NEW ZEALAND MEAT.

Taranaki Daily News, 22 December 1920, Page 5

NEW ZEALAND MEAT.

QUESTION OP CONTROL.

PROTEST BY WAIRARAPA FARMERS.

A WORD Off WARNING. Masterton, Dec. 20. Mr. J. C. Cooper, managing director of the Wellington Farmers' Meat and -Manufacturing Company, spoke at a meeting of the Farmers' Union on Saturday on the question of meat control by the imperial Government. Mr. Hugh Mormon was in the chair. Mr. Cooper said that under the present system they were receiving 76.per cent of the value of, the meat six weeks after the beasts were killed, and the balance on the meat being shipped. Meat which during the war had been used by the armies was now put on the Homo markets, and some of it in very bad condition. It was the big operatim and shopkeepers who were endeavoring to prolong the control of New Zealand meat; they desired it for mixing With dearer meats, and the process verv. often resulted in the Dominion product losing its identity. If the .New Zealand product was to be controlled, then the only fair thing was for the Imperial Government to control the meat produced by the farmers of Great Britain and Holland. These people were gaining at the expense of the New Zealand farmer,

The speaker said he had pointed this . • out to Mr. Hall, the Assistant-Control-ler in London, but the reply had been unsatisfactory. However, it was not fair to blame Mr. Hall, for he was only . the servant of the Higher powers. The ' charges for handling and freight, etc., ' had increased three hundred per cent. : on the pre-war'figures, and it whs neces- r sary to receive a higher price than the controlled price of la Id per lb for lamb, in order to show any profit at all. Ap- • patently „the. people at Home were taking advantage of the fact that we were l?.O0O miles away. The High Commissioner's office should have every support in the fight they were putting up for the New Zealand meat producer. The chairman then moved: "Th«,t this meeting emphatically protests against the price control in England of '■ New Zealand's free meat unless all other meat in the country is similarly controlled, and that the executive of ' the Farmers' Union he asked to take the matter, up and bring the question before,, the Government." "FARMERS, BE CAREFUL." Mr. G. R. SyEes, M.P., in seconding the motion, advised farmers to be very careful as to what resolutions they passed. Twelve months ago the farmers had asked for the commandeer to be lifted from wool, which was then selling at 3s Cd per lb.' They got the commandeer lifted, and what was the result? To-day crossbred wool would not fetch (id per lb. The same thing applied to cheese. He knew of two factories in Lower Wairarapa, one of which tod been persuaded to consign its cheese, while the other had sold outright. The former factory was paying its suppliers at the rate of Is per lb of butter fat, while the latter was paying 2s per lb. The motion was carried unanimously.