Thirty-seven years on saleyards company

Press, 11 July 1980, Page 16

Thirty-seven years on saleyards company

Mr C. H. Bethell, of Christchurch and formerly of Waikari, has reined from the directorate of the Canterbury Sale Yards

Company, Ltd, the companv which operates Christchurch’s Addington saleyards. For the last 11 years Mr Bethell has been chairman of the company. Mr Bethell joined the board of the company in the place of Mr Ebenezer Hay. He was then farming at Timpendean, Waikari. where he spent almost 40 years before handing o_yer to his son. David, in 1972.

Mr Bethell recalls that at the time he had no shares in the company and someone made 50 available to him when he first came on to the board, and later an aunt left him shares in the company. In the early days Mr Bethel! says it seems that the company, which celebrated its centenary in 1973. was one in which single ladies with some association with the land and farming held shares. Then, as now, he says that it was regarded as a good investment.

Mr Bethell agrees that Addington is a Canterbury institution, and although prices paid there still have an important influence on stock prices in farming circles throughout the South Island, he remembers that once its rates had quite a big bearing on stock prices throughout the country. That was because of the big shipments of stock that once came from the North Island. These consignments had, however. just about come to an end when Mr Bethell joined the board. However, he recalls Sir John Acland, who once worked for a stock firm, telling him how he had helped to bring a mob of 20,000 sheep across the Bridle Path from Lyttelton to Christchurch. He also has a story of a time when fat cattle were being sent from Manawatu to Addington and some 50 nr 60 were' drowned when being loaded by lighter on to a vessel at Foxtor.. One of the most striking changes that has occurred at Addington over the years that Mr Bethell has been associated with the yards has been the move away from stock coming in by rail to road transport. Droving had about finished in the early 1940 s but at that stage a lot of stock were still coming by rail. Although Addington may have lost something of its old national influence, Mr Bethell notes that people still come to the yards to buy stock from "as . far away parts as Otago and Southland and Blenheim and the West Coast, and even in recent times he says that a Taranaki buver had been down two or three times a year to take back with him each time two to three truck loads and trailers of store pigs. And in the last two

.ears he says that 100 head from the famous Molesworth consignment o.‘ steers have gone to the North Island each year in spite of the cost of transport.. Speaking to the annual meeting of the company earlier in the year, Mr Bethell likened himself to a public relations officer. I,; said that he felt that in the past not enough attention had been given to those who used the yards — the buyers, the stock auctioneers and their

assistants, the transport operators and the sale-> yards staff. “If you are running a thing like that you have got to keep all these people more or less happy,” he says. So he says "that he has made a real effort to that end. He told the annual meeting that he thought that he could call them all his friends because, to a considerable degree, he understood their problems and had sought to do his best to help them. On a considerable number of sale days Mr Bethell has been there in person and intends to still go to the yards, although not on wet and miserable days. It was natural in talking to Mr Bethell about the yards that the question of the yards being moved from its central city location at some time in the future should have been raised —- it has been the subject of debate so often in the past. Mr Bethell says that he cannot see a move happening in his life time but he believes that it could happen at some future date — probably in 40 to 50 years time it would have to go. A change in selling methods might be one reason for such a move. But he describes as a fallacy the belief of some people that the sale of the existing property would

finance such a shift. Bv the time that land had been purchased, the new yards erected, parks pro* vided for motor-cars and trucks and 15 to 20. staff houses built, he says that the cost would far exceed the realisations from the Addington property. When the yards are moved away from the city Mr Bethell sees them perhaps going 64 to 80km (40 to 50 miles) away, and in that case he eay> that there might be difficulty in attracting staff with no

supermarkets handy for wives and perhaps schools for the children. Because of the extra transport costs involved, he sees such a move resulting in dearer meat for the consumer, but he believes that there will be a continuing need for a sale yards, particularly for store stock which cannot all be conveniently sold on the paddock and which need to be submitted to auction so that the values of the various classes of stock can be assessed. The sale yards companyis by no means the only organisation with which Mr Bethell has served. Hewas a producer member of the Wool Board from 1948 to 1964 and a member of the old Wool Commission from 1958 to 1964. He was also the first chairman of the Wool Research Organisation from 1961 to 1964 and served on the Veterinary . Services Council from 1953 to 1960. From 1947 to 1953 he was also on the Waipara County Council. For many years he was also a director of George H. Scales, the shipping organisation on . which he also served a ■ term as chairman.

He was also president for a term of the Canterbury Agricultural and Pastoral Association and the Hawarden Agricultural and Pastoral Association. ■ Mr . Bethell’s successor as chairman is Mr J. G. Strack.