The Daily News. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1903 THE MEAT SHOP SCHEME.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXV, Issue 259, 1 December 1903, Page 2

The Daily News. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1903 THE MEAT SHOP SCHEME.

Notwithstanding' the unfavourable report of the I'arliaimcntary Commit, tee on Mr Seddon's Meat Shop scheme and the subsequent abandonment of the proposals it seems very probable that private enterprise will carry out the work which Parliament declined to undertake. On Wednesday last the prospectus of the British-New Zealand Meat Company was 'issued and it was evident the scope of the company's operations will extend far beyond ihe limits contemplated by the Premier. The company will not confine itself to the vending of frozen meat alone ; butter, cheese and other \ew Zealand produce will be handled also, the object of the company being to establish a system of direct supply frolui the colonial producer to the consumers in the Old Country. The establishment of such a connection could not fail to benefit our Home trade in a marked dogree, and it is sincerely to be hoped that the object of the company will be obtain- ! ed. For some considerable time past there has been a glowing dissatisfaction with our present marketing methods, and it is becoming! daily more clear that changes must be made if the farmer is to reap full value for his products. An ondCHvour must be made to get into close touch with the consumers. At the present time New Zealand meat is hieing sold under such names anil at such prices as the retailors deem expedient, and consequently the public are gulled and the producers robbed. Moreover, although we send Homo large quantities of frozen mutton yearly there are still many parts of Britain (Where the article is unknown, or at least unknown by its true name. It serves? little to crease the sale of meat if our pi-inv-est! soimplis ar* so>d as English mutton. The reputation of our product i 9 being contin-nually sacrificed to the prejudice of the public and Ihe greed of the butchers. The operations of a powerful company, controlled by shareholders in both Britain aind New ZJeaJaind, should, however,'alter'all this in time, and our products would then be given a fair bhahep ip earn" a imputation that could defy competition. Tho company intend opening a good class of retail shops, well fitted and in good ppsjkfcons, and it will seek to cater for a bettpr cjass; pf trade than is done a.% present with New produce, Jjicidentail to its distributing operations at Home, the company will acquire the rights of a de-frostlng Invention, which lias teen patented In tho different countries of the world, and will become its exclusive property. The enterprise is supported by the two large freezing companies in Canterbury, and the names of tho provisional -directors include those of gentlemen connected with the important freezing companies in the North Island, as well as those of a number of wellknpwn sheen farmers Tlip pastoral and refrigerating industries are uniting, it would appear, in giving their countenance to the formation and their approval to the objects of tho company, The capital has been fixed at £150,000 in £1 shares, but 75,000 shares are all that are being offered in the colony at present (f.fty thousand being reserved for CJreat Britain), and tho minimum subscription upon which the provisional directors will proceed to allotment is 15,000 shares, and these must he placed by the, 15th Dec., that being the date when, in terms of the Companies Act, it will be necessary for the allotment to be made.