BAN ON SALE OF PORK

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 23947, 14 May 1943, Page 4

BAN ON SALE OF PORK

Initial Period Of Two Months EXPLANATION BY MINISTER (P.A.) WELLINGTON. May 13. A total prohibition on the sale of pork, fresh, pickled or cooked, other than bacon or ham or offals, for an initial period of two months from May 20 was announced to-night by the Food Controller (Mr J. E. Thomas). This step is one of a number being taken in order to spread the present shortage of supplies of pig meats equally between the civilian market and armed forces contracts. Discussing these shortages, the Minister of Marketing (the Hon. J. G. Barclay), In a statement also issued tonight, said that compared with the degree of rationing of pig meats in other countries, the proposed limitation was. by no means severe, and he was confident that it would be readily accepted by the public, particularly as the meas. ure of their sacrifice was the extent to which our contracts for supply to the men actually fighting this war could be fulfilled. Mr Barclay said that the Minister ot Supply (the Hon. D. G. Sullivan) had told him that the consumption of bacon and ham had risen so considerably in the last 15 months that restrictive measures would become inescapable if supplies to the Allied forces dependent on the Dominion for subsistence requirements were to be maintained. Mr Barclay appealed to pig producers to increase their production, particularly of baconer pigs, to the greatest possible extent during the present season. He discussed the various factors, including the varying war situation, which had led to the curtailment of pork production in the past, but emphasised that with the spread of the war to the Pacific a reversal of the past policy had become necessary, and there was again an urgent and very substantia] demand for pig meats. The Government was so concerned with the present shortage that to encourage farmers to carry the maximum number of pigs during the winter the price schedule would be raised for this period. Arrangements had also been made for the importation during the next few months of an additional 5000 tons of stock meal, so that ample quantities would be available. Mr Barclay further announced on behalf of Mr Sullivan that to assist in placing the necessary ceiling on civilian consumption, it had become necessary to register all bacon curers throughout the Dominion and establish a sales quota on each curer." Special arrangements were being made for farmers who had been in the habit of curing or having cured pigs for their own domestic use.