MEAT EXPORTS

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21245, 17 August 1934, Page 14

MEAT EXPORTS

GREATER CONTROL OF INDUSTRY amendment bill read A SECOND TIME ' (From Our parliamentary Reporter.j WELLINGTON, August 16. j Greater control over the meat export industry is given to the Government in the Slaughtering and Inspection Amendment Bill, introduced by the Minister for Agriculture, the Hon. C. E. Macmillan, to the House of Representatives to-day, and read a second time. The bill provides for more complete regulation in the operations of freezing and export companies, and proposes that the producers themselves should be permitted to have their stock slaughtered and exported on their own behalf. The Minister will be empowered to fix at any time during the currency of a meat export slaughterhouse license the maximum number of stock or the maximum number of any class of stock which may be slaughtered. For this purpose he may obtain a recommendation from the Meat Producers' Board; but he will not be obliged to act in accordance with the recommendation. Contravention of this section of proposed Ir.-.v will render the license of a slaughterhouse liable to a fine of £ 400 for every day on which stock is killed after the fixed maximum has been passed. Control of building additions to slaughterhouses is also proposed in the bill. It will be necessary for exporting concerns to seek the ap- j proval of the Minister before adding j to their buildings or increasing their freezing power, and the Minister will have absolute discretion in the matter. He will, however, be required to take into consideration, when considering applications, (a) whether there is anv economic necessity or justification" for the proposed work; (b) the probable or possible effect of the work on the ability of other owners of meat export slaughterhouses to obtain regular and sufficient supplies of stock, and (c) all other relevant matters. The penalty for proceeding with any proposed work without the Minister's apm-oval will be a fine not exceeding £SOO. * The approval of the Minister will also be required for the erection of new premises for use as meat export slaughterhouse. Plans and specifications of proposed premises will have to be submitted to the Minister, who, after considering the same matters as are applicable to extension of buildings, may give Ins consent. unless in the meantime economic conditions have so altered that the grant of a new license would not be in the public interest. An Important Clause | A most important clause in the i bill incorporates the main object of the Meat Export Control Amendment Bill, recently introduced by Mr W. J. Poison (C.. Stratford), and dropped on the assurance of the Minister that the Government would take the matter up. It is proposed that every licensee of a meat export 1 slaughterhouse, while the works are 'open for the slaughter of stock for | export, must receive for killing all j ' stock intended for export offered by j ja producer who has raised or fat-1 i tened such stock. The stock must!

be slaughtered and moat exported, | if the producer so requires, on his behalf. Payment of charges and allowances bv the producer, and the conditions he must fulfil, may from time to time, be approved by the Minister, on the recommendation of the Meat Producers' Board. Notice of the Minister's approval will be given in writing to licensees. It may be of general application or it may relate to any particular stock or any particular class of stock. The provisions may also be applied by the Minister, on the recommendation of the board to require a slaughtering concern to receive, slaughter, and handle stock intended for export on behalf of owners, who

are not themselves actual producers i of stock for export. Under this section of the bill, regulations may bej made requiring the licensees of slaughterhouses to keep returns containing particulars of owners on whose behalf the stock is slaughtered, and particulars of the stock itself. | The final section of the bill em- j powers the Minister to refuse his j consent to grant a renewal of a j transfer of a meat export slaughterhouse license, if the licensee is convicted of an offence under the act, or fails to comply with any of the conditions approved by the Minister in the previous section. This provision does not affect in any way the Minister's discretionary powers i under the present law.