THE BEEF MARKET.

Putaruru Press, Volume VI, Issue 237, 17 May 1928, Page 8

THE BEEF MARKET.

BETTER PRICES RULING. Industry of Vital Importance. The brighter outlook for beef indicated at the weekly stock sales throughout the North Island, and. experienced in a slightly lesser degree in Canterbury ana Otago, is a dovelopment wth a value to the. farming inuustry that cannot easily be over-emphasised. An l when this brighter aspect is remarked and confirmed by the opinions ot men in close touch with the trade, the rising market can safely be accepted as hopeful augury of the future. It is not generally known what a blow the pv-;-toralist received a few years ago when the export market for beef uwindled almost to nothing. Settlers were Helpless. Beef did not pay, and they could no longer afford to run cattle. The gravity of the position can be measured by the fact that many farmers throughout New Zealand were settled on land which was primarily suited to fat cattle-raising. The collapse of the market therefore, spelt serious trouble. This much was proved very clearly by the Deteriorated Lan Is Commission in its recent report, when the opinion was emphatically expressed that the deterioration was to a large extent being caused by the decreased vogue of drv cattle grazing, which left the land to the menace of fern and other advance guards of a secondarv forest invasion. It is a widely-accepted fact that the continuous grazing of lrv cattle is one of the most important factors in checking the tendency of certain classes of land to revert to forest. Another reminder of the parlous state into which the beef industry ha 1 fallen was given to the farming community by the Meat Producers 1 Board not long ago, when Mr W. Perry roused a storm of opposition by his suggestion that the board should provide settlers with a bounty for growing beef. The idea was suggested by the alarming extent to which the shrinkage in dry cattle grazing was affecting the cleanliness of pastures on sheep country. From the above examples it can readily be realised that the beef industry must always be a vital factor :n the primary production, but important as it may be, any recourse to artificial aid could not be regarded as hopeful. For this reason it is an extremely reasonable prospect of a profitable return from his herds when they go under the hammer. This can be relied upon to produce in one season, a much greater improvement than could be expected in five years of bolstering the hopeful sign to find that better market conditions are now being experienced, with the promise of better still to come.