HEAVIER LAMBS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20133, 30 December 1939, Page 14

HEAVIER LAMBS

PAYABLE 40-POUNDERS SOUTHERN ADVICE BOARD MEMBER’S VIEW Advice to produce weightier Jambs was given to farmers by Mr. 11. D. Acland, Christchurch, a member of the New Zealand Meat Producers' Board, who spoke nt the export lamb competition at the Fairfield freezing works. He said Britain wanted food, and it was the 401 b lamb which was going to pay to-day. Mr. Acland said the last year had been the most difficult the Meal Producers’ Board had experienced Since he had been a member. It started with restrictions imposed by the British Government, and at the beginin;; of August the board had in store 1,009,000 carcases which it could not get rid of. As soon as war broke out the British Government asked the board to send all the meat it could .ship, and already practically the. whole, of .the accumulated stocks had been'disposed of. Complete Change “There has been a complete change in merchandising methods since the war broke out, and one of the board’s problems will be lo see how it can preserve the channels of distribution after the war,’’ he stated. (He thought that already the board had been able .to see its way clear out of this difficulty. He thought there would be a big risk of greater production after the war, and it was not known whether the British Government would impose the restrictions again. Farmers should not increase their flocks in the immediate future, but should concentrate on producing weightier lambs, because what was wanted in England was food, and il was weight that paid. He voiced a warning about competition from Australia, and said, that this country was going to be a bigger and stronger competitor than ever, the war conditions of marketing having given Australia its opportunity. Keeping up Quality Mr. James Begg, Dunedin, another member of the board, endorsed the advice given by Mr. Acland, and emphasised the need to keep up quality. He said that when the war was over New Zealand would require all its energies to keep its place on the London market. There was no advertising of meat in England just now, and after the war the board would have to start all over again in this respect. Referring to the price schedule, he said it was satisfactory, and farmers were getting a reasonably fair deal.