BRITAINS'S MEAT INDUSTRY

Press, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23003, 24 April 1940, Page 6

BRITAINS'S MEAT INDUSTRY

I MEW WJJR-ISME B&SES ! .NEW .ZE&L&NBiERS , i 'C©is , 3tfMM;ai£o.M j i [From Our iQ.vun Donrespondent] < ■IiOJNO&ON, ..February 56. . 1 What thas bean .described ,as "a icom-i plete revolution ctf the anailkclthqg <of |'' hasne-.killed stock" thas .taken ipllaaei in {Britain's meat tbrade -sines ffihe tout-' break of the war. I Two New Zeallanders Who nave made .important .contributions to itihe new scheme are Mir H. S. E. 'Turner, ■director of home-ikitlad imont sinpplMeß. and Mr R. S. (Fausyillh, idiipootor <df riroportcd meat, bo~tii of -wrthom ;are mow working at trie Ministry of Food. Until the war, Mr Forsyth was LonI don manager of the New Zealand Meat (Board, and Mr'Tunner was imanager .of ithe New "Zealand Refrigerating .Comjpany. . Briefly, ithe ipraetiae in Britain .be-, foue ithe war was dor toe tb.utcher rto Ibuy if at icDitDle, -Sheep, -anti, ipigs tuaim the 'farmers, and to v ha.ve the Stock jprepared at slaughter houses «for his To-day. however, as -the Ministry is the only buyer of fart, stock and imparted imeat, (this sPEactice .no dormer operates. As from January 'l6' .every ifemmer. must supply a certain 'market or a collecting .centre. There ihis 'fat stocky is .weighed, <and he is .paid ..on what is iknown ;as '.the "dead -w.eight out turn," based .on live -weight. Panels representing the farmer and the butcher act tfor the Ministry in valuing and grading .the livestock, which is then .dispatched to Government slaughter 'houses to ibe toil Led. From now on it ibeeomes ithe .of the Ministry of Wood. <From 'the slaughter houses, as well .as cither depots, the meat is' distributed to the! butchers. i Eefoße ithe -war 16(000 slaughter houses were qperatirjg in 'Britain, but 1 fox .various reasons of .economy and! ■ distribution, the .'Ministry is msing .only ;850 houses. Not unnaturally, (this cdecision .met with -a strong protest from the houses '.whose .services .are not required, .and there was .a period when it became a (political .question. The mew scheme thas -also -meant that a number of .wholesale distributors have -been *,p.ut out .of .business 'for ithe duration of tne war. Distribution is; now carried out ifor tthe Ministry toy an association of wholesalers. Remuneration is in accordance with 'their turnover, the first .charge being .the expenses of running itheir .local dajpat and . paying swages. Ti;e (balance is die-, trihutad among the individual whole-; sailers in [proportion 'to 'their 1838 '.turnover. * • In the same way the importers no longer operate as individual lncms, >but have also tbeen formed into an association. They handle >the -meat on its arrival in British pants, ifor storage, and for (five idispatoh >inom the ! .stores to the hundreds of selling depots ', throughout the country. Their organisation is similar in construction to ■ .the wholesalers'. , Retail butchers have formed buy- !) ing committees and are, attached, to a -particular wholesale, .depot in. the ; locality. The allocation of the avail- ■ able ,-sujpplies <of ;meat is made by a '.central iKetailors' aommittee. TRhe 'reconstruction ..of the whole .of •the ..great meat industry throughout '• 'the 'XJnited Kingdom "began .on this ■ tbasis ton .January 26, and it will ;be in ; rfull vworfcing -order i?y March .11, *when, ' rationing '.begins. "Then .all .the hut•chers will ar-aw .only the amount itxf i imeat required lor the needs of "their ■' 'registered customers. JNaturally, there have ti.een .tnemendojus .difficulties and ; ;pr.dbleros in this "tfavalutionary'' i scheme, tout t on -the whole tthe reorga--1 riisatkm ihas proceeded well. Some idea ,of tthe .magnitude of the •operations of the "Ministry can he gauged tby ithe if.act -.that ithe nise-war [ 'tiumocrer .of imeat in ©ritain, tboth IhomtHkilled ;and iimjiQrted. was annre; ; than '2;000,tl00 tons a year: its Malue, i was more than £150,000,000. To-day the Ministry of Fond ,is the largest ; trading concern in the world. ; So far as New Zealand meat is concerned, it is bought according to 1 grade, but on arrival in Britain there ■is no differentiation. To save storage all lambs are ! being "bulk stowed, no ■matter what their .country of origin. ITTheite is oarxe ipmce ifqr aarrib, .and an- 1 -other <fw ,e.we .and wwathor amution. Alii ;| tthe Miniatr>yjs puKOhasras ane hassti vn ■ (pre-war .graces and tEetetive wftlues. ; it fe .Just ,-as important as: ever tor 3&w Zealand to maintain fher gKaaling it© sheep >up *«r .won- 1 dsrfiul -.noautajiiqn Jfor sjish «aid -\Mheo ;dis.Q.«ssing Neiw JZea-' laud -aypplies. "Althatigh .all ,she imeati m?iy he ;b.ulk .-stoned., aNeiw iZiealanil lambi is .-stilll ibrandesl .on ,t?adh ijoint and will' he easily identified."' ! —. STUD I mpmsss mm wsmmws IrqpQrts t «f ,v.ieill-thred dairy .cattle' from ithe United Kingdom .and America iha-Me .been irenorted mecently -by! Wnight, "Stephenson .and ..Company.! Most of the imported cattle have been the prescribed period .-a quarantine and are now on the buyers' farms. A yearling Jersey ibutU tfrom the herd of Mr Wallace McMonnies, of Madison New Jersey (United States) has been purchased by Mr W. J. Freeth for his, JSSgatawii heed :at jNontih T;a»ua iiatoi. ' ' ' A. 'b.ustl ihas ibeen purchased' by Messrs 'H. North and Sons, Omibi.i Qunedin, irom Nqrljh Amenica. ; An AyiWhire syeaiiling ibwiU fond iheiifer! mme ibeen bought iby J. <G. -and I. 'R. jaf .Featheistoq, the (RHQroinemt! Ayiuahtce lbre.e.ders. \ ;\fljio,ite.d ibneedqrs ,of cGonriedalesi haMD imnsitily ifQMnded itheir studs iSrom! oldtestahlished iNe.w ZeaHand .'Studs, sandl draw on ithem each vyear 'for stud rams. 1 An example of this is a stud founded on pme "JEJui Mui" iblood ifinom ithe 'studl of the late ~H. T. Little. The usual stud ram went forward, but the breeder was so satisfied with it that he cabled for two further sheep to be forwarded. Included .in ,a .recent shipment ifiiCftn. , Bluff eWGiie W ißomney ,ram hoggetsl for Victoriia, ,ar<d 60 ißOTdeir Leioeel{fir| hoggets for the .same state. ,