Meat Export Company “Smacks Of Socialism”

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29872, 12 July 1962, Page 13

Meat Export Company “Smacks Of Socialism”

The statement by the president of North Canterbury Federated Farmers (Mr A. C. Wright) defending the need for the Meat Export Development Company has been criticised by the chairman of Meat Packers, New Zealand, Ltd. (Mr Alistair Scott). Mr Scott said he had read Mr Wright’s views with considerable interest. He respected Mr Wright’s undoubted sincerity but it could not be gainsaid that what Mr Wright was counselling was plain socialistic planning wrapped up as sound orderly marketing. “I just cannot understand why individual sheep and cattle farmers who hold private enterprise ideals should allow their representatives on the Meat Board to take the risk of losing the control of the accumulated untaxed meat pool millions by surrendering the board’s past independent and sacrosanct position for such questionable benefits as association with sectional freezing works interests,” Mr Scott said. No processor exporter firm which valued its identity and brand goodwill would pay the steep price of “ditching” its own American selling agents for the intangible privilege of entrusting the continuous receipt of future trade orders upon the good offices of a consortium of its competitors. Such a type of set up was understandable under a communistic economy, but it took a lot of digesting for any New Zealander, said Mr Scott Referring to Mr Wright’s “naive benediction” that when the lamb market was developed in North America, he understood the M.E.D.C. would hand it back to normal channels, Mr Scott said this offered little tangible hope for the resurrection in the foreseeable future for any existing private export processors.

“What our New Zealand farmers apparently fail to grasp," said Mr Scott, "is that to our American friends the M.E.D.C. smacks of socialistic marketing and this

fact does not engender much enthusiasm from meat buyers whose principles are- private enterprise to the backbone. "This appreciation of the facts of trade over there has been our own company's trump card because Americans are loyal to the concept and practice of private trade, and it is well not to forget that they have the funds to purchase what they like, where they like,” he said. “It would be hard to estimate just what New Zealand is unknowingly losing by entrusting itself 100 per cent, to this monopoly concern," Mr Scott added. Meat Packers was a fullyowned New Zealand company and it had the same goal as Mr Wright’s farmers —more export meat sales. It was because of this aim that the company hoped that individual farmers would have a closer look at “this restrictive organisation, the M.E.D.C.”