FROZEN PRODUCE LETTER.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16118, 24 January 1918, Page 9

FROZEN PRODUCE LETTER.

.MEAT CONTROL. REFRIGERATING ACCOMMODATION. (rroM OtK SPECIAL COKnESrONDKKT.) LONDON, November 6, lJi'Indication of the difficulties bound with meat administration at the Mini-trv of food is £i™n in th<j retirement of -Mr Sidney Young from the Directorship of Meat Supplies m less than three months after his appointment. New Zealanders -will be parti- , jiliiriy interested to learn that Mr F. T JJo v s, of the New Zealand llcfrigcjsiting Co.. Ltd., has succeeded him in that responsible post. 'lhe change ,vas ilic subject of a question in tne House of Commons last week. Mr 11 ill Tiiornc, tut? indetatigable querist, luc parliamentary (iocrotary to i.ie ministry ot i'ood U jiu would state me reasons assigned lo" M l ' _ Sidney', aim iVir ivobtrl i iaotsr in clissuciating themselves witli uc work of ins i>i<paitmont in respect to control hi mem prices; what "were tho exact duties ol these gentlemen, and wheiticr anyone had been appointed in tiieir piac-e. The reply was that Mr loung had no.t dissociated himseli' lrom the work of tho Department, but tho Food Controller felt with him that his services could be nsed to better advantage in an advisory capacity than in the detailed work of administration, with which Mr Young was unfamiliar, and which was uncongenial to him. Mr Eraser had not held any executive post -n the Ministry, but continued to act ;n an advisory capacity. Mr Yi.uns's ditties; as Director of Meat Supniits wero to prepare measures for control.in'r prices, and for regulating the (li.-'lriiv.iiion of supplies. He also rn-p;uL i schedules "I maximum whole--i'le -jrn'Cs I'cr meat, and supervised Itv- of i otail prices- of Food Control C't.niiiiiiicc;-. The Food Controller had offered il:c appointment to Mr 1'.0y.-. ilin London 'Manager of the Ntv,- Zealand Rei'rigeratinc Co., who l:nd ir-repted tho offer subject to ceri:in arrangement's in New Zealand boiatisi'a'jtori.K- concluded. MINISTERIAL CHANGES. As a matter of fact, the suggestion in tin: i'arliamentary reply that Mr Young was unfamiliar with the detailed work of administration was rather unkind to that gentleman. However, the Meat Director est mort, vive le Meat Director. Mr Boys has made a very promising start, and from the fir.-t. lie had the entire goodwill of the trade.- If he fails to achieve the gigantic task put oil his shoulders — and the adjective I use is no exaggeration—it wil] be because the Ministry of Fcod has never yet been endowed with all the plenipotentiary power it should have been given m dealing with its great issues. On the one hand, it ic Hp Jigainst the big military machine, ami it is also in the position of seeing portions of its proper functions still dallied with by other departments, Mich as the iioard of Trade. GOVERNMENT ORGANISATION. Mr Boys has taken the bull by the horns and on the last day oi last mouth called the wholesale meat tmde in London to a con•lercnce in Butchers' Hall, Smithfield, »n <julcr, as lie put it, "to arrange for .tac immediate co-operation of wholesale traders and to prepare machinery in readiness for tho deficiency in meat, whether it comes or not." With the advent of maximum prices, tho operation of the law of supply and demand had ceased, and the main thing before tliem v/as to establish a system to ensure an equal daily distribution of supplies in every large town 1 and village. Competition between wholesale traders •n tho same areS, must be guided into the' proper channels. The trade had to f-eal with excessive demands for certain qualities of meat and a lack of demand for others. Competition between different- consuming areas gave rise to unequal distribution, and that had to be corrected. THE TRADE TO CO-OPERATE.

. lor the above mentioned purposes Mr Hoys suggested, and tho meeting by h unanimously carried resolution agreed-, that the wholesale t ratio in Loudon should torm an association to control the -wholesale distribution of meat in the London area and should appoint ® u advisory committee of wholesale tradesmen to keep in touch with the Department. The main function ®' this body would be to ascertain the uaily requirements of tho London area nn (i io arrange for their supplies. Hero came a question from a .frozen meat importer present—Mr P. B. Proctor, secretary of the Colonial Consignment, and Distributing Co., Ltd.—as to how ! 1° i ,°ndon frozen meat importers - V stand who imported for delivery cUowhcre than in London. Tho reply s J* as that special arrangements would c 11HV« to be made for such. The lneefcI in ®, which was very largely attended, I c oi'dod .Hr Boys a very cord I , i' , , Ils S°o<l intentions wcro rcI ,i" . ■ l,y lts rrac, y passing of tho a -solution for the formation of a whole- | wicrs association. However, it could %, deeper into the question of even m Ulstl ' h »i:on, which will remain the one llf eat problem. As Mr Boys said: "it Wmint yi through the instruof .. Government Departments H f m " fu Bo J movement of stock I S il° P r . od »cing areas to the disW V ° s m necd of supplies." As * mwtto® iT* t} ? C ste P s away from the f> tho it? h ea rd a wholesaler insist on '• dUtriK^ 1 - im P°, SSl kilty °f securing even v railllr UDless a flat rato for"cattle ? -Ss nf Jp C instltlltcd - From tho - lw/ + ]?° TCrnm< ; Dfc transport official isSL3° ¥smo5 mo d ?* v tha t such a step rJJ? ess on Government ; 4 ®£ at ' Jhe Director of Meat * de£rvi« c a b ' e 30b , 0a han d and 18 sunnr.7-f r ct * c fJ'°ne s wholehearted , ac '- cktaed «»''«»»

MORE COLD STORES "WANTED. New Zealand's good ckainplo of adequate preparation for tho greater needs of war in the extension of her refrigerating equipment was sighted as a model which Great Britain was oniy now beginning to recognise anil emulate in these "late days of the war, in tho coursc. _of a speech made by Mr Gilbert .Anderson in London this week. Tho occasion was the opening of _ the 20th winter session of the Cold Storage and lee Association, the public, luncheon being held lor the purpose ol entertaining the new Director ol Cold Storage and Inland Transport of Food at tho Ministry of Food. _Mr John AVardle, -whose advent as State Cold Storage Administrator I have already mentioned in this column. Mr Anderson said that the appointment liad been made two years too late, but they ■welcomed Mr AVardle as a. forceful administrator who should do much to prepare tho country for the greater reserve of frozen meat which the Government was evidently of the opinion should be maintained in future. Sir Thomas Mackenzie, who took tho chair at tho luncheon as president of tho Association, to which position he has been elected for a third year, made elociuent appeal for a livelier appreciation by all sections of the refrigeratin" industry in tho future of the importance of a greater unity for the maintenance of a great Junpi ro trade in food, an Imperial reserve, ho said, •which was vital to Britons in both hemispheres.