear to have left it in - the hands of the Argentine meat im-f — porters, who have not been slow/, to! take advantage of it. Take, for ex 4 ample, Liverpool, which is a valuablemeat distributing centre for the north-? ■•. em and midland towns. Before cold stores were established there by Messrs John Bell and Sons, (now' Eastman's, Limited) in 1887, Argentine as well as New Zealand meat hadj to be sent from London each day to. ,- meet the requirements of the traded The sheep were taken out the previous^ day from the cold stores and railed to, Liverpool at a cost of about 40s per ton, and usually arrived partially < thawed, and not in a very inviting condition, so that it was hard to obtain full market price for them, besides; having had to pay the freight. When the cold stores alluded to were opened, tbe Argentine company I was then witb, put a cargo into them, and a great change took place. The daily ' requirements of Plate sheep were drawn from the stores each morning bright, fresh, and clean, and showed to great advantage against the New Zealand sheep still sent from London, and were, moreover, able to command full market prices, whilst storage charges were I understand no heavier than London, and there was no railage to pay. Think of the great advantage gained. — I am, etcj EbKD. A. FuRiOWOB. Hawera, June 6th, 1896. (To be continued.)