NEW ZEALAND AND REFRIGERATION.

Taihape Daily Times, 4 October 1919, Page 3

NEW ZEALAND AND REFRIGERATION.

SIR T. MACKENZIE ON OUR

MEAT SUPPLIES.

The principal guest wt. the annual dinner of the Cold Storage and Ice Association was Mr -G. H. Roberts, the Food Contl‘_oHCl‘; the principal speakor was the Hon. Sir Thomas Mackenzie, K.C.;\I.G., High Conlnlissioncr for New Zealand, past president of the Association, and now a vicse~presiden-”t..

After stating that he felt highly honoured in being entrusted with so im-. portairt a. toast as that of “The Cold Storage and Ice Association,” he said: “It is fitting that I should say a. word in connection with refrigeratimi, because it. has changed; the- state of the Doinini-on that I represent from one of depression to one of prosperity; indeed’, it ‘is perhaps for its size the most prosperous of 2111 His Majesty’s overseas po,S’Sf.‘S'Si,-OIIS. flin 1882 New Zealand had some 13,000,000 sheep and That year exported 9000 eareases. Her flocks new number 26,500,000. Of the 235,000,000 careases of mutton and

lamb impoxted info Great. Britain between the inception of the ‘trade and the end of -las't year, New Zealand sup-

p]ie(l about one-half, and she has, in addition, 7,250,000 in store. Of butter and cheese the Dominion exported in 1885 14,000 items, and we now send to this country about £6,000,000 wol"th. The refrigerated space in New Zealand has grown in accordance with the «lemands. At the c~oxnmlencement of the war there was ;¢lcc.olmno.datio~n for -only a.hou't ‘two and a half million 6011) carcases. but there is now a storage capacity for about 7,400,000 carcases. .Af§?- showing the extont to which the Dominion has helped the Mother Coon Tl'ywi't}l produce during the war, I may say that to the end of February last the total payments made by the Impc-r.ial Government to New Zealand were: for mes}-t £31.500,000; for cheese, £12,000.000_: for b'.lt’tel',‘£s,ooo,ooo; and for wool £34,500,’000. .

OUR MEAT SUPPLIES. .A word regarding the present position of our meat supplies and future prospects may not be out -of place. We frequently hear 'that ‘the Oversea possessions and -other countries supply to the Home Country only about onequarter ‘of the meat she consumes. The actual ‘import figures are 40 per cent of meat (of sheep 50 per ce'.;.s'.), and 45 per cent of pigs, and ‘of that amount New Zealand and Australia. supply about 75 per cent. The Argentine one of our chief competitors, is receding in her mutton and lamb supplies, but with the development going on in this C‘O‘_ll]l’il.i's7'L.tllC Empii"e is capable of supplying all the meat the Home country requires; and we may anticipate reasonable and munerative prices to our farmers, assuming that no undue influence is exercised by any combination of meat packers for the purpose of depreciating the values‘ of stock in the countrfy of origin or increasing prices to the consumer here. One cannot help'f'eelin-g, however, that there are clouds on 'the .horizon, at an yrate so far as Austr.alasia is concerned. We know the position i-n the A.rg'elltine, and I need not further allude to it. According to the reports wliiclr reach us from various sources, and the reliable figures _supplied as the rc-5111': of investigation_s,‘\i*e learn that a combination of meat packers in America controls something like £25,000,000 of capital, and that the wvar prices ‘they have obtained have stgimulated their cperations to an enormous extent, and tliwt. they have secured very substantial results. In additioll—_alld perhaps in this respect it may not have been possible to prevent i'i—‘;hey linvc obtained great a*(lVan'€ages during the W2ll‘. Nearly all the insulated tonnage‘ was diverted to ..Alnerica. which ‘country sent immense supplies, -of mesat ’io Great Britain, sometimes in excess of our

sfo'.'u_qe capacity, and I'ceoivod pl'iC.‘s ranging from 10d to 1/3 per Ib,.as against. -Ed to 5d paid to New Zealand and A.ustl'alia. for beef. Now, were the meat fr._onl America, of ‘the same high quality ‘as fhat sent from our country "one would, perhape, not say much about the undue advanta»ge"ln prices oebtixined by the Americans, but one remembers ffiat ours is of the primest, and theirs generally inferior. But one wonders how America sent supplies'e,t all, for prior to 1914 the United States had almost ceased to ‘export at all, where-

as in 1918 she sent “to this country some 218,000 tons. It. did. not all arrive, but I tifink 180,000 was received. But. the country -not being a great exporting country, no douht they drained on their lim‘ite—(l sufiplies and sent the inferior quality to t.his"co~untl'y. But. they had other advanféiges, which they still ‘=.'(.‘i'f-lii}. They are free from the heavy taxation th-at‘ is imposed both in our Dominions and in this country on trade profi‘fs; they have no income tax or excess profits tax to pay, and they have the free markets of this country for their operations, whereas our meat. is con'tro]led by the Home Government.

QUESTION OF DISTRIBUTION. I am communicating with the author‘

ities here with a view to seeing that the dish-ibu’tio-n in our meat, and also in our butter, shall be such -that our conntry shall not suffer from the loss»'of important trade connections established at considerable enterprise and cost in pre—wal' days, and I am hopeful -that the Government. may meet me in this respect. There is a discussion as to whether meat shveufd be freed from

g-overment control. ‘That depends on! Several factors, especially the grip the Americans have here. I am not. pre-| pared to ‘say whether this is Wise or not, but this I know—at the present‘ ‘time the Americans are.ben'efiting‘ byl the low price paid for ‘our meat, the {profits from which go to swell the amounts paid to the Americans. There is one point in ‘favour «of the removal of control, and it is ztihis. That whereas ‘traders are satisfied with a profit of from -one-sixteenth of a penny’ to -%}d per lb, it“'costs the Home Government to handle it the amazing figure of anything from 2-d to s_d per lb. At least so speak reports published by reliable firms on the market. Our enterprising New Zéaland vGo'v~ernmlen'st. fhave len-dcav-oured. to meet the methods of the Trust by requiring ” that licenses be issuegk tq§,.all meat exporters. May refer to“””fiLeJ.qnes"cion of distribution, especially as it affects New Zealand and Australia‘? It is of the-utmost im--portance that the present golden opportunities should not be allowed to pass, for they may never occur again. The war has temporarily displaced the agricultural and- pastoral pl‘oduc'ts of powerful neutrals in this market. and it is the duty both of the Home Country and the representatives of the Dominions abroad, supported by their Governments, to see toit that -every opportunity is availed of to re-es'fablish~our own former biinarkets, and to extend, if; possible, to those previously held by 'our foreign competitors. ‘Suchnan op;_portunity is offered in connection with the output from Denmark, and it may be of interest if I give the following figures. During 1918 the toftal imports of butter into Great Britain from compared with 30,000 in 1917, and Denmark were about 2000, tons, ‘as 56,000 in 1916. ' ‘

Turninp; from -the "trade point of View to thé strong position hclcl ‘in regal'd to quality, We here"mcet wiih much gratification. We have the Food In-

V vestigafion Board‘ very active in its ~‘ operations. I was at, Cambridge‘ on ' Sunday, and was delighted to learn that , many of the. ables’: professors of the 1 University” are séientifically investigvatingzvquestions of meat preservation, f,‘.é“&nd the handling of fruit and ofher :9 perishable products in which the over- ; - seas Dominions are concerned.‘ There isunvo-w on foot. a. mov.em'ent. that‘ will t} ewéifithout. doubt ‘result in great benefit to Overseas’ producers in connection with lie “fljxrocluee. Some useful [investigations ii? and __ experiments have allready been ;f,;;§é"m;lde showing the ’cin‘le](lul'ingAwhich ;,V,.e Vmeat can be preserved Wifhouf ‘the ,‘Sl‘igl;.‘H3‘€St dcteriorateien or loss of nutriEivé value. paper was read before i‘§f’V‘;",fé“MV:‘l?l;\ll~je:s\association «in Februfgry last yezu A.<M. VVl'ight, in which ]l‘:j- said ‘flu yiew of =the faet that qua“. Wages for Vcvonsi-derafillt Wi°de of ‘"9 WW. irha‘

food value, lengthy periods of cold 1 storage for mutton and lamb will not: { impair these mca‘rs’, provided the necessary (le_s;2o<= of freezing__: is constantly nl:lintainecl"; and that the nn’trir'ive lvalues of meats -are nnzilterecl.” '.\[ay '1 p,uCnt}“_.ti:-~all_'y‘ mention he:'e ‘rlmt had it not been for the regular supplies of frozen meat it would have been impossible for the Allies to win ‘the War whieli has been brought to so lsuceessful a terniination. ' a‘ ‘ CONCLUDING REMARKS. . E After dealing with tariff and ex-' Icliungc questions, Sir Thomas Macken::;io said:-—-The Enlpil'e so far as foodlstuffg are concerned could ‘easily supply itself. especially with such products ag come i"rom New Zoala.n.d and :.Austra.lia._ You must I‘eln(*mlJor tlmt ‘l(!V.('l'Y Bound spent on the produce of 'fll'l(“ISem~(‘l(.“.llllCl'l(,‘S means that you are ‘l:?l'l‘lIlll1‘Q‘ Lvour people to and spending "cur m.om-y in countries that will stancl i"'ai'-- __‘;o1I "“ ihe fuiure ‘as we have en--;’l~’.‘.‘.'l";’oll;‘C£7i to ‘unitellwith you in the

‘._’>9.:s‘_t, «ither for 'l)‘-.‘orluz3tioll or defence 01- u‘:-zc-.hangc of trade; whereas if your people cmigirate "to foreign countries 5.11:1 purchase goods from foreigners the we-a'lt}l thus secured might -be used for the humiliation of our nation and, as in the case of Germany, the ati—tcmpted 'ellsla\}enlent of our people.