FARMERS' UNION.

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 220, 26 July 1917, Page 6

FARMERS' UNION.

THE PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. The annual conference of the~~l\ T ew Zealand Farmers' Union opened in Wellington yesterday. We make the following extracts from the President's address: — FROZEN MEAT. The stores "for freight carcases are more congested than they ever have been. The Prime Minister said there would shortly be four million carcases unshipped, and we have only four months to clear them in. It is certain we cannot do this before the new season begins. It would take forty vessels, at leasf, to do this, so .that we may find ourselves with a couple of millions in store in November. The worst of this is that it is the cream of our trade which is likely to suffer. Lamb is not wanted for our troops, and other classes of meat have to be shipped first in the refrigerated holds. At the end of the season then, there must be a larger proportion of lambs left in store than almost any other class of meat. Lamb will begin to come in in December to still further increase this quantity. Prices must fall in consequence, for if the buyers buy, Or, if they buy, it must be at a large discount. This has seriously alarmed those whose principal business it is to fatten lambs. There has been a suggestion made that the slaughter of ewe lambs should be prohibited, but if this stoppage of sale occurs there will be a prohibition of another kind. Black-faced lambs will have to be frozen, but at present It looks as if few long-woolled lambs .will be killed. In most districts the ewe flocks have been increased to take a lamb for fattening off them. The total cold storage is put down as equal to 4,400,000 freight carcases. If then we find the stores with two million in them there is a margin of space for 2,400,000. The output of the year normally is 6,000,000, leaving 3,600,00 carcases to be provided for by space in oversea steamers. The question then resolves itself into how many of these can be exported during the season; or how much additional storage can be provided. It is possible, of course, that sufficient space may be provided on ocean-going steamers ; but it does.not seem likely; we are, iowever, promised seventeen steamers before the end of September, and Mr. Massey is sanguine that we shall see the seascn through; but it devolves upon farmers to provide winter feed for more lambs than are usually carried through the winter. In connection with the export of "ewe and lamb carcases, it has been stated that ■ some exporters have been unduly favoured, and as these classes are released at Home, by~homination, they had been able to make large profits. Of this I know nothing. I should think, however, that it cannot he laid at the door of the Committee which controls space, for all they have to do. is to allocate the number for each port, and I should think have no control over- what is being shipped.

The congested condition of the storage brought about a financial question. The Imperial Government had bought f.0.b., and none, or only small quantities were being shipped. The Banks were providing the wherewithal to pay for the stock, and there was some uneasiness created by the position. This was got over by the Minister of Agriculture arranging that the Home Government would take over the whole of the meat, and be responsible for the storage, though only paying for it when plaied on board. It -h/is not yet been stated whether this is the case of all further meat going into store or not; but when wool is paid for in store and 90 per cent of cheese is paid for on unlivery at store, there certainly should be a similar arrangement about the meat and perhaps this may have been the result of negotiations. In all fairness to the owners it should be so. If lamb is kept back for another year it might easily result in a very heavy loss to the holders. WOOL.. Wool fortunately can be easily stored without cold" storage space; but there is still a large number of bales also awaiting shipment. In all, the value of the produce in store must amount to many millions, and we are now faced by the consequences of War ourselves, and it may require great mutual forbearance and perhaps considerable hardships before we are "through the wood."

Sir Joseph Ward estimates that the additions in returns over pre-war rates for produce is £3,750,000. Many baissed writers have rushed into print and flung contumely on th e farmers for being unpatriotic; for not feeding the people with bread at less tha-i cost price, and for asking a reasonable price for their produce. It could easily be shown to any fair-minded person that ~i~> far is this from being the truth that the prices accepted for their produce fr*m the Imperial Governmentmeant many millions less than market value. Take wool, the value of the prevous year's clip when sold on the op»n market would be at least a million

more than was accepted by the farmers when the Minister for Agriculture bought the clip. If the wool had not been purchased, so great was the demand for it that our clip this last season (at least the' wool that reached Home) have fetched 25 pex cent, more than was paid for it here. Our wool has peculiar qualties which make it specially sought after for military purposes —an elasticity not found in other wools —and we may fairly say that in wool alone the farmers of New Zealand have made a contribution to the clothing of the armies of the Allies of at least a couple of million pounds. Our meat has clearly been a cheap purchase. Compare the price with what the Argentine people are getting, and it can. easily be seen that tlie Inipcria} Govrnment got it at a cheap rate and we are only sorry that the people of England did not get the advantage of cheaper prices when the meat that was not needed for the Army was disposed of to the retailer.