Wairarapa Daily Times. [ESTABLISHED 1874.] THURSDAY, APRIL 11, 1895. THE FROZEN MEATTRADE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XVI, Issue 4999, 11 April 1895, Page 2

Wairarapa Daily Times. [ESTABLISHED 1874.] THURSDAY, APRIL 11, 1895. THE FROZEN MEATTRADE.

Tin: fall in the price of Colonial produce exports, has had a chilling effect all round, and trade and business havo been at the point of stagnation, Economics havo beon forced upon the people, and retrenchment bus caused an unfortunate increase in the ranks of the unemployed. Men's minds have been busy evolving schemes good and bad, but mostly of the latter kind, for driving away the depression; the latest of these trade revivers omauates from Mr David J, Nathan, of the firm of Messrs J. E. Nathan & Co., who, in a paper read before the Wellington Chamber of Commerce, propounds a scheme which be " thinks is, if bold, certainly comprehensive, feasible, and opportune." Mr Nathan's chief concern is with tlio frozen meat trade and its expansion, and the scheme suggested by htm lias the merit of being bold, but, its utility and feasibility are open to much doubt.

Mr Nathan's idea is to pool all the freezing companies in the Colony, the whole to be worked as one concern, under ono management; the amalgamation to be on the basis of valuation, The capital needed for this gigantic "ring" is put down at from two to four millions; in addition to this Mr Nathan proposes " that power be "obtained to raise' £2,000,000 at " Home on debentures guaranteed by " the Colony at say 31 per cent,, the " interest and sinking fund to bo " secured by a tai of not exceeding " 3d per head on the flocks of the ["Colony." To compensate flockowners for tlio tax,'" there is every "reason to believe that the mere "establishment of the Company " would send up aheop to the value " more than four times the amount " of tho tax," A very nice bunch of carrots to hold in front of the donkey, and the pliraso" every reason tb; believe" may be found in the ordinary Company prospectus, and beliefs in prospectuses when realised have a Vanishing tendency. . : TJib raodo of procedure and the

aims and scope of the Company are given as follow? The first " step after its formation would bo " appointment of a capable man of " business to proceed to London and "open up negotiations with • the " Smithfield butchers, with the view " of getting onr meat on the London " market, freed from the restric- " tions which have hitherto " hampered its sale, fle would at "onco show them our strong financial position,and impress them "with tlio determination of the " growers to get fair play for their " product." The Company is to provide cold storago in Loudon and the provinces and the cargo steamers would discharge meat at the different ports to obviate many handlings etc. A fat sum is to bo spent in advertising " so thatsay 'Red Star mutton' ' would become as widely known as 1 ' Pear's Soap ' and 1 Coleman's " Mustard,' etc," If the Smithlield butchers should turn up their noses at the offer, the Company itself is to open stores in Smithfield and fight the butchers by selling not only New Zealand mutton but also English, ■ Scotch and Welsh mutton, the latter at" knock-out" prices in ordor to bring the hostile butchers to their knees, Mr Nathan deserves no end of credit for formulating his scheme, bntwe have doubts of it catching on. All through his paper ho inveighs against the Smithfield butchers whose morality is not of the highest order. The crime that these meat dealers have committed consists in showing a greater amount of business acumen than the Colonial consignors, Unconsciously placed in an advantageous position ilicy have acted to suit their own ends and have no doubt made large profits. With consignments arriving in London heavily in pawn and j with a scarcity of cool" storage,forced! sales and competition on the part ofi sellers was inevitable, and the | butchers have made a profitable use! of the conditions. The want of; storage accommodation is rapidly: being met, and as we pointed out in these columns in February last the cold stores now erected in and around Loudon have a capacity of !)20,000 sheep, while storage in the Provinces for 550,000 carcasses is j provided. Manchester and Liverpool j between them have accommodation' for 420,000 carcases, and what advantage has been taken of this by Colonial shippers, llow many consignments have there been sent to these places. Most of the freezing companies in the Colonies are more j or less under the thumb of the j shipping ring, and exist merely to i provide freight for the large cargo I boats | the sooner these concerns collapse the better, as they are the stumbling block in the meat trade. The sheep tax and State guarantee are the weak fcaturesofMr Nathan's scheme, and although the Bank of New Zealand guarantee is taken as a precedent for the latter, we hardly think it will prove acceptable.! While we arc not altogether in sympathy with Mr Nathan in his ideas, we, however, cannot rofrain from expressing our pleasure at the fact that attention is being tjiven to I the expansion of our export trade in produce, and Mr Nathan's scheme will load to theformulation of others, possibly of a more practical character.