OUR FROZEN PRODUCE LETTER.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 14029, 28 April 1911, Page 3

OUR FROZEN PRODUCE LETTER.

! PREVAILING CHEAPNESS OF t MEAT.

; TALK OF THE "TRUST."

Ij (TSOM OCR OWN CORRESPONDENT.) j LONDON", ilarch 17. j Although there are many on this i s^e ™ho would not agreo with mc, my ! comment on seeing the big trade that :is going forward in the meat market, ,is that meat is far too cheap. I am not bold enough to suggest a euro foi this, but the impression is inevitable J when I see big clearances at such pool j rates. New Zealand mutton, as I piedieted, was cheapened to make sales—it j was lowered a halfpenny, i.e.. to withjin id of Plate sheep. Canterbury j mutton, of course, is conspicuous by j its absence, but North Island is very jj i plentiful. It is a great pity New Zeaj j land lambs are such a long time this j I year in getting their proper demand, j j bub so it is, ajid the fact remains that j forward trade is much cheaper than * spot sales. Tho meat to have sold M well in the present sc;;rr ; :y of frozen P beef would have been New Zealand B beef of the choicer qualities, but that, P again, is scarce; meanwhile chilled beef Kj aftVcts much else with its overwhelmX mcc trade at poor rates. The 000,000 1 old Australian lambs arriving up to I have also told their tale. I especially in view of the condition of 1 a great portion of them. Tho singio £ impression one gets is that meat is g far too cheap. 1 AMERICAN OPERATIONS. I 1 wonder what New Zealanders « really think of ail tho shouts and ft j alarums that fill the air, or rather the I I Press, over "Meat Trust" scares. It I began—that is, tho latest volley beJ| gan with tho announcement of the k award of au Army meat contract to g Swift's, alongside which came a newsf paper report about American efforts to j acquire Australian meat freezing in- ! terests. It all mado a protty talo for tho Press, of course, and both the Australian Minister of Customs and tho I j Prime Minister of Now Zealand were I very well within their rights in mnk- \ ing the formal announcement that atf tempts on the part of the American \ Trust to secure a foothold in theii I j territory would be promptly and re- | 1 verely quashed. Yet both cf these I Ministers must know full well that this I was not the only end of tho stick. The i war waged by the Americans has its greatest execution in the country of consumption, and it is tho gradual seizI u;«> of the markets in the United ; I"mgdoni which the Americans, with thoir enormous and perfect organisa- \ tion, their careful and admirable J methods of preparation and handling, 1 and their relentless strategy, aro m 0.4 I intent upon. If it were sources of I supply they wanted to corner, they ! have just missed a chance in South i America, where, I hear, the Sansinena 5 Company has just outbid Swift's with 8™ £300,000, against £'200,000 for the purchase of the Frigorifieo Uruguayo, beI sides which it is reported that a British concern is to proceed to erect freezing works under a concession obtained at Zarate. A special correspondent of tho London "Times" argues that tho Americans cannot gain the monopoly they are said to seek, unless they gain possession of all the sources of supply in the Argentine, an argument the soundness of which I question. It a seems to mc that tho party wielding I the most powerful sword of capital I must win, especially if he bo backed I by a uniformity of methods and orI "ganisation, which the Americans seem II to use to Lheir immense advantage I j everywhere. At any rate, it all seems | to point to very cheap meat, and the S only deliverance to prevent tho exI porters' apple-cart upsetting on this | road is more markets. . I BUTTER AND CHEESE. m The colonial butter market is distil tiuctly unsatisfactory just now. "Wo j H don't know where we aro at tho if moment," said one importer to mc this $1 morning, and with the level of prices H at from 103s to 105s lor Now Zealand, at and Australian finest 98s to 100s, with jl a gradual downward tendency, iV j gj informant seemed chiefly embarrassed j B with the quality of the butters he j M had before him on tho floor. While j . g| Now Zealand butter has been showing- 1 ™ greater immunity from fishiness since ; I last wrote—even the Rotorua, about I < which I could not then speak with cer- J < tainty, was a great improvement, and c ; ihe Pakeha and lonic have arrived j f since then—Australian butter has been | } revealing the same trouble, Victorian I i U ns well as the rest, and the remake 1 ™ after the heavy rains has meant a c lamentable drop in quality. The awk- f ward part of it is that although the t consumptive demand at the lower rates s is very big, accumulation of stocks is still very large, indeed, butter storage is making quite a shortage in accomino- . dation in London for meat. It must be remembered that in February the I c total import of butter into the United I a Kingdom, nearly 400,000 cwt., was a n ~ 20 per cent, riso on the same month c last year, and in the first two months ) f m ol this year imports of New Zealand, I 123,500 cwt., show a rise of nearly 30 j per cent. Shortage in "choicest m- i creases the awkwardness of tho market, j as buyers become fastidious on plenti- i ful supplies, and gradings are not all jJ' r that they should be. Cheese is a nioro . H hopeful market, with New Zealand rates 'ai stronger at 58s to 595, white. At the |it end of February New Zealand stocks j E '. were declared to be 27.0C0 double jfn crates in London, as against 26,000 \d; last year, and the report of shorter i <]< shipments later should help matters. p \ '' New Zealand cheese is gradually climb- * V( ' iug up tho scale, and Canadian ship- nr 1 pers should be aware of the danger of g r its competition in English markets. w , 1 MEAT IMPORTERS AND SEIZURES. f 0 Frozen meat importers in Loudon lo are fighting for quite a considerable [ stake in their struggle to get the City ! on i Corporation to act iairly in the matter [ j n !of moat seizures. The Incorporated i j Society of Meat Importers is next week j ,j a j sending a deputation to the Sanitary ,b C( j Committee of tho Loudon Corporation -rii Ito lay its representations before that; t v, body. In brief, the position is this. | ' j Unless the importer of condemned ;' X meat within tweive hours' notice gives j an undertaking that ho will re-export; ,' tiio stuff or go before a magistrate and i j prove that it is not intended for sale sel i for human food, the authority may lllc I fuze the meat without giving a. farth- on ' : ing recompense on its subsequent sale in .' j tor manufacturing purposes. The hi; j Importers" Society demands that the I importer shall be allowed to give notice : that such meat will not be sold as ' food, and, moreover, that the sanitary .' authority on taking action for its ths- ! posal by sale for other purposes than ' food shall pay tho proceeds to x the * , owuer, less reasonable deductions for cur i expenses. The London importer is ncr j really only fighting for what ais Live-- olt " < j pool and Glasgow brethren possess, for and lin the latter city the importer is able J C . CS4 |to dispose of such meat on his own ' tha , account, and in Liverpool an allowance' J?*' 'is given on meat seized. Tho Importers' I r? E ; .society has been wise to make its do- f i mands apply only to meat in ship or' ° * store, as complications would arise if! ?f" the same principle were asked for io- j{!« garding meat once marketed. The "-Ttt Local Government Board, I believe I' „„ have stated before, already gives sfcns I cove of a reasonable attitude in this matter. I raD i(