THE PIG INDUSTRY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 125, 28 May 1932, Page 4

THE PIG INDUSTRY.

BRITISH BREEDERS CONFER. OBJECTION TO IMPORTS. Thr.se concerned in the promotion of an export pig trade to Great Britain cannot afford to ignore the very strong movement against importations which is being promoted by British pig breeders. At the annual conference of the Breeders' Association in London recently, the following resolution was carried (with one dissentient):—

"That having regard to the deplorable position of the British pig industry and to the dumping of foreign pig products in siicii quantities as to make profitable home pig production impossible, this representative meeting of pig producers respectfully urges the Minister of Agriculture to take immediate steps to limit the imports of foreign bacon and other pig products; tlie meeting also regards with alarm the destruction of breedings sows and potential breeding stock, and feels thin further delay in limiting the imports of foreign pig products will so undermine tlu industry as to make its resuscitation an unnecessarily lengthy and difficult process. 'I he meeting, therefore, urges that a definite promise be given to limit the imports of foreign bacon with the least possible delay by not less than 10 per cent of the mean of imports for the three years ended December, 1929, and to restrict imports progressively as the number of orecdiug sows increases."

Pointing out that it was possible for Knglaud to produce all its requirements in pig meat if there were a reasonable expectation of profit, Lord Radnor said it had been variously estimated that if this were done additional employment would be found for from 08,000 to 150.000 men. I'he fresh pork market enjoyed a virtual monopoly owing to the embargo imposed in li) 20, and it was in the market for cured and processed pig products—bacon, hams and lard—that there was room for real expansion.

It was necessary, that the Government .should control imports, nnd that, if possible, a minimum price should be guaranteed to the producer to stimulate home production. With some security for the home market, the cuier would be able to oiler contracts for a period ahead, and to encourage the most suitable type of pig, with the certainty that supplies would be forthcoming. A tax on imported bacon was politically impossible, but regulation of imports by quantitative method carried with it, under present treaty obligations, the necessity to impose on the home industry exactly the same regulations as were imposed on importing countries. If a quota on imports was agreed, there must be a quota for home production! and the Government must be able to produce evidence that the amount to fulfil the home quota was in fact available. Case for the Curers.

Mr. A. K. Marsh, of Messrs. J. Marsh and Baxter, bacon factors, put the case for the curers. He said the Danish tank-cured bacon as a finished product was sold in London at 18/ a cwt less than his firm was willing to pay British breeders for their pigs for making dry-cured bacon, there was no reason fundamentally why British breeders should not produce pigs at the Danish price, because the climate was equally as suitable. To make the industry profitable in Britain pigs must be kept intensively and in sufficient numbers to make pigkeeping a whole-time job for at .least one man on every farm, in Denmark bacon was sold and cured throughout the year, whereas in Britain tanners persisted in mating pigs so that factories suffered violent fluctuations , in supplies and suffered an increase in their overhead costs.