THE Pukekohe and Waiuku Times PUBLISHED TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS TUESDAY JUNE 29, 1915. THE SHORTAGE OF CARGO BOATS.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 4, Issue 50, 29 June 1915, Page 2

THE Pukekohe and Waiuku Times

PUBLISHED TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS TUESDAY JUNE 29, 1915. THE SHORTAGE OF CARGO BOATS.

The Official Organ of : The Franklin (Jounty Council. The Pukekohe Borough Council. The Tuakau Town Board. The Drury Road Board. The Karaka Road Board. The Pukekohe West Road Board. The Pokeno Road Board. The Wairoa Road Board. ' 1 We nothing extenuate, nor set down, aiwht in malice

VVben unfortunate situations occur it is always soothing to tc able to cast the blame upon someone, and the set-back our meat export has had owing to shortage of refrigerated steamers has shown us that a number or thoss who are suffering from it have laid the responsibility on the (iovernrnent rather than upoi the real factors which are responsible for it. Annoying as it must be to have fat cattle going back to Btores in these cold, wet winter months because the Freezing Works are so choked with meat that they can hold no more, it is more becoming and philosophical to calmly examine the four principal reasons which have induced such a state of things, than to say it would never have happened had the Government done its duty.

The first of these reasons is undoubtedly the great war. The New Zealand Government could hardly be expected to foresee that the Kaiser, misled by the state ol affairs in Ireland and exaggerating the significance of the suffragette movement, would declare war in 1914, instead of the expected year, 1917, in the belief ihat England would be unable to aid her Allies. The taking of cargo ships for transports was, of coursp, the first step towards congestion of exports. The sceoiid reasou may be found in tiie remarkable season we have passed through. The dry spring made the grass nutritious to a quite unusual extent, and cattle and sheep fattened in an unprecedented manner, giving a surplus lor export of at least half aa much again as in an ordinary season. War or ro war, thi: alone would have caused inconvenience and delay, for it could not have been predicted in lime to have had extra ships licr*. to get it away aa last a.; it came in,

The Rcrgraphica! situation of New Zealand is a third factor All meatcarrying ships have been commandeered by the Board of Trade for the piimary purpose of carrying beef and mutton to our soldiers at the front. It is naturally of quite secondary importance to relieve New Zealand producers of their stocks in store. A ship can make two trips from the Argentine for on« here, and is therefore of just twice the value to the Empire when kept upon that route.

The final reason, which principally atfects this province, is the absurdly inadequate provision made for carryitg a stock of frozen meat. Auckland has storage capacity f?r only 55,000 tut of the 2,200,000 carcases which can be held in New Zealand. That i? to ray, that with a fourth of the area of the Dominion has only one-fortieth of the freezing space. Nnther Mr Massev, inr any Prime Minister the Dominion has ever had, wouh see the export?, on which our prosperity depends, hung up if he could possibly help it. No one could have foreseen or guarded against the evenL* which have caused the present situation, and when Sir Jcs.ph Ward said it would never have occurrfd had he been Prime Minister he is laying claim to a prescience not commonly granted to mortals, and, if it was vouchsafed to him, should he not have warned the Government and country of what was coming.

When the situation became apparent it waß at cnce grappled with by the Government. All available transports were refitted and Bent back, and £SO'JO each waa paid for at 1 asst three ships ti come out in ballast to load meat. In Febru ary a deputation I'om the Central Committee of the Breeders' and Graziers' branch of the Farmers' Union met Mr Massey and asked for another ship. He s)id there was a vesspl available to be sent out in ballast at a cost of £IO,OOO. He did not think it fair that the whole of this coat should be put upon the general taxpayer,, but if the producer would piy half the Government would pay the other half. The deputation thought the offer a fair and liberal one, but when it was submitted to the freezing companies and famiers they refused to contubute anything. Then the Board of Trade took control of shipping and it was too late to do anything. After all, the shortage of ships, is only one—eighteen for this season instead of nineteen. Everything therefore seems to narrow itself to this, viz., That unexpected overproduction has been the chief cause of the trouble. We cannot remedy it for this season, but we can guard against a recurrence by providing sufficient freezing space in the future.

Since the above was written we learn that owing to Mr Massey's forcible representations upon the subject thrte extra ships are to tie sent out to New Zealand to load m:at in Auguit and September.