MEAT FOR OVERSEAS

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20958, 10 November 1939, Page 7

MEAT FOR OVERSEAS

COOL STORES CLEARANCE SHIPPING POSITION (Special to Times) WELLINGTON, Wednesday “Cool stores will be clearer for the coming freezing works season than ever in a like period of our history,” said the Minister of Marketing, the Hon. W. Nash, in an address to-night. Mr Nash claimed that the United Kingdom’s desire to hurry products to Britain was responsible for some ships coming to the Dominion with very little cargo. Care had to be taken when discussing shipping, the Minister said, for fear of giving information that should not be divulged. However, it could be said that when the trouble began the United Kingdom Government arranged to send the maximum number of ships to enable New Zealand to send away between 800,000 and 1,000,000 carcases of meat in store for which there was no market in sight. “At the beginning of September we made arrangements for the stored meat to go overseas,” Mr Nash said. “Ships were sent to clear our stores, and that is why some ships have come here with very little cargo.”

Discussing methods of shipment for Dominion produce, and payment to producers, Mr Nash said that the New Zealand Government was paying for goods either in store or when shipped. A hold-up in shipping could easily mean dislocation, but the United Kingdom would pay a large proportion when the goods were shipped, and the balance when they were due to arrive.