BEEF TRUST IN AUSTRALIA.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 88, 30 August 1912, Page 4

BEEF TRUST IN AUSTRALIA.

A witness giving evidence the other day in Sydney before the Royal Commission on the Fpbd' Supply, declared that the American Beef Trust; was operating in New South Wales, and that the high price of meat wasulue to the combine. The fact that bullocks have been selling up to £2O and .sheep up to £2 a head , has no doubt set people thinking, and while it would Hie folly to hold too cheaply, the Beef Trust, it is more than likely that the high prices are due more to the effects of the recent drought than to the operations of the American combine, which has not yet got a proper footing in the Commonwealth. The Sydney papers in recent issues have been drawing attention to the combine, and it ia no secret that for some years Messrs Swift and Co., one of the leading firms of. the Trust, have had representatives at Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne, who ha,ve made trial purchases of Australian fiozen beef and mutton. It has been stated that on three occasions the representatives of the Trust have travelled through all the known Australian cattle and sheep country, inspecting the , principal freezing works, selecting sites for new works, and even negotiating with some of the biggest exporters and retailers in the trade for the transfer of their businesses. The Trust quite .recently acquired a 130-acre site on the Brisbane River, where it is proposed to erect the largest and best-equipped freezing workß in Australia. The Sydney Sun, in an article published recently, gives, an account of the Beef Trust's methods in North American and Argentina, and warns breeders that a determined effort will be made by the Trust in Australia to wipe out all competition: "Wherever the Trust has gone," says the Sun, "it has remorselessly used its money and organisation to. crush opposition. It has succeeded at times "By continuoasly under-selling the competing firm for months at a. time, quoting figures which meant .bankruptcy to its rival." The article goes on to prophesy that the Trust will at first offer good prices to the breeder and low prices to the consumer. Afterwards, when control of the trade has been assured, this nile will be reversed. The prices to the breeders will go down and the prices to the consumers will go up. The Australian breeders, it is argued, are likely to prove blind to anything beyond an "immediate profit, though the example of the cattlemen of California has shown that it is possible for a combination of stock-rais-ers to defeat the Trust. The article concludes with a resume of the Commonwealth Anti-Trust Act and of the provision of the amended Customs Act of 1010, which deal with illegal restrictions on trade. It is conceded that this legislation gives ample power to control the Trust's activities, but it is suggested that serious loss may ensue to Australian breeders before proceedings can be taken against tbe Trust. "" j