The Bacon Industry

Horowhenua Chronicle, 28 September 1916, Page 2

The Bacon Industry

4 IMPORTANT MEETING AT AVOODVI L'LE. (Special to Tlie Chronicle.) At tlie invitation of the directors of tlij AYocdville Hacon Company, Ltd., representatives of .several co-operative dairy companies from Pahiatua. ROll- - Riingitikei andl "Woodville districts he'd a meeting in Woodville on Thursday afternoon last. Tlve chairman of the company, in his opening remarks, explained .that this meeting was not intended to be a representative one of the dairying industry, and th in asking their attendance 'his object was that they might <Vscnss what appeared to be one of the leading questions of the day so far as the bacon industry was concerned : i.e., that of 00-operation; and after hearing what he had to say, if the meeting was of opinion that it would be in tho best interests of the dairying industry to call p meeting of repro'entacivc s of the ohrese and butter factories thiough' the various .districts, that could be done. At tli's .stage, tho meeting decided to inspect the works. Upon resuming. ! 'all the visitor® expressed themselves 'as .being immensely pleased with all they had oeen : and in reply the chairman stated that although the works were not the largest, he believedi they ranked second largest in the dominion. They wore centrally situated; they had their own railway siding; no expense had "been spared in bringing them up-to-dtto. and' he thought they compared very favorably with any similar institution in the dominion. He would ilke to refer to the early history of tb" present company. Towards the end of 1901) the lease of the Chrstchureh Meat Company, Ltd.. which had been us : ng the "Woodville works as a baconcuring establishment, expired, and it was then generaly believed that the wc;ks would be closed, hut he (the chairman) had been approached to promote another company, with the result that the "Woodville Uncoil Curing Company of to-day liadi been brought existence. When tlr's company .started operations in 1910 the price of p : g,s was 2Jd peiv lb. at receiving stations inland and 3d per lb. at stations on the railway line. "Within a few weeks the price rose to 3}d and 3id per lb. respectively ; this was followed by a further rise, and for several years the price of pork has' not been below 4{d per lb., while last season's prices ranged from ojd' to (jjd per 'lb., and for a short period touched the abnormal price of (ii-d. The "WoocVille Company did not wish to pose as philanthrophists, and,, on being assured by the meeting, amidst laughter, that delegates quite understood this, ho saidi ho thought however that all tho of pigs would be prepared to admit that the existence of his company had at any rate been of some benefit to them. After stating that the grower of pigs naturally enough wanted all he could get for his pork, tho chairman said he V I not tlnn'k that- excessively hish prices were in the real interests of either the pig producer or the manufacturer of bacon for the pimple ronson that tlve bacon had to he sold at .such a price that it became a luxury, instead of a commodity in everyday use —-which it should be; high prices reduced the consumption, of bacon, .audi consequently the demand for pigs wculd be loss. "We now had to consider the bacon industry not as it had existed) in the past, but in the light of its existence in the future. The dairyi industry under co-opera-tion had become a huge success, and

Wfts now assuming gigantic proportions. It was not. .surprising that an industry so clcscly related to that of dairying as the manufaeture of bacon was wan now attracting the attention of the dairyfarmers. No <Y>ubt ail those present would have .-ei-n the various newspaper reports that Mesrs. W. Dimoek nnd Co. iLtd.. of AVell-ington ; the South Taranaki Bacon Co. (which the papers reported as .a co-operative company owned and run by several co-operative dairy l companies); and the Waikato .Farmers' Co-operative Bacon Co; all were Amalgamating with a view to forming The New Zealand Farmers' Co-oporative Bacon and Moat Packing Co., (Ltd. No doubt the dairy farmers in this and the surrounding districts would like to be in the position of owning their co-operative bacon factory: it so. he had the authority of his fV.reetcirs to offer them the Woodville works. After 'Some discussion, it was unanimously decided that the proposail was "a step in the right direction." and 't wae resolved to call a meeting at a later date, at which the various (Y'ry factories would be fully represented. With a vote of thanks to the chairman. the meeting closed. I