BRITISH MEAT SUPPLIES

Press, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 26363, 6 March 1951, Page 7

BRITISH MEAT SUPPLIES

Remedies Proposed By Sir Henry Turner

(Special Correspondent N.Z.P.A.) (Rec. 8.30 p.m.) LONDON. March S. “There can be few better examples of the failure of Government trading to satisfy the public than that afmrded to-day by the meat trade of this country,” said Sir Henry Turner, Controller of meat and livestock for the Ministry of Food from 1949 to 1950, in an article in the “Financial Times."

He criticised the Labour Government for maintaining in peacetime such wartime emergency measures as the Government buying of home-pro-duced fat stock, the bulk buying of meat overseas, and the controlled distribution of meat in Britain. He made a strong appeal for giving the meat trade a chance and suggested the following proposals: (1) The meat trade should be handed back to the trade. (2) Prices should be allowed to reach their own level (3) If these prices were not sufficient to give the British farmer the price* guaranteed him by the British Government, then the difference be made up under a deficiency payments system. (4) The same principle should be applied to th* purchases of meat imported from countries overseas, with which the Government had made price guarantee arrangement*. “These deficiency payments to home and overseas producers would in effect be subsidies on the price of meat to the public, but they would have a less artificial basis than the present subsidies,” he said. Amplifying his contention that it yras a mistake to carry on for so long after the war without any change in wbat was essentially an emergency system, Sir Henry Turner said: “We are all paying tor that mistke to-day, both in the quantity of meat we get and its quality." He continued: “Government buying of home-produced fat stock inevitably becomes stereotyped after a time and being stereotyped th* incentive for maintaining the highest quality is less effective, than it would be if reasonably competitive buying was allowed." The bulk purchase of exportable surpluses from overseas had ted to a form of stagnation in the esport trade to Britam from *piM countries. Bunn* normally interested to supply this market had no MtUfar the same direct interest and looked tor other markets: snswar--"Gap Could be Bridged" . “Government-controlled (attribution IS bound to be arbitrary and ean give well as a principle, but tends to become fair sharer of scarcity, and the very method of applying the principle ensures th* continuance of scarcity. If we take as a yardstick the average pre-war consumption a head it would be about 400X100 tons more than we had last year, and the trad* believe* that the gap could be bridged in two or three years. British farmer* could go half way, and our traditional suppliers in the Southern Hemisphere could finish the bridge. "British beef herds are large enougn to produce another 50.000 tons of beef if we go back to pre-war fattening methods: and our pig herd* if built up to pre-war level* could give us another 150000 tons of pork. The key to the situation is. of course, the provision of more animal feeding stuffs. “Argentina would be able to send 200.000 ton*- more meat than last year, and additional supplies would probably be available from South America. Sew Zealand's supplies, although subject to short-term fluctuations, still tend to increase, and properly encouraged, Australian supplies could be increased. Given the right conditions, the shortage could be overtaken much more quickly than, is generally realised. . “Mr Webb say* we cannot go beck to the pre-war system because of commitments to farmers and oversea* producers. The trade does not agree. it would be possible to go beek to the pre-war system and carry out the obligation* to home farmer* by the application of what is commonly called a deficiency payments scheme. Under the scheme the producer of fat stock would obtain in the open market what the market considered the stock wae worth. If the average price paid i# market was indeed less than the price guaranteed by the Government a deficiency payment could be calculated for each particular grade of »••’■ Each seller would be entitled to receive the appropriate deficiency payment to supplement the price obtained in open market. . _ . “The same principle could be applied where the Government had entered Into obligations oversea*, a* for Instance with the New Zealand Goverament. Prices obtained under ordinary trading could be J*?*!' the prices guaranteed by the British Government. If there was a deficit, a deficiency payment perhaps on a monthly basis for each particular variety, would be paid to the New Zealand Government, who would pass it back to the producer* so as to secure ' that encouragement for .Production which the guarantee wa* intended te "The trade is confident that it it I* 1 given reasonable conditions, and time to re-establish its lines of eonupunication. the meat trade could be put back on a basis where the public could be satisfied both as to quantity .and i quality.”