FROZEN MEAT TRADE.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2572, 5 August 1909, Page 6

FROZEN MEAT TRADE.

SPEECH BY THE MINISTER OF

AGRICULTURE

AN IMPORTANT UTTERANCE.

By the courtesy of the Hon. the Minister of Agriculture, the following telegram was supplied to the “Times last night. -\y ELLI NGTON, August 4. At the A. and P. Conference to-day, an interesting discussion ensued relative to the present state of the moat market at Home, and among those who spoke were the Hon. the Minister or Agriculture; Mr Ewan Campbell (chairman of the Wanganui Meat Co.), and Mr. W. C. Buchanan, M.P. (chairman of the Wellington Meat Co.), and others. The contention was put forth that the fall in values of frozen moat was due to the big surplus of Homo supplies, and reference was _ made to opening markets on the Continent. It was also suggested that a conference of the freezing companies m New Zealand should be held in Wellington to consider the question. In. dealing with these matters the Hon. Tlios. Mackenzie said it was a mistake to suppose 1 that there was in the total an oversupply of meat at Home. Although durum the past ten years the entire British meat supply had increased by halt a million hundredweights, the population during the same period had increased in a greater proportion, viz., between five and six millions. Coming, however, specially to the question or mutton and lamb on the London market Mr Mackenzie said that m the report submitted by the committee set up by the British Parliament to inquire into combinations in the meat trade, it was shown that m. 1899 the total mutton and lamb was 10,444,000 cwts, and in 190 S it was 10,087.000 cwts, or a decrease of 357,000 cwts. The Hiief item of increase in the total meat supply was that of pigs which increased by 1,500,000 cwts. Undoubtedly the principal cause of the existing depression was the lessened buying power of the British people,, due to the lack ot employment, and the fact that Britain was losing her percentage of the grasp of the manufacturing trade of _ the •work Mr. Mackenzie again pointed out that producers in the dependencies by placing orders for goods with foreign countries whose system of trading precludes our products from entering their markets, contributed to a continuance ,of the depression in England which was having so disastrous an effect on the price of our meat. Ibe speaker did not for a moment consider that there was much prospect of markets being opened on the Continent for New Zealand frozen meat, and lie instanced the action of France in recently increasing the duty from l|d,to 2d per lb on such imports. He believed, however, that the present low prices at Home would be but temporary. Ihe present condition of the market had to be met, and accumulations of stock placed," and he was hopeful that by n «xt season there would be an improvement. The better handling of meat at the other end was required in some respects, and there was no doubt it was capable of much improvement, especially in dull times, when the inordinate claims for meat not up to quality and meat sold c.i.f. were more in evidence. The insurance companies have intimated, after threatening to discontinue underwriting altogether, that from the first of last month the rates were to be increased from 53s to 6os, and from 47s 6d to 62s 6d. Regarding the suggested conference of New Zealand freezing companies, some good might result from such a gathering, but it was not possible to bring it about, a s some managers did not care to meet at the same board some of tlio managers of other companies.

BRITISH TRADE RELATIONS. Continuing,Air Mackenzie said: There is a conference now sitting in London considering the question of defence by land and sea, and it is hoped the question will be dealt with on lines commensurate with the interests of our farreaching Empire. It is essential that it should be followed by another of almost equal importance. Indeed, the one is the completion of, and supplementary to, the other, as the success of the interests of this second conference winch I now' advocate furnishes the real sinews of war,'and without these sinews it would be impossible to carry on the defence of any country. The British Empire has reached a eriod m its history when a review of the whole commercial and inter-Statc interests and problems should be undertaken. luo political economy that suited the. United Kingdom when Great Britain uas the workshop of the world now requires readjustment to meet the changed conditions of competition from .powerful opposing nations. The problems requiting attention are such as call tor the greatest minds of the age to deal with, and those selected to take part in the deliberations should he possessed, of the keenest insight and the profoundest knowledge of the subjects to be considered, and not, as is too often the case, effete politicians who may delegate to secretaries the responsible work while they talk an infinite deal of nothing at after-dinner gatherings. What are the problems that should be considered? These include the retention to the Empire of'the best of our sons and daughters for the building-up of the Homeland and for colonising the younger lands. In the past too many of these sons and daughters have passed into foreign countries. _ There are lands enough for all within our farreaching dominions. . There are profitsi hie occupations for all, and markets to absorb the products of their hands. This question is a most important one, and then there is the question of securing to our Empire tlio profits of what her people produce of equal quality and quantity with other nations by a readjustment of trade relationship through the agencies of tariffs. There is also the question of the British mercantile marine. This nroblem must be gone into. Our mercantile service is being enormously handicapped in its competition with those of other countries owing to the latter being State aided by means of bonuses, subsidies, and rebates, and also in connection with this class of competition further assistance is given by special rates on foreign railways for the carriage , of goods entering into competition with British enterprises. Lord Cromer, in a very able speech recently, said that if hut a tenth of the statesmanship which secured for Britain rhe enormous advantages of the Suez Canal is applied to our mercantile marine now, the embargo on British shipping and commerce would soon be a thing of the nast. There is, too, another important • . ■

matter, and that is the question, of foreign trusts operating within the British Empire. The extent to which these rnulti-milionairo concerns are interfering with sound economic ramifications of honorable traclo can only bo estimated. Already in the meat market in the Old Country their octopus tentacles are feeling their way into the trade, and although evidence could not be extracted at the investigations of the Parliamentary Committee on Meat, to which I have already referred, it was made quite clear that through tlio medium of these trusts people in the United States of America are now; fixing the price of meat in the provinces of the Old .Country.. Noticing these great changes going on around us, combinations influencing prices and interfering internationally in such matters, we in New' Zealand can hardly expect prices to be rightly adjusted, as far as we are concerned, if some working basis be not established .to meet thesepowerful trusts. AVhat is wanted in the prosent moment is statesmanship, making the interests of the Empire the first consideration. These questions of far-reaching national importance, however, were frequently made the plaything of political parties,, and were determined, not with a view to nations, but rather as they bore on the success or otherwise of personal ambition and political promotion.”

MR. W. NELSON’S OPINION. WELLINGTON, August 4. The following letter was sent by Mr. W. Nelson, Tomoana, Hawke’s Bay, to the Minister of Agriculture: “Tomoana, Hawke’s Bay, “July 29th.

“Hon. Tfios. Mackenzie, Department of Agriculture, Wellington. Dear Sir, —Following my telegram this morning, in reply to your’s of yesterday’s date, I am quite satisfied _ that the present slump in London is entirely due to the supply exceeding the demand. The trouble began in the latter part of last year, when the demand for lamb practically ceased, and that for mutton was very much restricted, the result being that, when this season’s meat began to arrive, there were still large stocks (large by comparison with the demand) of last season’s meat, and money still remained scarce; that is, in the hands of the habitual frozen meat consumer. Old stocks had moved somehow. Thus a lowering of prices was inevitable. Then, to make matters worse, shipments were larger and earlier than had ever been known in our history, clue to an abnormally fine winter and spring in the North Island. A few figures referring to the shipments of Australian mutton and lamb afloat are instructive:

“Now, remember that trade in Great Britain still remained bad and money scarce; then is it necessary to look any further than supply and demand for the denlorable conditions which havo existed,' and do exist ? Then comes the question of remedy. It is very simple, but not over nice. It means lower prices to the producer. Take it this way: Amongst the frozen, meat consumers in the Old' Country there aro so many half-crowns to be spent inmeat overv week. Are we to give them 51b or 101 bof meat for their halfcrown? I say that supply exceeds demand. Then we must give 101 b for half-a-crown. We can’t move the quantity. The producer will, of course, not approve of this line of reasoning, but he has to. A few years back we iu the North Island thought our fortunes would be made, but. of late years we have been getting from 12s to 16s, so that the smaller figure looks like ruination, but it is not so. Wo can still do very well at Bs. AVe have got to face it. No doubt there will, for various reasons, be ups and downs in the trade, but a slieepfarmer need not starve on the average result except where ridiculous prices have been paid for; land. One reads in the papers a good deal about American trusts, etc. No one knows wliat the ultimate result to the trade will be owing to their methods. For all I know- it may be utterly disastrous j but 3 at the moment, I am quite certain that supply and demandi is the solution of the ti Dubious condition existing. There is one item which I suggested which to some extent will mitigate an increase of the evil, and which I commend to ; every freezing company in the Dominion viz., do not increase killing accommodation. Already we are killing too last. I am aware that -proposals to increase the killing capacity exist. I am sure it would ho much wiser if such proposals are not carried out. At the same time increased storage would bp of considerable value. (Signed) AA . Nelson.”

' 1908. 1909. Oh 21st Jan. ... 5,475,000 925,000 ” 28th Jan. ... '550,000 1,050,000 ,, 2nd March ... 875,000 1,200,000 18th May ... 630,000 1,548,000 20th July 945,000 690,000