Grey River Argus WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 1927. WHY NOT HERE?

Grey River Argus, 16 February 1927, Page 4

Grey River Argus WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 1927. WHY NOT HERE?

The opening here to-day of the A. and P. Show would appear to be an appropriate occasion to raise a question which is fraught with sbuie importance to the progress- of this district. It will have been noted by the public that this season has seen a remarkable growth, in the export of live sto-.k from the West ('oast to Canterbury. A recent week saw nearly five thousand lambs railed overland, and in successive weeks there have been stock trains conveying from thirty to fifty truck loads, principally lambs and sheep, to the number of about seventy-live per truck. There also are being sent through the Otira Tunnel numerous pigs and cattle, and the whole output is being concentrated upon the Addington market. Certainly it was anticipated that the completion of the Midland railway would give a great im- [ petus to the live stock industry on the West Coast, and the anticipation has been fully realised, but we do not think it follows as a natural consequence that the fortunes of stock-raising on this side of the Southern Alps are to be irrevocably identified with the sales at Addington. The easier access do that market has certainly contributed to the expansion of stock' raising on the Coast, but the posiion now reached is such as to raise the. question of the advisability of marketing the West Coast stock at a West Coast saleyard. The effect of the rush from here this season to Addington has tended, to become adverse to the best interests of the vendors. The dumping of large offerings there has lowered prices week after week, and the result is that it is questionable whether better results could not be obtained if the marketing were done at some cpntral AVest Coast yards.' Of course, it will be always optional for vendors to sell at Addington, but we believe there are many farmers and stock agents who would favour a local market. Sales used formerly to be held at the Preston Road yards, but the offerings there were very small compared with what is now possible. The buying used to be confined to local butchers, whereas it is certain that the sale of the West Coast output here nowadays would attract purchasers from oilier provinces, because the quantity ofßeiiig is so much better and greater, and the facilities to travel here from the East Coast are so much cheaper and quicker. In fact, lhe outsider is already anticipating the local interests, for we learn of one entrepreneur purchasing no fewer than six thousand iambs in one South AVestland district, and re-selling them to advantage soon afterwards al Addington. For the export me;ft and dairy produce trade, Ihe vendors have long since combined to regulate the market, but West Coast stock raisers are regularly glutting the Addington sales, and th the gain of Canterbury buyers. The stock, after being transported in lorries from South AVestland to the rail-head at Ross, and from Murchison and other northern areas Io the railway at .Reefton and intervening stations, are for a lengthy time left in the trains without water or food, and are shunted about along the route to meh an that they deterior-

ate in transit. At this season of the | year, it would appear, West Coast I farmers all send their stock) to market simultaneously, where-1 as, with sales of sufficient dimensions held locally, they could avert a great deal of their detrimental competition against each other. In times past, sales may have been unsatisfactory from causes that are no longer in evidence, since some of the largest firms engaged in selling have now agencies estab., lished here. In making the suggestion, therefore, that either at Preston Road, or at some suitable central location in the vicinity of Greyniouth, the AVest Coast live stock should be marketed, we believe that it would meet with the approval of such firms as well as that of a great many stock raisers, and at least of sufficient to ensure the sales attracting buyers from outside places. The proposal is at least worthy of being given a trial, and it is to be hoped an endeavour will be made to put it to a practical test before the present unscientific marketing policy causes serious disappointment to the West Coast vendors who have hitherto placed all their eggs in one basket.