10,000 LAMBS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20097, 17 November 1939, Page 6

10,000 LAMBS

FIRST WEEK’S KILL KAITI FREEZING WORKS GOOD QUALITY DOWNS KILLING CHARGE MARGIN This week approximately 10,000 lambs, the first ot the new season, have been slaughtered at the Kaiti freezing works. Included in the total are a few sheep. • \ j The quality is reported to be of the best, most of the carcases being in the prime Southdown class, with a few prime crossbreds. The weights have been about the average for this time of the year, running mainly round 331 b.

When the new season opened, the refrigeration chambers at Kaiti were still holding a portion of the old season’s meat, but arrangements have been made to have all of this cleared out by the week-end, leaving the chambers entirely free for the new season's supplies. With the recent enlargement of the freezing space, Kaiti can hold considerably more than GO per cent of the total estimated killings for the whole season.

Some comment has been made in the district regarding the difference of Jd per lb. in the lamb buying rates here and those in the centres near the main ports. In the past the margin had been !,d, as a result of the difference in the freezing charges in Gisborne and those in the larger centres, and it is pointed out by buyers that this did not cover the full extent of the variation, resulting in a revision of the schedule following the announcement of the Government payments. Referring to the difference in freezing charges at Kaiti and other centres, a representative of the Gisborne Refrigerating Company, Limited, stated to-day that as a result of additional freight charges on essential requirements the working costs in Gisborne were considerably above those of works in the main centres. Salt was one important item, the difference being approximately £2 per ton delivered at the works, and 500 tons of salt were used at Kaiti. Coal was another big item, and the cost in the bunkers at Kaiti was approximately 10s per ton more than at those places that had more convenient means of transport. Eighty tons of coal per week were used at Kaiti. These were only some of the items which made working at Kaiti more costly, the official added.