FROZEN PRODUCE LETTER.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 14159, 27 September 1911, Page 7

FROZEN PRODUCE LETTER.

THE STRIKE AND FOOD SUPPLIES.

LONDON AND THE NEW ZEALANDER.

(fbom ocb special corresfo.vdext.) LONDON, August 17. It is hard to gain from the multitudinous press reports concerning the labour crisis enthralling London and tho other centres of population in Great Britain just now, any coherent idea as to how tho frozen produce trades actually stand and what the ultimate effect on them will be. There is something more than crowded uharv.es. riotous strikers, and heavy condemnations, to consider, and least of all docs a report of market vaiue6 current reflect the situation truly. Taking meat fir a t, I have estimated that at the present moment there are resting in tho holds of vessels now at the London docks as nearly as pc6siblo one and a quarter million carcases of mutton and lamb, besides half a million quarters of beef. As I write this letter, no report has yet come to hand of any of the vessel having broken bulk, and tho seriousness of this situation will bo realised when it is remembered that tho earliest of these hold-up arrivals, that of the Opawa, came into dock on the 22nd of last month, so that 27 out of the 30 days' limit allowed in the insurance policy on the meat has elapsed without any sign of the work of unloading being started. I learn that all the ships havo to scrape along as far as coal is concerned; their engineers are stoking the boilers, and 6o far the meat is safe and sound in good condition in the refrigerator chambers. So there is no reason to fear big damage. Whether any compromise will bo made in insurance I cannot say; the usual policy covers lo6s but not deterioration. When the meat does come through it will be with a rush, and there will be a quick trade. One more word as to condemnations. There 6eems U> be tho impression that tho strike has caused a great volume of seizures. This may uavo been in soft fruits, etc., but tno Chief Inspector at West Sniithfield reported yesterday that apart from a small quantity of meat having been returned from tho market tnat day. when business had practically reganicd its normal state, "any meat we havo had to condemn has aliected solely by the hot weather and not by the strike at all." MARKET DIFFICULTIES. Had the masters in the various trades only shown a tithe of tho unity that the men havo done, there is not the slightest doubt that the disrocation oi trade would not have been half as serious as it has been. Mr Gilbert Anderson, with whom I chatted on the subject yesterday, was very strong on this point. Personally, he said, directly a big firm of cartage contractors stopped work, he was able to make private arrangements for conveyance ol supplies. Then came, on the 10th and 11th inst., the period of severe intimidation by the strikers round West Sinithfield, and Mr Anderson informed mc what a salutary effect tho resolution sent from tho Incorporated Society of Meat Importers fo the Government had had. Police protection had been offered immediately, and trade had been resumed, though on a limited scale, of course. He was of opinion that New Zealanders would not lose much by the present trouble. THE GLUT TO FOLLOW. It is, of course, fortunate for New Zealand that tho strike has como at: the fag-end of her season. What Argentine firms aro going to do presently is hard to conceive. It is estimated that oyer 300,000 quarters of beef are on their way to England from Argentine. Naturally, all the chilling vessels that have arrived so far have hardened up their cargoes. Tho mutton trade is bound to suffer badly from the glut of beef which mu6t surely be thrown nt buyers presently. Lambs are not likely to suffer to anything like the same extent. In the ships' holds in the Thames it is estimated that there lie 364,0C0 lambs and 203,000 mutton carcases, and 9,600 beef quarters from Now; Zealand. At Liverpool, the position is far more serous, as the dniTv rewsnnner reader will have gathered long before now. COLD STORAGE RATES. The question will be asked, how have tiie cold stores themelvcs fared? Well, cold storage with your chambers full and barred up is a profitable game, but the proprietors of these establishments in I/ondon—where there is a cold storage ring—declaro that the strike concessions have increased their wages bill fully 33 1-3 per cent., and. as from the 13th inst., London cold storage rates have been put up 7$ per cent. This means that the old 20s 9d management rate jumps to a fraction ovor 223 3d, a serious thing for meat holders. Readers will remember that an agitation has already been on foot among importers to get cold storage rates reduced in London. Tho change will put this matter on a different basis. For the moment tho trade is busy adjusting other questions. i BUTTER. Regarding butter, only three of tho held-up refrigerated vessels in the Thames contain Australian butter—a t::attor of some 9000 boxes, I believe. Tooloy street, however, is in trouble as the cannon still make it difficult to got stuff out of cold store. Apart from the restrictions in trade, nevertheless, and putting the strike on one side— if one can do that—prices aro very strong Tho Danish quotation was put up as much as 8 kr., to 114s. A little New Zealand butter sold last week at 118s. Speculation in "Colonial" butter is greatly hampered by tho firmness of tho market, accountable to tho drought and other seasonal conditions that rule. From 112s to 114s c.i.f., is a tall rate, and business is consequently limited. Most things point to tho season opening much stronger than last year, and it should be a consigning season for New Zealanders. Australian and other exporters will be hard hit by the 1\ per cent, increase in cold storage rates. GOVERNMENT AID. I am interested to see in the newlyissued "Annual Butter Review" of Weddcl's, reference to tho desirability of the New Zealand Government taking a strong fonvard policy and extending on behalf of butter exporters the advertising campaign started in the English newspapers in a desultory fashion this last season. Readers of these notes will remember my words exactly to this point. Mr Samuel Lowe argues that it would pay the Dominion by establishing the reputation of New Zealand butter permanently in the mind of the, British housewiveK. and making it as popular as Danish. Exporters who fret at the rather anomalous position which New Zealand butter holds in tho English market as compared with Danish, may take it from mc that it will need some uphill work like that now recommended to effect the necessary lift. The Dominion Government should be approached in this matter.