THE PIG INDUSTRY.

Taranaki Daily News, 29 August 1922, Page 3

THE PIG INDUSTRY.

BIG FIGURES. EXPORT ADVISABLE. At a meeting of farmers at Palmerston North last week, Mr. Barron, of the Meat Packing and Export Company, stated that the latest figures showed that .380,000 pigs were being held in New Zealand, an increase of 50,000 over last year, and 120,000 over the year previous. The figures were enormous, but not alarming. Good work had been done in order to relieve the situation, but it had been left to a handful of men. The farmers had not rallied to the cause, and shown an_ active concerted interest. What possibilities there were in the industry were indicated by the fact that last year Denmark exported £16,000,000 worth of bacon to England, or as much as the value of the whole of New Zealand’s dairy output. At present 90 per cent, of the output of bacon in New Zealand was sold in the country. So far the bacon business had been at a loose end. and had been run under Rafferty rules. In no industry had such despicable things been done as in the bacon business, and the result was the producer had suffered. He was able to say that with every confidence in his ability to prove it. It was high time that the farmers stepped in themselves and insisted that the game wafe played fairly, and took the indust/y-’ into their own hands. In 1916, it was only when the price-cutting concerns were induced to work together that the price had been stabilised at all. Now an exactly similar set of circumstances faced the producer.

As one who had handled 700,000 pigs, he could say it was quite impracticable in the export business for the farmer to be given an advance. Preparations were all in tram for an export business, and it would be better to export the surplus even if there was no profit in it than to keep it in New Zealand. There was no doubt the New Zealand article was acceptable at Home. In this connection, the speaker read a letter from a firm in London stating that a late shipment had met with the highest approval, “exceedingly mild and beautifully cured.” At a meeting of proprietary and co-operative bacon companies in the morning, it had been agreed that the concerns should work together for the purpose of keeping the prices at a reasonable figure locally, and exporting the surplus. It was not fair to expect the companies to shoulder the loss, if any, that might be made on the export. Accordingly, the farmers should be prepared to give the scheme their support.

In reply to a question, Mr. Barron said frozen New Zealand pork sold in London last year at from 8-}d to 8-}d per lb. The cost of sending it was 3.25 d per lb.

Regarding grading for export, Mr. Barron said it would he a long time before a bacon trade with the Old Country could be built up. The trade would have to rest for the present on frozen pork-