The Bacon Industry.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLI, Issue 8195, 23 May 1906, Page 2

The Bacon Industry.

Interview with Mr J. D. Anderson. A member of tho Standabd reporting atafr yesterday bad an interview with Mr J. D. Anderson, who reecntlyrenigned from the position of managing director of the North J»lnnd Bacon Company on account of hl« having secured Ibe con. tract to slaughter stock for the Palmerston Borough. Mr Anderson ha* floated a strong company to take up tho right# which have been delegated to him. The abattoirs and all tho necessary buildings to deal profitably with tho offal and by-products are to bo erected shortly. Mr Anderson informed our representative Unit for Konio years paat ho had advocated that the Bacon Company should remove their warka to riilmerston. He held that tbb town wuh far more centrally situated in respect to supplies and also markets. He hat! also'urged that the works ahould he on more modern line« than those at Woodville. 11 wan also mentioned that local tradespeople had taken consldcr- ; able interest in the project and had purchased shares freely iu order to get ! tho works here. Unfortunately, howI ever, vested interest* in Woodville j proved too strong to allow of the matter being pushed to completion, notwithstanding the fact that the shares were subscribed for and that financial arrangements had been made to carry out the work. Mr Anderson stated that the proposals had entirely fallen through and that there is not any probability of the works beine removed. It would be no nee erecting another factory here as the dis-, triet is not larjre onout'h to permit of profitable working. This latter can only be accomplished when large quantities of pork are handled, und when the offal and by-products can be worked up into marketable commodities. Trouble now existed in the island through the number of factories already nt work and it won I<l have been useless to add another to the list. For the reasons just given Mr Anderson «aid that the Manawatu Meat and Cold Storage Company did not propose to touch the bncon-curing trade at all. If the N.I. Bacon Company, lie said, carries out its contract, it has an established business and a cure that must lead to success. .In support of this

opinion Mr Anderson said that the company during the last six months—through operating in a wider field and establishing buying depots in Turanaki—had put through more pign than for any previous twelve months. The result was that the cost of production had been rcduced, as the fixed charges for rent and refrigerating remained tiboufc the same as before. The business had therefore shown a good profit. Though the company had not adopted a very progressive policy as to pushing trade, yet it had undoubtedly been of great benefit and assistance to farmers on this coast by reason of creating a demand for pigs and keeping up j the standard of quality and price. At j the present time the farmer had an assured market at rates far above thoso I ruling before it commenced operations. Mr Anderson then quoted figures showing the great benefit that farmers had obtained through their dealings with the Company, which had taken tho Adding ton rates as its basis. Previously rates here were per pound below those ruling in Canterbury. The Company, it was found, had put into the farmers' pockets the sum of .£10,201 4s 2d on the pigs purchased. £82,580 3« 9d had been paid to them for pork, while the Company's scales for ttio same period represented £118,993 16s 6d. Of this large sum it was said that £100 would cover any bud or doubtful debts contracted by the Company. In all 44,203 pigs had been purchased, so that, as Mr Anderson observed, " when you consider thai tho bulk of tho money has been paid to the farmer for converting into a marketable commodity what had otherwise been a waste product (skim milk), the benefit to the community is at once apparent."