INTERESTING LECTURE BY H.C. CAMERON.

Bruce Herald, Volume XXXXI, Issue 4, 17 January 1905, Page 5

INTERESTING LECTURE BY H.C. CAMERON.

At the Agricultural Ha.ll, Islington, on Tuesday last, a lecture on " The ] Rfesourcei^f New .Zealand " was de-.. ..livered (says the Meat Trades Journal) .under --'."the auspices of the Cold Storage and Ice ' Association, by Mr H. C. Cameron, Produce Commissioner for the New Zealand Government Mr M. T. Brown (member of the Executive Council) occupied the chair. ' A SKLF-SU:P.PORTING .--EMPIRE. .. ... Commencing , by remarking that •at the present moment,- when keen attention is being directed to - the' " Fiscal Question,'' and when argument often becomes heated;. as. to whether or no ' ' your' food wi ft. cost you more, " con . ' sideratiori as to how far the British Colonies may be reckoned on to assist., in solving that point must be of considerable interest, and that any information that may -be -afforded concerning the Colonies must'' : ,bb'' , '-of- ; .yalue,;.^Mr. Cameron said" that under. existing cdnO ditions it would be -'no use .offering the suggestion that.' the requirements of this country could be satisfied by the resources "' oif. t; -the,.' : ■■Colonies. : Alter the conditions, however. Should the need arise, should suchO inducements occur as would awaken- those _ feelings of Im - p.erialism . -manifested ' so strongly throughout' the British, Colonies during, the South ; African^ war, then, he firmly believed; the,, latent J resources of the Empire would; be fully demonstrated. The present he considered a suitable time tp- enquire seriously how far the;-.B'ritish:.Eppir'e : m.ay be reckoned on to be self-supporting. WHAT NEW ZEALAND CAN DO. . ~. Briefly sketching the early history and geographical .features- of the Colony, the lecturer shortly referred to the chief food products grown there, Explaining that thie -policy of the present New Zealand Government is . the settleiiient'of the, people oii the land; arid that for this purpose large estates had been acquired; by "them for subdivision and disposal in small lots to agricultural settlers, the fact was emphasised that the Government thoroughly recognises the. .desirability, of encouraging the, settlers to give attention to" those ;;small'Odetails of farming that- are; bft^O-ibpked -upon in this country as bein% of minor importance, but which when 'systematically attended to afford a remunerative sou ree "of revenue. The -chief' items that New Zealand- is to'be depended on to. supply however are dairy produce and meat; 'i'l^boltiiAhe C-bi^ny can hold her own, If npt'i'n^.quattftitjr,'. at • least in quality; Sketching the dairy industry since 1882^ when the first serious attempt was made to develop' it' -in New Zealand, Mr Cameron gave a very, interesting account of-the development Of co-opera-tive dairy companies. Such companies have been - extensively formed .among the farmers throughout the Country, and. this system of conducting the business, has been ..found to work remarkably well.- The Department of I Agriculture of the New Zealand Government does all in- its power to assist, the producers in the- Colony to attain; to the highest degree of excellence in the manufacture of; dairy produce. \ The -staff of experts., at the disposal of the farmers includes instructors whose duties are to visit the factories and by practical demonstration and advice show th 6 jirhariagershow to remedy any defects in jthe quality of their output, to -deliver lectures on ' dairy, mattery and ■'. generally to .assist in the development of the industry wherever possible. • With^shrewd foresight, however, the late Sir JOhnOMcKenzie, who was Minister in Charge of the Agriculr tural pepartmeht,i'felt that although this would naturally te.hd; to deyelop the trade and improve the quality of the produce, still theincentivejo excel, so necessary for the attainment of perfection, might be wanting:. ; Accordingly, by an Act passedOi^ 1^64, the Government was empowered to have all butter manufactured for; export graded prior to shipment. . subsequently extended to cheese. . Makers .who formerly were satisfied with the quality of the butter made in their creamery possibly found . that .it " was-; graded only second-class by the Government experts.^ They heard perhaps that their neighbour had got first-grade for his.make. Accordingly, an 'extra effort was made to improve. Competition became gener ral, and gradually as time went on most of , the butter made in; the.creameties'came within the range of- first-grade. Then thestandard .was . raised a few points and the quality -further levelled up. The Quantity of . gutter shipped from .Zealand to' ; "Great- Britain last season was 249,6^60,6^, valued at ■^"1,145^226 .; and of cheese 64,661 cwt, valued -AA-A] '■'.-. 'Mr Cameron:.held:.that the New "Zealand dairy industry is still in its infancy. As years go oh, as land: becomes more and-i more., settled: on by small farmers, when more preparatibn islnade for 'supplying winter fodder, an more especially.-, when the- dairy- herds of.the Colony : are improved by- ; the selection of iihef feiiking- strains, there is no doubt but that the export of dairy produce will; increase; enormously.- ' " 'THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE. : > Referring; to the .frozen meat tradej, some interesting information was given. Commencing; with-' gnf -export -of bt°7>&B}b f ofthe ' ieistimaited - value p£ '■■" "' -0 0 : •'■•"' '■'■' -"■';• - : .'' O '.-. 'A-::. . A'AjJ A. :A

in 1882, the trade has steadily grown until, in 1903' the quantity of frozen, meat .disported from Newr Zealand reached -the enormous total of 266,408)8001!-, of a > value . 'of £3,197,043. The quantity being shipped this year shows a. decrease and the flocks in the Colony are likewise reduced. Mr Cameron considered - that this is not surprising. It was? (hardly to •be expected that , New Zea-' land, or any other country in fact, could continue' to send away such a proportion; of her flocks-r^-and that trie .cream of therh— and still' maintain the numbers in the country. The total; num ber of sheep .: and ; lambs, ' inclusive of those slaughtered for consumption in the Colony, drawn in 1903 from: the total (20,342,727) in the Colony, according to the census of 1902,, was 6,886,385.. Compare, the figures with the proportion killed fromthe flocks of any -other country in the world, and the numbers are amazing. Tempted by the high prices offered for mutton,, ther New. Zealand farmers parted with many of their' ewes. These being the foundation of the industry, the m-stake in parting with them so readily" has been seen, and the shortsightedness of the policy, has been.ack.nowledged. returns-, however, show that the ewe flock have increased since last year by .150,100, and now number' 10,090,04-. The lecturer considered it likely-tnat for a year or two at least the large number of carcases exported in 1993 will not be increased. He. was of opinion, however, that the trade in. frozen meat from New Zealand 'wiU expand. That he is. not alone in this belief would appear from the .preparations that have been made for an expending trade , both by those rested in the refrigerating works in the. Colony and by, the shipping companies trading between there and this country. j IMPROVEMENT IN REFRIGERATION. Mr Cameron dealt specially with the improvements effected in refrigerating machinery during recent years, whereby it is now the exception to find damage to meat occurring pn board ship as formerly used to be so. common. These improvements have so enabled the charges incurred in handling .frozen meat to be so greatly reduced that although the price realised bri the'Londori market may riot how be so high'as' some years ago, the net "returns received by shippers is much. greater.: ; „ . BRITISH FARMERS' NEED NOT BE ALARMEt). , „..' While those concerned in the welfare pf British agricultural may fear that the large and growing imports of dairy produce and meat from New Zealand may threatea disaster to that interest, : ]\Jr 'Cameron felt thai there. was v no . nfeed .to dread this. He said that the British farmer depends 1 far more on milk-selling than on butter-makihg, and ; that although the importation of frozen meat has assumed such large proporr tions, the value of home-grown mutton and lamb, according- to the returns' of the JBoard of .Agriculture, shows very slight change during the past fifteen years. The introduction of New Zealand meat to. this country has not cur-" tailed' the use nor lowered the price of home-grown meat. It has rather extended the field of consumption, and has proved a blessing to this 'country by enabling those who formerly were unable to afford the purchase of it to now have a sufficiency of sound, wholesome and cheaper food. .Tn concluding. his lecture, which was illustrated by a capital selection of lantern views, Mr -'Cameron said: "The Colonies are an important: part 6 f the British Empire. . They are capable with, steady development, of enormously increasing, their, productions and of materially adding to the food supplies of this country. Any encouragement, therefore, that may be • helpful" to them, should be freely giyen,,.recognising the* J fact that every penny spent in trade with them is money retained in. the Empire, and, which/ should it at any time be necessary, would be freely used in its defence." : . - An interesting discussion followed;