OUR FROZEN PRODUCE LETTER.

Press, Volume XLIX, Issue 14659, 7 May 1913, Page 3

OUR FROZEN PRODUCE LETTER.

FIRMER MEAT MARKET.

SHIPPING AND THE FUTURE

(FROM OCR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.)

LONDON,

March 23

That slipping tendency, which I had j to record generally for frozen meat (luring the past six weeks, has disappeared almost entirely. The reason for this is the growing knowledge of tho serious shortage in Home stuff, •combined with the paucity in New j Zealand shipments during tho first half of the month. The lamb trade is booming, and Easter week was a time of record activity in lamb for that time of the year, I am told. One bis importing firm put through 17.000 , lambs. A planco at tho prices current j will show that rates have fumed up, j and this seems likely to last, perhaps : for a couple of months. The quality I of lambs on the market is mixed; ' Australian good qualities are scarce, but complaint seems stifled in the rush of trade. Mutton improvement has been second to that in lamb. BowI ever, frozen mutton is now moving more, freely. New Zealand being in very fair request. Australian carcases hang fire somewhat, except ewes, , which sell for their cheapness. Tho Plate companies are still losing heavily j on their mutton sales, and thorn are ' signs that they hr.ye had enough of this. L'p to the middle of March their consignments; 590.030 carcases, were about nine per cant, down on the snmo period of last year. Tho South American works, however, liavo this week ngnin been pitching chilled beef i more freely, and prices have suffered ! accordingly. The most unfortunate ; part about frczen beef is that there j is a good doal of stale stuff in. tho stores, and there is r.lso muuh of only middling quality. New Zealand beef of good quality has been difficult to obtain just recently, and a good deal of the Australian beef offered lias been the subject of adverse comment by buyers. SHIPPING COMBINES. The news of tho absorption of the Nelson Lino by the Royal Mail Steum Packet Company, while not of direct interest to Australasian freight parties, must give anyone furiously to think concerning what the future may hold in frozen moat freightage. The*Ho>al Mail Company, with its Union Castle, Lamport and Holt, Elder, Dempster, and Pacific S.team, conquests easily the biggest shipping combine in the world, lias, perhaps, by its acquisition of the five and a half million cubic feet of refrigerated accommodation between tho River Plate and Great Britain, secured a place which may be important in the future fight between North American meat "trust"- interests and the vest of tho world, but shipping combination can only tend towards higher freights. This is a nail in the coffin of cheap meat, and the consumer, of course, stands to bear the burden. ARGENTINE SHIPPING. The Royal Mail Steam Packet Company has for some time past shown a considerable amount of activity in tho South American trade. As a matter of fact, it has had a very good customer iin Swift's, themselves, and I might mention a fact little known here, viz., that tho company has gene to the trouble of catering for tho special needs of its American customer in a particular way. At its own expense, it has provided huge insulated lighters, to convey chilled beef f rom the La Plata works of Swift's to its mail boats lying at Buenos Ayres, and it also actually lighters meat to its boats ; , frpm; the- same company's works at ' Monte Video. It is interesting to hear all the gor;sip that floats round the subject of the new combine. Some wiseacres maintain that'before tho recent \" Highland" flnrt was built, it was a foregone conclusion that it must go over to the jigger party. Certainly it always seemed a remarkable thing jthat such n giant tonnage should have j been henped on to the Argentine-Eng-j lish route —I speak of this and other lines. If American money can have played, in the background, any part in [this, the question remains what must ! the next development be. By the way, 11 hear that Armour's are proceeding ■with their works at Znrate. All the J "London newspapers this week contain ■ the. prospectus of j>. further issue of ;£70.000 capital by the'SmitWicld and j Argentine Moat, Company, Ltd. _ This company, which has alrerdy issued £2:0 000 out of an authorised capital of £330 000, enntcmp!.<itos furl hor- extension of its Zarate works. Its dividend has averaged over eight per cent, for tho 5i years of its existence. ARMY DIKT. The higher prices of fronen mutton in the past yenr have induced the Army ' Council to revise Tommy Atkins's diet, though there are few who consider the change a wise one. In J'utrrc the BriMs>h soklior is to ent fresh b'eof, or

rather Unme-ldlled beef, three days a week, and lrrscn beef four days, hmitton bcins entirely eliminnte:!. This news will interest beef producers.

Tfll'] MACMRFKAN PROCE.S3

.Queensland shares with New Zealand tho distinction cf tiavinr; tlio first large nlnnts erect r<l for exploiting the MncMoikan frec:-:ri!r ami defrosting precox in which Mrss v s T. C. Nelson ! and MoKerrow liavc n .proprietary in- ! torest during tho next two years. A i ronrn-vny trilb .1 qua-tei- of n millirm sterling capital is being' forrred in this onimoctior.. am! hot!' at. "Wellington and in Queensland, tho first instr.ll-tirsns will hare a thousand qinr'■prs d-ily •nnpfoity. so that a convnluiiio. of rr.o.it will' bo l-n!'<llcd undrr this rsitcnt. svstrTn._ tho •nniorily tif it probably going to Liverpool. PORT OF LONDON. .Mt-hotJCjli at tl:o lim.o or the plection •■' the mornbrrs of tl'o Port of Loivilon Vuthoritv snrh .i fn c .s wn? mado about ,-i'iovancps morchints liad rrncenii ,l ".:ho Authority's various rates, notably iho s'itlinfr scp.la charge for onld snr- fnge, the elr-riions hr.vc in the' ,, ■not nrnduord any chances. ]Slr AVil-V.n-n We'l.Tol h?s been re-elcrtcd on the ";ocd> side, nnd. as I said in my Inst 'rfctrr". ho will nnw renvrscnt rnrnt importers , interests* r>s well as those of •he wool 'trade. The trenchant pen of writer of one of the K'T'itbflei'l »"rn7!on nie-t circulars, that of Lowti'e;ind Plnnlre.y. waxes"'eloquent in !» over the slidint: scnle, s-iy-inq:—"Twenty per cent, d'sc'ounts b'o'rnip; to tho sphere of tho boudoir of. •'or thst mniter. the harem. The lues levied by a r.ublic authority -hmild be r.bnve in every re-•T-eet, and public po.'tthw must not bn taken of to put money in private peckcts."