THE TINNED MEAT INDUSTRY.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 13610, 20 December 1909, Page 4

THE TINNED MEAT INDUSTRY.

A SERIOU6 ALLEGATION.

(SPECIAL TO "THE rEESB.")

"WELLINGTON, December IS. In the House of Itopresontatives thus afternoon Mr 11. lieaton llhodes brought up « matter of considerable interest in connection with the meat industry. In doing so, he said he was not making <tny charge against the Government, and he simply drew attention to the matter in order that the Minister might bo able to state tho facts of the case. He quoted from a I letter from a Melbourne firm to Hie j eflet-t that th?y had purchased from a j Southland company a small jjjrcel of sheep tongues which came in gocd order and gave- every satisfaction. On I the faith of representations mad? that j another parcel of about 130 cases was in good order and condition they purchased them from the company. The letter proceeded :—"We lvceivetl'the <;oods, but aa the terms were cash against documents on this side we hod no oppertunity to fully sample them. After paying duty and delivering them to our customer we found that they wero in J bad condition ornl unfit for human consumption. We then discovered that the company had omitted to affix the Government stamp to tho tins. Wβ called their attention to the bad condition of the tongues, and also to the fact that tiie Government stump was not affixed to any of the tins in the shipment. With a view of testing the tongues in another (State we cent a small parcel to l-'romantle. Our agent then* opened several tins, and found them totally mint for human consumption, aii<l made a sworn declaration to this effect. This declaration, together wi;h other declarations, were sent to tho .Minister of Agriculture ut Wellington, colling his attention to the fact that the company had ehip,-A?d these tongues without the Government stamp affixed to th:» tins, und that the company actuary offered to send us tho Go vornment stamp to put on each of the tins, notwithstanding tho fact that they were declared to bo -unfit for human consumption. Ho also advised the Government that we, through the shipping cf such tongues, would do the canning industry of 'New Zealand yreat injury, and drew attention to tho penalties attached to shipping tongues without tho Government stamp. The Government have declined to take any in the matter, and wo suggest that, in tho interests of the canning industry else-whore, some steps should be taken to investigate the matter." Mr liiodos explcined that ho was not interested in any preserving company, but he and everyone else was interested in the export of our products and desirous of seeing a high standard of quality maintained.

Ihe Minister for Agriculture (the Hon. T. .Mackenzie) brioSy explained the position. Continuins, he iaid-— ".Since then I havo obtained, en official .statement in regard to the complaint as follows:—'These tongues "were packed by a company which gave up business and went into liquidation several months ago. When they gave up s aushtering, the slaughterhouse was closed down, and the inspector left, taking his official signature stamp with him. W• ithout th* inspactor's signature added the label (which is really a certincato of freedom from tl'seaae at the time/of slaughter) is invalid.-. The tins ot tongues packed during the last weeks of slaughtering had to bo set aside for twnie weoks, as is the custom of the trade, in order that they miPht be tested before being finally labelled and sold. When they w-sre ' finally reaay the inspector had toft, and, consequently, his signature could not be obtained for the official label. Therefore, the fans were sant away unlabelii ~U m?ful enquiries were mode to the allegation that an offer had been made to K end the official lab3ls over to Australia This was net the case, so far as labels bearing }he inspector's signature wero concerned. Tt wns suggested thnt a genial certificate covering tho tins might bo given, but this was refused by the Clref Veteri narian. It w» 3 not alleged- that the tongu-, were HJ, Mw d when taken from the sheep. They h ß <? under-one n degeneratn-o chanse after packing ' "