The Wairarapa Daily. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1885. THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VII, Issue 2108, 30 September 1885, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1885. THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE.

Tiie present aspect of the frozen meat market ut Home is not encouraging, and when we compare the prices that have been obtained this year with those that rilled in the colony, we can only conclude that shippers have made an actual loss. While Sd and s|d could be obtained, there was a fair profit, but with 4d and 4|d almost every farthing is eaten up with freight and the hundred and one charges which are put oil by agents, and. which no one but an agent can understand. The question haß already occupied the serious attention of exporters in Australia. Prom thetMelbourne Argus we learn that a special meeting of the shareholders in the Australian Frozen Meat Export Company Limited was held on the 9th inst., " to consider the fall in the price of meat in England, and its effect on the operations of the company," The company has overdrawn its account with the National Bank to the extent of L 11,500, on which eight per cent interest is being paid, aod if the busiiiess were suspended, the Orient Company \youJ(] be entitled to claim £4,700 for non-fulfilment of the contract for the conveyance of the njeat, Owing to the fall in the price of meat in the London market, the margin of profit had given place to a loss, but tho Orient Company have virtually undertaken to carry the meat- for fd per lb (instead of l|d as at present) so long as the price obtained does not ex--1 ceed 4d, and any balance above that is to be divided equally between the Orient Company and the Frozen Meat Company. If, is believed that under this arrangement the business can be carried on without loss, The directors were authorised to continue operations until the end of tho year, and in the meantime an effort is to be made to induce stockowners to guarantee consignments of meat on their own account afterwards, so that the company may confine its operations to freezing, The arrangement with the Orient Company to carry the meat at a reduced rate while the price is below a certain figure, is very satisfactory to both sides, because if nothing of the kind were done, no further shipments would have been made, and there would have been a double loss. If the meat export companies of New Zealand find themselves in the same predicament, they might obtain equal concessions from the Sew Zealand Shipping and Shaw Savill and Albion Companies. With the large quantities of meat that are constantly pouring into the English market from South America, we cannot expect tAat prices will recover very much, and if that is the case, the trade must fall off considerably unless the expenses can be reduced. With the new system of refrigerating that has been discovered, this may perhaps be done without reducing the profits of j

the earrier, but until the new machines have beeu introduced, there is scarcely another way of overcoming the present difficulty.