THE MEAT MARKET.

Waikato Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2091, 1 December 1885, Page 2

THE MEAT MARKET.

TO THE KDirOH. Sin, — I would like to ask the farmers 1 of Waikato and surrounding districts if they havfl fully and fairly considered the posi tion of the meat m.irkct with legud to theniselvus and their production of beef, mutton, (tc. H.ni) they examined tho return published in your columns lately showing tho export of cattle and sheop to Auckland, and if they have done so, can they lead no lesson from it. If tluy cannot, I will tiy to show them to what extent they :>ro affected. We sent aw.iy 9,400 head of f\t cattlo in twelve months, and expeits tell us that e\ cry beast killed vill ply outstdo of the price obtained for the meat all expen-e« of glaughteuug and leave .1 piofit at the vei v lowest e-tini ite of 1"j pel cent per bollock for the offal, fee. This piofit amount- to over £7000 on our 9,400 cattlo, and undei the pi e^ent *yst*m of s»lc .md slaughtering, it all goes (every penny of it) into the cotfeisof butchois who purchase and kill th' 3 beists in Auckland. Taking tho sheep offal m the ,suno i.itio Hio piotits would tot up to alino-t £'2400, so th ie altogether theie is a sum of £'1,400 or \eiy likely £10,000, absolutely in ulo a present of to the Auckland slaughtermen annually by tho gta/ieis south of Auckland, fioin Ng.uuawaliia toTaupo. In the face of this the fanner-, hesitate to tvko shire* to stait slaughterhouses of their own and thus secure to themsel\C3 tins laige amount of g.nn. I cannot undci stand men being so blind to then own inteu'sts. ll so happens tint iu~t at this particulai season of tho year (eirly spring) beef is bunging a good prce, and theieforo they .ire for tho moment satished, but surely they must bo aware that e\eiy year at the *arne reason the same thing happens, and they are propoitionately happy for a month or two, although the loss is going on all tho time. But \\ liy do they not look ahead a little and think of tho time coming when beef will be down .again to I'm to Kis pet hundred, and they will all bo crying out that fanning i» initiation? Then again, otheis are afiaid that the Auckland butcher* will not buy our do id meat, that they will not give up their slaughtering prwtits, Sic. All this seems to mo to bo utter nonsen.se. I would ask the farmors whero Auckland is going to get its supplies from if they refuse to buy our meat ? We send down 180 cattlo and 700 sheep weekly, and do they mean to say th.it Auckland can do without that supply for any length of time ? I say they cannot, and they ceitainly could not make up this qu mtity from elsewhere at a hhort notice oven at a very much increased cost. Therefoie T in nntain that Auckl.anders must buy our moat whether they like it or not. They ni.i\ pief'jr it alive, but they must t ike it «Je ul if we only insist upon it. Dumii; niv c iov iss foi -.haies the gio.>teit ditikultv I have t> contend with is the want of money. "We hive no money to take ttliaies ' i* a very common answer. Now duOh this not s •••la absurd for people who Aie absoluti lv gmiuraw iv, siy, £8,000 (leave the lial.iun f"i in uia^i in nt of vaids &c.) |ht annum off thuu fauns ? They can do that butcannot i use t'J "iOOfoi slaughtering and so save this yeaily los->. Suiely some amongst the gra/aeis h.ivo business capacity sufficient to bee the wrong they are doing themselves and the d'stuct altogether. Another great difficulty is the determined opposition of certain parties to tho working of the Co operative Association, which is fathering the slaughtering businesi. This opposition, so far aa I can see, is preventing the Urge companies (who produce somewhere about one-third of tho meat) from joining in the scheme, and it is hard to expect tho small men to start for their benefit a business which they candidly acknowledge is a really good one. Of couise, the association can, and will, lefuse to deal with any cattle belonging to out-udeis on the mutual profit punciple. No doubt they will bo willing to kill cattle for these outsider, but then the offal profits must go to the shaieholdeis, ho that really the fewei tho number of the latter, thegieiter tho profits from the slaughteiing. And here the Co - operative management 'vill^ require to keep tho' eyes open and sec th.it they aie not utilised by getting, aay, a few shaies for tho worknig manager, and getting him to pass things through. lin ly heie s,iy that is now being done, and I know one instance in which one of the larget-t propei ties in the whole district deals almost exclusively, and very laigely too, with the Co-opurntivo through their iiiauagei who owns five shares, they not having a shilling's worth of interest in tho association. Now about the ni.ukets. The demand for dead meat m Auckland is nici easing weekly. This I know paitlyof my own knovvledgo and paitly fioin the manager of tho Fioy.en Meat Company. A new class of small butchei.s are coming to tho foie in Auckland. Men with limited means, but who understand then business thoroughly, and who will bo content to make their piofits out of the c.uo.vo by iotailing the same and going in tor small meat vvoik Ido not know if the majouty of fanners are awaie of the fact that piivato people in town pay 8d peril) for then steak and oUiei things in propoition, but such is undoubtedly the fact, nsascoitained by personal enrjuiiy fiom dozens of people. K ventu. illy we must have a ictail shop or many shops in town, and so .secure the whole benefit of tho tiade, but this will no doubt take time. Tho success, however, that has attended the opening of the iet.nl shops by the Now Zealand Co-operative Association mu>t tell its tale, and if they succeed, depending for their supplier, m they have to do, on the present market, winch is almost a monopoly,

how much moie success tmist attend thoao who cm <<u|)|)lv the meat themselves, dncct from their paddocks to tlic blocks. The thine sirnn mi plain to me that I cannot undent md any hesitation on the part of tho--e so intensely interested .is the farmers are. I come now to Mr Roches lettei of P'nday last. In tho htsfc place I agieo with him that "wo ought to roly more upon onrsehes," but tho fact is that the Turners as ,i whole place noiehanco whatsoevei upon themselves, and have to be foiced most coiisiiniedly before they will t-tir themselves into action. About the election of >aids T do not agree ,it all with Mi Roche. With all due lespect to his evpeuenccin slaughtei I maintain that it will not pay .it ■ill to do the thing on .1 small scale. We must go in foi .1 pioper set of woikmg pi 01111^0-^, including oveiything foi manipulating the oifal, &c , and tin-, ceitainly cannot be thought of foi the amount mentianed by Mr Roche. Ko ! theio is little doubt that we must be piepaied with at h\t-t £2,000 to nisuie success, foi it must not be thought tliat the l.ulway autlioiities will go to much expense foi a muill tiade Abo\it the site. Wheie at Oh iujjc) can a good site be obtained with plenty of loom, jilenty of water, and a good lailway siding at a modet ate cost ? Xowheie that I know of, and although Ohaupo ii tho centie of tho Western poition of the beef countiy, nearly lialf tho cattle, and consuleiably more than ouo half, m fact ne.vily two thuds of tho slieep come fiom the Eastern portion of the distuct, and would be better suited by Pi.inktin. Howcxei, the sito is a small matter in comparison with the starting of the industly, and may well be left to tho dnectors to settle. To conclude, I may say that I ha\o caiefully studied for some months, I might hay yeais, tho whole matter, having niooted it mno ycird ai^o. And I am ceit.un that in this piopoaed industly, combined with the proper, and abovo all tho systematic woiking of our dairies, (public and private) lies the foundation of a successful and prosperous future for Waikato geneially, and thoso who ha\o the means of helping thpse thing-, ahead, and fail to do so now will not be doing their duty to the country, 01 to tho moneyed intoiest> they icpie-ent Luid instead of mcieasing in value, or at any rate being occupied and fanned, will continue to bo what is now, .v ding and a, loss to thoso who hold it in laig.» quantities. I may say that I have not wiitten this letter at tho instigation of 01 on behalf of the dnectors of the Co opoiative. i am simply giving my ideas on a mattei winch I ha\o well and thoroughly studied for some tune past. To those who disagree with mo I s>ay, come on and let us have it out. — 1.11111 .1111 yours faithfully, T (i. S\Nr>ES Hamilton, 30th Xovemb"i, 1885.