MEAT PROBLEM

Wairarapa Times-Age, 5 April 1941, Page 8

MEAT PROBLEM

REPLY TO CRITICISM POSITION OUTLINED BY MINISTER. j GUARANTEE TO PURCHASE. I 'By Telegraph—Press Association.) j I WELLINGTON, This Day. ) Statements made by Mr. David Jones 3 in a review of the meat situation were ' r replied to last evening by the Minister of Marketing, Mr. Barclay. In an I, interview Mr. Jones' said that the Gos vernment knew a long time ago that ; the quantity of meat the Imperial Go- ’ vernment had agreed to accept from ' the Dominion was to be seriously cur- ; tailed. ’ “The true fact of the position,” said 1 the Minister, "is that it was not till late in December that the first indication was received by the Government of possible shipping restrictions, which at that time did not necessarily mean that such restriction would entai] a reduction in the amount of mea’t the Imperial Government were prepared to purchase. In view of the general uncertainty of the position, it was surely to the credit of the Government that it refrained from throwing the country into a panic, and immediately restated its intention to carry out its promise to purchase all meat during the present, season. “Mr. Jones, basing his remarks on the assumption that there has as yet been a very small killing of sheep in the South Island, criticises the Government action in introducing the present restrictions. Here again Mr. Jones is sadly astray in his facts, for with the exception of wethers, the sheep killings in the South Island up to the present time are far heavier than last season, which was a record year. The figures in this connection wore as follows:—South Island. ’As at As at . Killings: 22/3/41 23/3/40 Lambs .... 3.495.738 2.859.476 Wethers .... 47.272 58,894 Ewes 390.288 20C.G04 The temporary stoppage of killing of ewes and wethers for a few weeks to allow a clearance .of lambs is not an uncommon occurrence in the freezing industry, and in view of Mr. Jones’s long association with the meat industry this fact must be well known to him also. "The suggestion made by Mr. Jones that steps should be taken immediately to import cool storage materials from overseas has considerable merit. However the practical value of his suggestion is somewhat diminished because the Government had already taken all the necessary steps in- this connection as far back at 1938 and 1939. when refrigerated materials to the value of £60.000 were imported with a view to meeting any emergency cool storage position.” One thing was outstanding, however, said Mr. Barclay in conclusion, and that was the fact that if the Government had not stood behind the industry with a guarantee to purchase their exportable surplus, the meat industry would have been facing ruin and chaos today. MINISTER & MEAT BOARD RESTRICTIONS FURTHER CONSIDERED. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON. This Day. Restrictions recently imposed on the killing of sheep for export are receiving further consideration from the authorities. Discussions took place yesterday between the Minister of Marketing. Mr. Barclay, and the MeatBoard. “We want to see if we can find some way of meeting and helping the i ■ farmers out of the difficult position : facing them." said the Minister. Referring to the measure of relief given recently to producers of bacon- J ers. the Minister said that this appear- ’ ed to be working satisfactorily, because ' the only communications he had since received on this subject had been many letters and telegrams of appreciation of what had been done for the pig producer.