MEAT PRICES.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 7, Issue 338, 15 November 1915, Page 3

MEAT PRICES.

IMPERIAL PURCHASE SCHEME,

THE BOARD OF TRADE NOT PROFITING.

The suggestion has been made in •Wellington that under the arrangement for the purchase of New Zealand frozen meat for Imperial requirements, large profits were being made in London, either by the Board of Trade or by private speculators. The complaint had its origin in a comparison of the prices paid in. New Zealand, f.0.b., and the retail prices recorded in the British market reports. The Prime Minister stated recently that 'he had been placed in possession of a letter bearing upon this point. The letter had been written by a man interested in the trade, who had made personal investigation in London.

“I have your letter of July 22nd, dealing mainly with the paragraph appearing in the New Zealand papers endeavouring to show that the Imperial Government was making a large profit out of New Zealand meat,” [ said the writer on September 23rd. “I I must confess that at one time I was [of a similar opinion, as there appeared to be such a huge difference between the actual f.o.b. prices ou Smithfield Market, but on going carefully into the matter, I found that it would take.the Board of Trade all their time to get their money back, even at the present high range of prices. The Board of Trade was approached in June last, when it was pointed out the difference between f.o.b. and Smithfield prices, and of course asked that a higher price be paid to the New Zealand producers, but received a reply to the effect that this was not possible in view of the administrative expenses, the cost of sending out vessels in ballast, etc., etc., and they also got an opportunity of pointing out that the efforts of the Board of Trade had resulted in th e largest possible supply of insulated tonnage for New Zealand at a time when numerous complaints were being made that private efforts had failed to secure the desired results.

“The Board of Trade must of course provide against dead loss in the case of damage or deterioration. In connection with the London charges, I put them down as follow:

“Management rate, one month’s storage and delivery on the market, at 30s per ton, 16d per lb.

“Extra month’s storage, lid per lb. “Commission at 2 per cent., say 14d per lb. “Administrative expenses (Sir T. Robinson’s office) (?) “Demurrage on steamer (?) “You will see that the 4d is exceeded without taking into consideration

lat ah the omce expenses ana demurrage which almost invariably occurs on eadh steamer. You will note that I have also put in the extra month’s storage, which is always necessary on account of delay in discharge and distribution. You see, the storage on meat commences immediately bulk

is broken, and a month’s storage may really be payable before the meat has been in store any days, “As to the opinion expressed of the producers doing better if they had been left on their own, I must totally disagree with this, as 1 am sure had the supplies not been controlled, they would have been right, in the hands of the speculators, who would have taken all the profit and rigged the market to suit their own convenience In any case, suplies must be controlled, as otherwise agents would place unnecessarily large amounts on the market, bring tihe prices down, and cause a large demand, with a subsequent shortage.”