Page 5 Advertisements Column 5

Taranaki Daily News, 11 February 1920, Page 5

SUGGESTED REMEDY. ■ "SELL STORED MEAT AT LCsp»i PRICES* j v , " Feilding, Feß. 9.-> In connection with the meat conrtttwhi deer question, the Feilding F&rmarrf* Freezing Company has received the fok lowing letter from Mr. Gordon. Wood* roffe, of Christchurch: —"We have wceiv* ed a cablegram from London to the feet that they fear New Zealand shipper* will have to face a serious propositioDr after the end of the present term of the> purchase by the Imperial Government of our, mea(, unless drastic action is takes to clear the present glut of imported. meat in England and to lift Governmentowned stocks in the Dominion. "The stores at Home are full. DUi charges are delayed,, and arrivals are 5Q per cent, over consumption. Our peopto ask: Can the Dominion Government bring pressure to hear upon the Imperial Government to lower the price to a level which will stimulate consumption and so tend to relieve the glut? The probability of a situation such as that' which now exists was foreseen by those well acquainted with the meat trade at Home some months ago, but apparently their efforts to influence the Imperial Government were unsuccessful. They are now pointing out to New Zealand shipper* that the apprehensions espressed tomo time ago are being realised, and that exporters of meat from the Dominion should take concerted action through their Government to bring about such a procedure at Home as will do whatever is possible to protect their legitimate interests in respect to the future, when the Imperial Government ceases to take over the meat at the works."

The company filso received a kttjer from Homo agents, stating that the only remedy is to put the stored meat on the market and get rid of it at selling priCM, {hough that may cause a glut.

"NO STORAGE." STEAMERS THAT CANNOT DISCHARGE. With reference -to the views advanced by the deputation which waited on the Prime Minister regarding the meat position, the following extract from the Brig* tol Times and Mirror of December 10th throws some light on the position at Home:—

"In the course of a lengthy reply in yesterday's Parljamenatry debates, |dr, McCurdy (Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry for Food) informed Mr. W.-' Thome: That at the present time, at various ports, there are eight steamera in course of discharge with storage pro-' vided for all their cargoes of meat; that there are four steamers berthed withewgoes for which there is not at present any storage accommodation; that thsra are seven other steamers not yet forth.* ed. He agrees that the frozen meat in store is approximately 100,000 tonß, and t.lm arrivals during December and January will be approximately 57,000 and 80,* 000 tons respectively. The total consumption of meat at the present time mieft between 00,000 and 110,000 tons per month, of which imported meat H not less than 30,000 tons per month. The quantity of meat in the stores in Auwtra* lia and New Zealand is expected to be about 120,000 tons on December 31st. The only imported meat purchased by the Government, says Mr. McCurdy in . reply to another question, at the present time is Australasian nrattsn and lamb; Tho cost of this meat to the Ministry for Food is 10!4d per lb, and it is sold at this price to the wholesaler. The meat is cut up and sold at varying prioss, according <to the different joints, but the average price ia approximately la , OJd per lb."

I IDEA POOH-POOHED BY MR. McCURDY. The Prime Minister (the Et. Hon.' W. F. Massey) furnished a Times representative with a report, from tie London Observer of December 21st, 1919, of an interview witli Mr. McCurdy, Parliamentary Secretary to the British Ministry for Food, from which we take the following extract:— "Meat is now reaching this country from New Zealand which was held up during the war by transport difficulties. The average newspaper reader discovers the existence and the coming of this meat, and immediately begins to talk about a glut. That is "the popular word of the moment. There is a 'glut' of everything—of meat, sugar, bacon—of anything the public most wants. But what you cannot do is to persuade those same optimists that 120,000 tons of meat from New Zealand do not really balance a shortage of 300,000 tons in the Home supplies, to say nothing of a. shortage in Central Europe, -which amounts to three, million tons. If in the course of next ■year we are going to eat as much meat as we did -before the war, there will real-' ly be no meat in the world .to relieve the needs of Europe, and I am afraid our own people, do not yet realise how bitter these needs' will be. If the glut of meat that we> hear bo much about is to become a reality in this country, it can only be so on this understanding that we care no-