The Daily News. TUESDAY, AUGUST 16, 1921. MEAT FREEZING INDUSTRY.

Taranaki Daily News, 16 August 1921, Page 4

The Daily News. TUESDAY, AUGUST 16, 1921. MEAT FREEZING INDUSTRY.

The operations of the Taranaki Farmers’ Meat Company for the past year accurately indicate the conditions with .which stock-rais-ers had to contend during a period which severely tested managerial ability. Fortunately for Taranaki farmers, they were well served in this direction, both as regards the chairman of directors (Mr. J. T. Quin) and the manager of the company (Mr. H. B. Gray), the result being that at the meeting, held on Friday, the shareholders could be congratulated on a successful year’s operations. This creditable achievement should be .all the more gratifying by reason of its having been accomplished in spite of the largely increased cost of labor (25 per cent, in the case of hourly and weekly workers, and 20 per cent, for piece workers), delay in the opening of the season owing to labor troubles, the curtailment of.the season by reason of the chaotic state of the markets for the company’s various products, the exorbitant shipping Charges, oppressive taxation, and the serious fall in prices, especially in beef, hides, wool and tallow. Notwithstanding all these adverse factors, the company was able to show a gross profit of over ten thousand pounds, out of tlhieh six thousand was provided for depreciation and £1224 for land and income tax, leaving a balance of over three thousand pounds available for dividend, and enabling six per cent, to be distributed on all fully paid-up capital. It is not. however, from a. dividend point of view that the. benefit of this enterprise should be estimated. Its great merit is that it saves the farmers from being exploited by private concerns and trusts, and places the stock raisers on a similar footing to that, of the dairy farmers b.v owning and control, ling their produce for export. The final links in the chain which will give the producers the full benefit of their capital and labor—that of an organised scheme of transport to the overseas markets and for direct disposal thereof—have yet to be forged. There are indications that the time is not far distant when these gaps will be satisfactorily filled, and the producers should steadfastly continue their efforts to that end until 1 the goal, is reached. With the necessary readjustment of wages and'

I the improved outlook as to the j Continental markets being available before long, Mr. Quin was ; enabled to adopt a hopeful tone j with regard to the prospects for i the coming season. He was fully I justified in referring to the prices I during the 1919-20 season as i “false” values, the outcome of 1 speculation which led to serious j losses and an endeavor to retrieve at least a portion of those losses. It is to be hoped that thp moral to be deduced from the experience of the boom will be permanently impressed on the producers, though the evil of highly inflated land prices will not easily lend itself to readjustment. It is not merely as a meat freezing concern that the Taranaki Farmers’ Meat Co. is of great service to the farming community, no small part of its claim as a benefit to that industry being the profitable utilisation of by-products, and the source of supply of those fertilisers of which the soil of the district is bo much in need. Experience has proved that the value of these fertilisers produced, at the Smart Road works has been most gratifying, and the fact that the whole output was sold testifies to the excellence of the mixtures and the wisdom of farmers in aiming at obtaining the highest yield from their holdings. The directors have wisely decided not to study the interests of the shareholders in this matter, and while maintaining the high quality of the fertilisers, to reduce the price appreciably, a policy that is most commendable. Step by step the company’s Works have been built up in order to be as complete as possible. There can be no question as to the great benefit these works confer on the farming community, nor on the excellence of the management. It is to be hoped that the- coming season will see the enterprise fully rewarded, and the brighter prospects envisaged by the chairman more than realised.