MEAT POOL ACCOUNT

Press, Volume LXXX, Issue 24352, 2 September 1944, Page 3

MEAT POOL ACCOUNT

ESTIMATED SURPLUS OF ■;' v ; :.:'£&§Ott,ootTMß FRASER»S ASSURANCE "It is estimated .that when all the meat killings to the end of this season are finally sold, the Meat Pool Account and the Stabilisation Account combined will show a- surplus of not less than said the chairman of the New Zealand Meat Producers' Board,' Mr David Allan, at the annual .meeting of the electoral committee in Wellington on Thursday. He added that a very satisfactory assurance , had been given by the. Prime Minister,, in reply to representations made this week, concerning the Meat Pool Account. ■ '. : ' ' - . . "The board has agreed to the general principle" of long-term planning to ensure the largest possible supplies of meat to Britain. The discussions which have taken place in 'Lbjidbn for a four years', contract are now- .practically- finished, and the board is now preparing its case for ah increase in the: opening schedule prices lor the coining season,", said the chairman. ■■''•"■.'■." .'■"•"'.'..' . , , ••With'* regard, to.the opening, schedule prices for this season just concluded, the board had many lengthy conferences with the Government and the Economic Stabilisation Commission. The Government Was emphatic that it was not prepared to depart from the principles of stabilisation, but eventually it agreed that the board had established a case for the elimination'-of'two anomalies. These were: (a) the adjustment, th'at gave a bias jn. favour of lighter weight ranges in lambs to the detriment of the heavier weights; (b)- the lowering of the price of e,wes owing to the inability to export in a frozen form at that tiine. "The board has kept the closest possible check on fat stock schedule prices to ensure .that Increased skin values, as the season progresses, are reflected in the schedule. It strongly opposed the introduction of the Fat Stock Disposal Order, Whereby the producer is required to sell his export stock to the .same person to whom his stock was sold the previous season.. Even if.dissatisfled, the vendor is thus denied the right of selling to another opera toe. The board.has .made repeated representations to the Government-Urging that this- disposal order .'-should be. repealed, but.'so (aiy ■it has been unsuccessful in its efforts;" The number of cattle on Canadian dairy farms as at December 31, 1943, was 9,506,200, an increase of 7.6 per cent, over the corresponding total of the previous year. The increase was common to all the provinces. Milk cows had increased by 121.000 head in I the period. Sheep increased during : the year by 10.1 per... cent. Sheep figures • (Canada is not a sheep, country) have been increasing steadily in recent years. "In the case of hens and chickens the increase in the country as a whole arnounted to 7,731,200 birds, or 15 per cent., giving a total of 57,512,500 on hand. These figures, taken from a recent official publication; show that the striking increase in production in the' big Dominion recorded in the. early years pf the war is being continued. A statement by one' of the Canadian Parliamentarians recently visiting New Zealand was that pig numbers since the beginning of the war had, increased four-fold. New Zealand should, ask how, it is done!" ■' '