FROZEN MEAT TRADE

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 573, 28 January 1929, Page 10

FROZEN MEAT TRADE

HEAVY KILLINGS AT WORKS INCREASE IN LAMB Considerable activity has been registered on the Auckland wharves during the past few days. At the moment five steamers are j loading frozen produce for over- ! seas. Frozen meat will make up a big proportion of the cargo. A review of the killing figures at New Zealand freezing works to January 15, 1929. shows that the Dominion is experiencing another big voar in fat stock circles. While killings to date of cattle, and sheep may not be quite up to the figures for the corresponding period of last year, due to the fact that there is an abundance of feed and a demand for store stock, returns are well up to the average for the past decade, and in some provinces moving up to new high levels. Auckland farmers, in particular, are having a good season. Dominion Returns Compared Separate figures for the various works are not available at the moment, but the Meat Board’s returns for the Dominion covering the period from October 1, 1928, to January 15, 1929, make interesting reading. Surprising as it may seem, the returns of beef and mutton dressed for export over the period show an appreciable de- : cline. Altogether 21,897 quarters of beef were dressed. compared with 69,434 during the corresponding period of last season: and 244,889 carcases of ewe and wether mutton passed over the killing floors, compared with 277,075 during the corresponding period of last season. Figures for lamb, on the other hand, show an increase, being 1,508,993, compared with 1,479,236 for the same period of last season. At this time last year there was an acute feed shortage and farmers were compelled to send large numbers of both sheep and cattle forward to the works, irrespective of quality, in many cases to prevent them starving in the paddocks. Consequently, by this time of the season, big tallies of secondgrade and “potter” cattle and sheep had been recorded. This season, especially in the Auckland Province, little attention has been paid to anything else but lamb. Killing space at the works has been taxed to capacity to handle offerings, and as a result the returns show an increase. With the abundance of feed throughout the province dairymen have been enabled to hold their cull stock and there has not been the rush of and second-grade cows experienced at this time last year. Demand from New York A feature of the season’s export business has been tlie increase in the amount of beef shipped to New York and Vancouver, 17,788 beef quarters going to these ports this season, compared with 4,099 quarters during the same period last season. Exporters report increasing inquiry from New York for New Zealand beef at very satisfactory prices. At the moment the overseas markets for frozen meat, with the exception of that for lamb, appear in a healthy position. Prices are very steady. The market for lamb, on the other hand, with the increasing supplies from the Southern Hemisphere, has shown a gradual decline at Smithfield during the past four weeks. At the close of last week first-quality new season’s lamb was bringing the same price in Smithfield that buyers were offering in Canterbury works. Indications are that a slight casing in price can be looked for in New Zealand in the near future. FAT STOCK KILLINGS POSITION AT WESTFIELD STATEMENT BY MINISTER (Special to THE SUN) WELLINGTON, To-day. A statement to the effect that killings at the Westfield Freezing Works had been put on a definite basis and that they had to be kept within limits as previously, has been obtained from the Minister of Agriculture, Hon. G. W. Forbes. “Some alterations were necessary at Westfield in the interests of sanitation, said the Minister, and the owners included in their plans some addition to the accommodation for slaughtering sheep and lambs. Last March the Government gave authority for the alterations, but with the provision that the killings should not exceed the previous daily capacity of the premises. “During the rush period days have occurred when the two works at Auckland have been unable, without the Westfield works exceeding its former capacity, to cope with all the lambs coming forward, and the excess has had to be dealt with at Westfield. “If these extra killings had not been done loss would have been incurred by the farmers through their inability to get their lambs away from their mothers when they were fit. The proposal that the surplus could have been dealt with at the Farmers’ Company’s works at Horotiu was found to be entirely unacceptable to the Westfield company. “Now the position lias been put on a definite basis, and the daily killings have to be kept within the limit as before. The Government recognises the principle that the legitimate interests of the Dominion produces in connection with the slaughtering and freezing facilities must be protected where the necessity exists; and, having regard to the steady increase year by year in the number of sheep in the Auckland province, there seems a prospect that the difficulty which has lately existed will in time right itself. Since 1923 the sheep in the Auckland district show an increase of 412,360.”