THE BEEF TRUST.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 526, 14 December 1912, Page 6

THE BEEF TRUST.

An uneasy feeling still exists that the American Beef Trust might capture the Australian meat trade, as it has the export trade of The subject has been revived by statement of the representative of a [arge British meat importing firm, who told the Empire Trade Commission in England that as the American Beef Trust had £15,000,000 at its disposal, there was nothing to prevent it getting a grip of the industry in Australia. Mr G. Graham, Victorian Minister of Agriculture, stated recently that he is inclined to agree .with this statement. If the Trust wanted to get a footing in Australia it was simply a matter of the amount of money it was prepared to spend. Recent events, added Mr Graham, went to show that already certain people in the meat trade acted in concert, and there was nothing to prevent an extension of that co-opera-tion. As to the argument that some politicians had advanced, that while the railways are ownde by the State it would be impossible for the Trust to ges. a lasting control of the trade, Mr Graham took the view that in Australia railways would not be essential to the success of a trust. State ownership might conceivably make it more dffiicult to get control of the trade than the Trust found It in the United States, but it would not be wise nor statesmanlike to trust entirely to the railways.