The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE, NOVEMBER 14, 1903. THE MEAT TRADE.

Gisborne Times, Volume X, Issue 1047, 14 November 1903, Page 2

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE, NOVEMBER 14, 1903. THE MEAT TRADE.

The proposal to establish New Zealand State meat shops in England may now, he taken to have been abandoned, an adverse report having 'been received from the committee appointed by Parliament to take the subject into consideration. Some of the reasons given by the committee are open to question ; but the arguments as a whole are strong. The Napier Telegraph, which consistently opposed the proposal, points out the weakness of some of the contentions ,of the committee, though approving of the verdict. ;Very few (states .the Telegraph) are likely to agree with the contention that New Zealand has even temporarily, reached her limit oi production. Take Hawke’s Bay, for example. M There are in this large estates—we could name one quite close to Napier—rated upon •a valuation of less than £4 an acre. The land is good, is contiguous to road and shipping facilities, and ■ought to be producing more than is ithe case unless the low valuation is justifiable from considerations of the capabilities of the soil and surroundings, The Premier lias plainly hinted that many valuations cannot be justified, and that they are to be raised. If ne is right the land he has iii mind is not producing what it should do, or its owners are escaping their fair share of the public burdens. From this point of view ■alone the suggestion that the colony has reached its limit of output of sheep and cattle is bordering on the absurd. When we further consider the immense area of land,- some already owned by the Crown and some still owned by the Natives, which under a judicious policy of encouraging settlement might be utilised straight off lor adding to our annual output, the conclusions of the committee on this point do not commend alien’selves as worthy of special re.ispect. On the other hand, their advice that producers of meat should devote their attention to improving not applying all round, has yet sufficient pertinence to render it an appropriate suggestion.” Our contemporary has wisely lidded a still more forcible argument than that of valuations to compel a holder to put liis land to the fullest productive purpose. In this district there are still thousands of acres of splendid land to be turned to account, and for a time, at least the greater portion of that land, when first put into profitable occupation, must be used for the growing of stock. There is some hope of this land being turned to account within' the next few years, and the fact of its existence, is conclusive evidence (that the full extent of the colony’s productive powers has not yet been anything like approached. Continuing, the Telegraph states lr We opposed the Premier’s proposal from the first, and are pleased that the committee’s report is of such a nature as to render it unlikely that Parliament will give him power to proceed with the scheme. Our reason however was not that the limit of the colony’s production of meat had •been reached, but that if stimulated: by wrong methods the 'tendency] Would be to increase in quantity rather than improvement in quality. From this aspect possibly the difference between our views and those of the committee is not fundamental Their suggestions as to the effect upon prices of a meat sale campaign in which Argentina would be a prominent factor may he a little overdrawn, but the underlying truth it contains calls for serious consideration. Moreover, it is open to question whether on general grounds the State is not doing quite enough for those who produce for export as it is, without entering upon such a doubtful course of action as undertaking tq sell their mutton and heel

for them by retail. Special railway rates in many instances, subsidies to shipping, cool storage, official oversight at almost every step in the progress of a sheep from the paddock to the stores in Britain, and ,State agents to seek for possible new markets, are substantial advantages the main tendency of which, so far as the New Zealand consumer is concerned, is to increase the price of meat locally. As we suggested when the Premier first 1 ' states.! his views, if he is at all anxious about the consumer not getting his meat so cheaply as he might, he could with advantage think of the consumer in this colony as well as of the consumer in Europe, and cheapen meat here by' opening State meat shops. He would, indeed, have a precedent in this, in the shape of the authority given him by Parliament to acquire and work coal mines on behalf of the State, in order to bring down tile price of coal. For the rest, the meat trade- in Britain, so far as it concerns New Zealand and Australian meat, is on the whole conducted creditably. Its defects, whatever they may be, are in any case much more likely to be fittingly dealt with by a combination of those directly interested than by a scheme of meat shops in Britain at the expense of this colony.”