FROZEN PRODUCE LETTER.

Press, Volume LV, Issue 16585, 26 July 1919, Page 7

FROZEN PRODUCE LETTER.

MEAT MARKET TENDENCIES. QUESTION OF IMPERIAL SUPPLY. <SROiI OTTE STOdAti COEUESPOXDEST.) LONDON, Juno 10. There seems to be considerable uncertainty in meat circles in London as to what the course of the meat situation may -"bo through the ensuing season. It has been assumed hitherto that the summer months will produce a glut of meat on the market, but there are thos? who minimise tho importance of this temporary factor, and are rather content to look further ahead and prophesy high prices again for tho winter. The unusual drought which has extended almost up to Midsummer's Day, has, at any rate, decimated the hay crop, and on the top of an impoverished feeding season we shall have a period of unprecedentediy dear feeding stuffs in the coming winter, and in view of this some doubt is expressed as to the wisdom of removing the oontrol of fat stock as from next Michaelmas Day. One thing is certain, and that is there is a shortage of ba:on, and I believe the Min : stry of Food is taking active steps to import a largo amount of American stuff again to protoct this supply. CONTINENTAL NEEDS. The factor in the situation which is still quite unknown is the extent of tho European demand. In contrast to the general belief of a starving Germany, we now have explicit reports of a Germany cultivated in every acre, and with hotel and food prices one-third those of Paris rates. Somewhere between the two pictures will doubtless be correct, but it may well be tha,t the urgent needs of Central Europe will be a good deal less than we formerly supposed, jn which case tho meat food position will not be such a trying'one. IMPERIAL NEEDS AND DE-OONTROL. ■ Speaking at the Twentieth Anniversary Dinner of tho Cold Storage and Ice Association in L-ondon on the 2nd inst., .the Food Controller, Mr G. H. Roberts, M.P., said that his chief concern 'just now was to see that control was only taken off foods in so far as it could be assured that prices should not rise against the consumer. Hence, control of meat, etc,, might go on through another winter. In any caso. it was the consumers' interest he was studying. Mr Roberts gained tho warm sympathy of v his hearers when he said that what he' wanted to see more than all else was the British Empire self-support-ing, aad only so could the Trust menace be avoided. As a member of the Committee on Supplies, it was. his busjness to see how far "this was a practicability. ERADICATING TRUST INFLUENCE.

Sir Thomas Mackenzie, who is a pastpresident of the Cold Storage and Ice Association, and very popular •with, its members, was well received at the dinner, and in reply to a remark of the president concerning tho short term renewals of his office, said that the shortness of thoso terms was not of his seeking, and that wherever he was called upon to -serve his country, whether in London or Now Zealand, there ho was content to be. Sir Thomas added a strong Imperial note supporting the sentiment expressed by the Focd Controller regarding Empire supplies, and added that they frequently heard that the oversea possessions qnd other countries supplied .to the Homo Country only about one-quarter ojj tho meat she consumed. The actual import figures were 40 per cent, of meat (of sheep 50 per cent.), and 45 per cent, of pigs, and of that amount New Zealand and Australia supplied about 75 per cent. Tho Argentine, one of their chief competitors, had receded in her mutton and lamb supplies, but with the development going' on in. this country the Empire was capable of supplying all tho meat the Home Country required; and they might anticipate reasonable and remunerative prices to their farmers, assuming that no undue influence was exercised by any combination of meat packers for tho purpose of depreciating the valnes of stock in .the country of origin or increasing prices to the consumer hero. . Tfie advantages gamed by those Trust interests during tiie war, said Sir Thomas, were very great, for nearly all the insulated tonnage waa - diverted to America, • ordinary ioreign contractors received prices ranging from lOd to Is 3d. per lb, as against 4Jd to od paid to New Zealand and Australia for beef, and frequently very inferior meat, too. Ho was communicating with the authorities in London with a view to seeing that the distribution in meat, and also butter, should be such that New Zealand would not suffer from the loss of import trade connexions established by considerable enterprise and cost in prewar dnvs, and he was hopeful that the Imperial Government might meet him in that - respect. It was of tho utmost importance that the present operations should not be allowed to pass, for they mifeht never occur again. CAPTURING NEUTitALS' TRADE. The war, Sir Thomas Mackenzie continued, had temporarily displaced the agricultural and pastoral products ot powerful neutrals in this market, and it'was tiie duty of both £he Home Country and the representatives of the Dominions abroad, supported by their Governments, to to it that .every op<-, portunity was availed of to re-establish their own in former markets, and to extend, if possible, to those previously held by our foreign competitors. Sir Thomas, of course, had in mind for one thing Danish butter, of which ho said the imports during 1918 into Great Britain were 2000 tons, as compared withi 56,000 tons in 1916.

HORSE MEAT,

Ihiring the war there has sprung up in Lonuon and several otaer ol tun larger centres a demand tor iiorse flesh. Tnis uas been founded on tne temporary i population of Belgian relugees in Groat .Britain, and it is stated that during the past eighteen months or so the. I poorer classes of English consumers j nave set up a limited demand for thi3 i meat. Four horse-moat shops were j opened in London, but. only one, inj the Soho -irea, now remains open. I mention this brief history of the horse flesh movement, as I have heard of a, number of enquiries being made from! Australia and elsewhere as to whether any demand is likely to remain a permanent one in Great britain, and whether frozen horse meat is thus likely to be called for Tho prospects are practically nil as far as this country is concerned, but I understand that Bel- | gium and other European countries are : already calling for imports again, and these comprise shipments from Great Britain, which did a considerable trade before the war in the export of old worn-out. horses. The authorities whom I have oonsulted here regard tho trade ns from tho Dominions as one givitag little or no prospects of profit, as the horses need, it is said, a month or so of rrst before be in ft slaughtered, and the business from that point of view . does not seem a very gcod one.

The remarkable results obtained at Cornell University by" keeping chicken j coops lit up during the night will interest poultry experts. There diet experiments have been carried out, a cer- ; tain number of bens being given a j daily ration of a Mass of wine per ! head," whilo a similar number : n j wine. In the results the hens that had the wine produced in a given period nearly seven times as many eggs as the teetotal hens, and the eggs cf tne t winebibbers were said to do of superior j Qualiia*.