ARE THEY REQUIRED?

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 286, 12 May 1915, Page 3

ARE THEY REQUIRED?

At no period in the history of Taranaki have the settlers seen so many cattle for freezing offered in the yards, and yet the of new works expect either the other fellow to take up all the shares or else go 011 in the same fool way as we liave lieen doing, which is nothing more _or less, in plain English, than carrying three middlemen 011 their hacks, each of the three getting their little bit: out of the farmer, for which I do not blame tnem in the slightest, seeing tliey have got the brains to beat the settlers. For instance, farmers sell their cows and bulls to Mr. Dealer (middleman No. 1). -Mr. Dealer sends to ISorthwick's 01 the Patea people, and a buyer comes out anil buys in the paddock (middleman No. 2); then the freezing works get their pickings, as I shall show later on (middleman No. 3). Now this must stop, the. settlers having th'eir own works will send th«sr cattle in, whether in two's or twenties, separately ear-marked, as is done at present as a cost of the drover's charge, have thorn killed and sold on the hooks by men only too anxious to get the highest price for the owners. Now let us glance at Canterbury. Mr, ReJpli, manager of the New Zealand Farmers' Co-operative, the biggest business concern in this colony, shows that tile number of sheep and the killings are both going back, and that additional works are not needed down there, and yet we find TJorthwick's, the ablest 'firm in Australasia, cutting in at Belfast and erecting works to hold 100,000 carcases, while the North Canterbury Farmers' :

Co-operative Freezing Company is erecting new works at Waipara, because, as its chairman said, " new works create j fresh business." Read what Mr. Rclph : savs: — From a careful study of the exigencies of Canterbury's meat busi- : ness, however, lie was satisfied that additional works were not required. In the first place, the position of flocks in, say, the Kaikoivra, Amuri, Cheviot, Kaiapoi and Ashley Counties, according to the Government sheep returns, as on April 30, for the past five years, were as follow: — Year. Total. 1!»0 1.700,770 mil 1.791.010 1012 1,054,151 11)13 1,028,557 1,1)14 ~.. 1,870,G7'2 Those figures showed that the total flocks in the districts named had actually decreased by over 91t,000 sheep. The slaughterings in the Islington and Belfast works, which served the districts referred to, for the same period of five years, were as follow: — Year. Total. 1010 1,230,1-27 11)11 1,131,919 1.912 1,000.500 1013 ~... 9(57,469 ■ 1 1914 ' 996,000

It would be seen that there was a falling off of over 231,000 sheep and lambs slaughtered at those two works between the years 1010 and 1014. The reverse of these figures holds good in Taranaki, where dairy nu-irsrrs are throwing out cows literally s-y the hundred. As I luive said, the yards are full. In Opunake a i.ew weeks ago tlie big new Union yaruj were crammed and the Loan Company's yards, lent for the occasion, were soon filled with the overflow, mostly cows, as, owing to herd testing (which allows the up-to-date man to see the cows that are. keeping him as well as the cows that he is keeping),slips,empties and undesirables. There is ft yearly weeding out of 20 per cent, (proof figures. Mr. f!.. milking SO, throwing out 20; Mr. V., 70, defecting 21 this season). The use of manures is increasing the carrying capacity so much, and the new system of feeding dairy cows ou white turnip;!, not only in the autumn, but also in July, August, and September, enabling a man to milk three, if not four, where he milked two, all show that preparation for an enormous increase in the shipments of'cow beef must be provided for.