SMALL WORKS ADVOCATED

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28920, 13 June 1959, Page 14

SMALL WORKS ADVOCATED

Submissions By Wholesaler

(New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, June 12.

J. A. Betts, Ltd., independent wholesalers, of Masterton, submitted to the commission of inquiry into the meat industry today, that the Meat Act should be amended to allow for the licensing of “suburban” slaughterhouses Such a licence wo.uld permit the holder to slaughter meat for local sale inside and outside abattoir districts. It would normally be applied for by a wholesaler or packer of quick frozen meat.

The company’s managing director, Mr J A. Betts, .told the commission that the Masterton abattoir would not kill for it if the meat was to be sold outside the abattoir district.

The company consequently killed at the freezing works at Waingawa, but found that the bloom was very quickly lost from meat killed on the chain and subject, before chilling, to the hot water wash required by the Department of Agriculture. Variations in temperature between the works chiller, the transport bringing the meat to Wellington, and the butchers chillers meant that after a day or two the meat became slimy and and gave off a sour smell.

Though the arrangement with the Waingawa works had been generally satisfactory, the company lost £3OOO to £4OOO a year in extra wages paid because of union requirements. The works did not always kill on Monday. Butchers would not buy meat on a Tuesday which had been in the chiller the previous week-end because of loss of bloom.

The company therefore suggested that the act be altered to permit firms, such as itself, to build their own slaughterhouses.

The cost of such a slaughterhouse would be £30,000 to £35,000 for an operational unit. The commission also heard evidence from the Pig Producers’ Council which sought the right for abattoirs to export pig carcases. a re-evaluation of shrinkage deductions and an annual review of killing and processing charges. Mr G. A. Beard, executive officer of the council, said it was most emphatic that the only equitable way of dealing with the whole problem of shrinkage deductions was to do away with them altogether.