EGG EXPORT.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20045, 29 September 1930, Page 19

EGG EXPORT.

It J.ACK OF CO-OPERATION. I POSITION OP PRODUCERS. 1 Although it had been extensively adI vertised only 22 of those interested in I, poultry attended the public, meeting | convened by Mr G. H. Bradford at the ; Kavy League Hall on Saturday night ! «nd as a consequence any hope of comI fcinod action in connexion with the exI port of eggs from the Canterbury dis- ' i triet this year was abandoned. Mr J. f Jjiggina was elected chairman. In explaining his reason for calling the meeting Mr Bradford said partici£ ; Jar care had been taken not to confine J* it to any body or club, but to moike it I a distinctly public gathering. The flush of the season was on them and as no one seemed to be taking any steps to f do anything to cope with tho position \ be had thought such a meeting as the I present one would give them an opporV tunity of discussing the export of tho f' 1 ' summer eggs. jt Mr Liggins said he had not come !,< along with any fixed ideas to put beV fore them and suggested a round table ; talk. He asked Mr Bradford to explain '' the position. : Mr Bradford said that as the Govern»l jnent was not giving them any guaran;jS; sUch as it had done in previous I 'years, he had made enquiries as to what, if anything, could be done on an f.o.b. ■ , basis. He had been in touch with some ; ; / of the people who had handled the eggs [ last year. Two ot these would not give M an f.o.b. price for eggs for the preslent season. One firm was prepared to *. make an advance of from 50 to 60 ; per cent on the price of eggs on the l, .home market. Out of the advance the producer would have to pay freight, I etc. Messrs Pyne, Gould, Guinness had h received cable advice from London stating that while no f.o.b. price was available, one firm there was prepared to give 13s c.i.f., the average price ob- - tained last year. • ■ {There was plenty of shipping space available if it was needed. An f.o.b. 5, price of Is 3d a dozen would net about k 10|d a dozen. The market in Canterbury, he went *" on, was one of tho best in New Zeai\ land. In Wellington the present price was from Is to Is per dozen, and f in Dunedin, lljd to Is. Ha was sorry there were so few people f„ at the meeting, which no one could say > was representative of the producers. \ When they realised that such a meet- . ing as'they had that night was the best j they could do, then it did not look very I encouraging for getting any 'movement started. Mr \V. E. Green said he had thought f the meeting would be well supported. As matters were he did not see that any p resolution they might pass that night \ would do any good, and they could not J commit the poultry industry. They had i not sufficient strength to carry any scheme through. Mr W. Turner said that, in view of t the fact that they had not a representaf tion from the various societies he could not see how they could go ahead; nor could lie see how they could export this K ' year. I Mr Liggins said he agreed that there | was not much they could do now they | were there. He thought ' the present | price of eggs would have been enough | to bring everyone to the meeting. | Mr B. Turner said it seemed to him | as though the poultry men would have £ .iust about to starve before they would | wake up. p Mr W. Turner a3ked what was being I done in the other centres, j Mr Bradford said Dunedin was not I doing anything this year. Wellington had nqver gone in for export and Auckland could not export unless there was a guarantee. 10 Per Cent. Basis Suggested. . [ Referring to the small attendance, he ! said it would be hard if one section came to tho meeting and ar- ; ranged to send away their eggs and thus create' a market for the men who did not join in. He ( had worked out a scheme under which by everybody joining in and sending away 10 per cent, of their total *eggs, , they would get Is 2d a dozen. for the fc. remainder. By all staying out they likely to get less than that price. Ife If all of them had came in under his V;V, suggestion there was- the probability that they would average Is 3d. SjgJj Some of the firms in Christchurch were giving only 9d a dozen and were receiving more eggs than they could handle. If it was known that there would be no export this year then the sjjStjj- buyers would say they would wait boifeyJ'' cause - they would get eggs for prac- !\ - tically nothing later. r * - "■ Mr B. Turner said he was afraid that !£iT; < if they exported from Canterbury then QSf". some of the others would be sending their eggs here and taking advantage ' of the good prices. 1 * , Mr Bradford said tho North Island k 'ti - could not send to the South although it i' paid the South to send north. At the - , present time Christchurch was the worst kx 'y r City in the Dominion for the sale of |' -eggs. Three out of every fpur people -in the City kept fowls, and at this time of the year they all had a few eggs to hi. sell. Matters were different in the \, - other centres. Here in Christchurch J 1 n » they were now facing the worst time pf the year. ''' Alternative Action. ' "Mr H. C. Smith suggested taking an■:V other line of action to further the conImption of eggs. He suggested apvaching the Government in connexd with the £SOO they were now offerg. It was no use trying to get any pre as the Government was just as trd iip against things as the produc- » were. The £SOO could be split up itweeii the four centres and some of e smaller places and they could then j « this money to carry out a camliga to encourage people to eat more jgs. It was surprising what could be tne by publicity. At the present time lople could scarcely buy meat under Is pound, and there was an old saying $t one egg was equal to a pound of He suggested that one way out oi 0 present trouble wonld bo for the italtrymen to cull more, as the market t culls was never better than at pres.t. This would save food and give e men money in their pockets. sFhe speaker referred to the large liaber of returned soldiers engaged in St. industry. "They did what they lor us during the war,'" he said, ■. vjfid we should do what we can to help Prices Out of Beach. "it"' ' on the market for "eggs, MpyMjh said that every now and-then Kjtffct f jumped. One phase of this i JwiWever. that every time the price fr «0 high that people could not rd;to pay it then they stopped buy- '< presen the poultrymen were buystraw by the bale. What • was to ent some of them getting together ordering a truek load or more at a 1 Straw migut not be the largest me, but what he had suggested was " * * WW® way to keep down costs. fiIWSSw asked: if Mr ■ Bradford was pre* »,if to join with him in reducing the rate during the flush season, j s{s*■ "®Ee suggested a rebate of 2 J per cent.,: '• and that this be put into a pool ana to'purchase bulk grain, yi;' . -Ifot to do anything just because there i «i|3M|»'Only a few-people at'-the meeting. he thought, the wrong attitude | iff ' "

to adopt. He suggested that an organiser be appointed to soo those concerned and that another meeting be called later. , He also suggested the opening t*vvo Shops in Christchurch filling, the windows up with eggs and fiellmg to the public in small lots. They should get about Is 2d a dozen. ' , ~ Mr Liggins explained that the Canterbury Co-operative Poultry Producers Ltd., had been buying wheat in bulk for some years. This was distributed among the members. This year they had bought 8000 sacks on which there had been a charge of one half of one per cent, for handlingMr Bradford explained that the £ooo set aside by the Government was for grading purposes\and there was no hope of getting it for any other suggesti0 At this stage it was decided that no good could come of passing any resolution and, after further discussion, the meeting broke up-