BACON’ CONGESTION.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3340, 19 November 1919, Page 6

BACON’ CONGESTION.

GOVERNMENT BLAMED FOR THE! DANGER AT LIVERPOOL. LIVERPOOL, Sept. 12. I The Mersey Docks and Harbour Board at 21 meeting to-day blamed the Government for the present congestion of bacon and other foodstuffs on the quay and warehouses at Liverpool docks. . ' Mr .:\.. W’. Williams, chairman of the Traffic Committee, stated that on Saturday last the quantity of bacon lying on the quay was 55,460 boxes, and the larger proportion of this was on qua-Y ‘rent.~ The responsibility for this bacon‘ did not rest upon the board, as the - ’J.‘l-affic Committee protest.ed months ago to the Government that if the qunrltiels of ‘bacon which were foreshadowed eamc forward‘ congestion would result. ‘ ‘ _ However, the stuff had arrived, and the responsibi-lit-y for the, existing state of. aflairs must’ rest with the Ministry of Food. To relieve some of the congestion it was proposed to remove 8,000 boxes from the. Central Docks to the query at GladstoncDo~ek, where it would be stored in the open.

Mr J. U. Hodgson, representing the bacon tzade, protested that this simply meant its destruction in the present warm weather. He had no hesitation in saying there was £_15,000,000 worth of bacon on the docks, quazys, and in the warehouses of Liverpool. A tour of the Liverpool d\ocks,suchA as I have made to-day, conclusively explains why the (lockers say hard things about the Governmcnt’s food policy. ‘ i “For weeks We have had to work in these sheds and be poisoned with the stench of the rotting stufi’.”said 'the spokesman of :1 party of (lockers, pointing to ever 1,200 boxes of bacon. The boxes were (lamp with the oozing -brine, they stood in congealed, ‘cresciish liquid, and -the stench merit-ed his remark, "You need a.‘ gas—mask to work here. ~

The rgost offensive quay sheds visited are at the Canada and, Huskisson docks, Boxes‘ of bacon were piled together in their thousands. They stood in pools of thick brown! ish liquid, which was ctontinuo-usly exuding. On one upper. floor werel about 1,200 such boxes that had been‘ il‘§_=re for ten weeks. ! In other pools of liquid were reared. hundreds of tubs and boxes of melt-I ing lvirtl. Outside the quayside under‘ the blazingsuu were hundreds more.} More grieving still, when one thinks] of the limited butter ration, was the sight of the enormous number of but‘ ter casks which were stacked await-ingremox‘-'a-1 and the contents becoming unpalatlahle/: ' Quite apart, llo}vevel', from this wastage, the sheds are packed with an incredible volume of produce which under the present deplorable condition of transport is destined to be there for an indefinite period——dulnps} of bulging bags that reach nearly to] the roofs, tier upon tier of cases of? condensed iiiilk, hundreds of tons of] oil, -and tons upon tons of other gen-. eral merchandise. f'The dockers’ ,conversation makes .pii§7,"clear that all ‘this may have '3. po‘litical tefi"eet. This rotting food and chaotic transport has clearly made a deep impression. “

The latest revelation comes .f'l'vonl Ptouulterers’ lA(ssociation, wiho 'icla.ilnl there‘ is an enornibus wastage of rabbits in cold store, and are making representations to the Minister of Food. Some of thearabbits, they say,,have been in store for fiV_e years, and ‘.l _,El_arge pczmciitagc for twojrcars. Many Hiousands are‘: pufrid,; bit a corisi(i« erablc portion of the bulk is in splen_did condition and should be made at once availabie for food. For the future the general opinion of the trade emphatically is that the former mode of distribution (which was on a wide scale and conducted through aboui 9. s(-.m‘o of wholesalers in, Liverpool) slrculd Be I'cstor_o<l as quickly -‘as. poSSibl§<2- ’