CONDEMNED CATTLE

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 122, 1 September 1910, Page 5

CONDEMNED CATTLE

FARMERS AND A COMPACT. HOW IT WORKED. By Telegraph.—Presv Association. Dunedin, Last Night. For some time past several fanners supplying the Burnside sales with cattle I have felt that they have been suffering a» injustice under a rule which has prevailed, whereby, in cases where cattle are passed by the inspector and afterwards condemned, the seller is called upon to bear half the loss of the condemned beast. The arrangement in the past, was that where an animal was condemned after being passed, the Government compensated to the extent of one i third of the purchasing price, the) butcher and the seller bearing half the actual remaining loss. A number of I local farmers entered into a company, to insist on the full price being paid,] whether a beast was condemned or not, and the first trial of the system was inaugurated at to-dav's Burnside sale. Only one-third of the seller* subscribing to the compact whereby no guarantee was to be given, had cattle for sale, 'and in each instance they refused to give a guarantee. As a result, two or three of these sellers' pens of stock were passed by the butchers, but were afterwards sold privately, the butchers simply restricting themselves to the local agreement that they should give preference to guaranteed stock. In other cases some lots of cattle were 'knocked down at auction, but it is doubtful if they reached prices brought for cattle where the usual of guaranteeing was continued by sellers. The fa"t that onlv»three Taieri men who signed had cattle for sale. Y ns commented on as significant by the butchers, who maintain that though a large number of other Taieri graziers agreed to the document, thev did not bring stock to the market. There, was plenty of stock for sale from farmers I from a distance who had not signed the compact, and the butchers had plenty of guaranteed stock to select from without buying from graziers who refused a guarantee. To-day's trial of strength was not entirely conclusive, but it was rumoured that some graziers who signed no guar? antee compact, intended to delete their names from the agreement and revert to the guarantee system.