The Wairarapa Daily. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 31, 1885. THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VII, Issue 2134, 31 October 1885, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 31, 1885. THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE.

The Canterbury Times contains a most interesting letter from Messrs J. Grigg and W. Ohrystall, the local members of the Committee of Freezing Companies, in which they afford the public an insight into the manner in which the carriage of frozen meat is monopolised. The letter is the outcome of

inquiries which have been made since March last, when the Committee held a meeting. The Shaw, Savill and Albion Company and New Zealand Shipping Company were at that time asked to reduce the freight from lfd to If d, which latter is the rate from Australian ports, but they declined. Inquiries were then made whether steamers could not be specially chartered, and as a result letters were received from several London firms, from one of which we make the following extract:—"ln treating with another firm who seemed more disposed to eiitortain the business on the basis suggested by you, we have met with a difficulty which we had some inkling of before, and which may prove an effectual barrier to our carrying out your proposal. This firm interviewed Mr Haslam for the purpose of ascertaining the expense ot erecting his machine, without telling him the trade for which it was required, and they were informed by him that if he supplied a machine he would require to stipulate that it should not be used for carrying meat Home from New Zealand, as he, representing his own machine a3 well as the Bell-Coleman, of which he is now also the proprietor, had undertaken, to the two New Zealand Companies, not to supply any machines above a certain capacity, to be engaged in the New Zealand trade, excepting to them." Mr Haslam has also deemed it expedient to make an explanation, which we would reproduce in full were it not for its great length, He, however, says that his firm, as engineers, are, of course, anxious to make as many machines as they can; but as theirs is a special business, it would be most injurious to all who are engaged in the meat trade, from the grazier who grows it to the salesman in Smithfield, to make a large number of them. At the end of last year he had a prospect of about nine or ten large steamers, one of which was to be fitted up to carry no less than 35,000 carcasses of mutton, with chambers, so as to be independent of freezing stations, "This fact becoming known," says Mr Haslam, "I was asked to meet the Shaw, Savill and Albion Company, the New Zealand Company and others connected with the meat trade in the colony, to discuss what was best to be done. A suggestion was made that we should restrict the manufacture of our machines, and supply only the two Companies who had invested so much in the trade, they undertaking to see that the wants of the trade were cared for and steadily developed, At that time they were reducing the freight from 2d to l|d per lb. Had we fitted up the vessels which we had the opportunity of doing, it would have paidusa handsome profit. The shipowners, however, preferred to give us an allowance, and thus pay us to restrict the manufacture of our machines, No doubt, if the ships in question had been fitted up, the freight would have been reduced, perhaps, |d or |d per lb, but the effect of this would have been that double tbe quantity of Now Zealand meat would have been thrown on the market during the 12 months, and the prices would have been reduced to as low as 4d to 4Jd per lb, and made it quite unprofitable for the growers to ship meat. Now, I would ask any man who las the interest of the colony at heart, if we should have been justified in taking such a step, bringing disaster to the Shipping Companies, and disaster to the sheepgrowers, and also to the Freezing Companies who are already established, by fitting up vessels that would be arranged to freeze the meat on board, depriving the Freezing Companies, to a large extent, of their business," It will be observed that it did not strike Mr Haslam that the trado might be overdone until he had been interviewed by the Shaw, Savill and Albion Company, He then suddenly found it his duty to protect the Shipping Companies and to prevent the producers of New Zealand from injuring themselves- and all for the trifling consideration of about £IO,OOO a year! Excepting that the New Zealand Shipping Company has not quite seen its way to fall in with him, Mr Haslam should feel a happy man in his philanthropy. He, no doubt, hopes to receive a proper acknowledgment from the New Zeland farmers, and we suggest that they induce him to depart from his rule, get him to build a special freezing machine, and then put him in it and keep him there for all time. He would rival any mummy, and five hundred or a thousand years hence another Barnum might make a fortune out of him by exhibiting him as the greatest freetrader that ever lived. It is not improbable, however, that Mr Haslam's schemes will miscarry, There is another refrigerator about to be launched, and Mr Chambers, the inventor, may perhaps be inclined to make his fortune by adopting the usual course in trade of selling when he can. The present position is a very serious one for sheepfarmers, Prices are not very satisfactory, They pay a farthing more for freight than is paid from Australia, which, on the 400,000 sheep exported last year, makes between £28,000 and £30,000, and there is no chance, until the new invention just alluded to has been fully developed, of obtaining a reduction, putting on new vessels, or even erecting new. freezing works, When such bribery as that which has been referred to is carried on, and the acceptance of the bribe is defended as an act of philanthropy, it is no wonder that the producers are roused to action, and that efforts are being made to establish a counter-combination in selfdefence,