Shortland closing ‘first of many

Press, 25 July 1986, Page 1

Shortland closing ‘first of many

PA Wellington The shutdown of the Shortland freezing works was "only the first of many," said the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Bolger, yesterday.

His comment followed those of the Minister of Agriculture, Mr Moyle, who also believes other works will close.

Mr Bolger said there would be a drop of 10 million lamb equivalents on the sheep kill nationally between 1985 and next year. This "will inevitably mean something in the order of — I don’t know — five, six, seven freezing works will close, some say even more,” he said.

He would not predict which freezing works

were on his list when questioned by reporters. “I believe most people could give an intelligent guess but I am not getting into that,” he said. The downturn in the rural economy and livestock numbers was starting to come through and hurt other sectors of the community, Mr Bolger said.. “The announcement today is but a foretaste of what is going to happen in that industry and the jobs that are going to be lost because of the Government’s policy.” The industry seemed incapable of expanding job opportunities by further production of freezing works’ output. Mr Bolger said farmers would want to know what

reduction of killing charges to expect after the meat industry’s "rationalisation.” Before the Affco announcement of the Shortland closing, Mr Moyle said he expected a shutdown of a large works any day, and “I think others will soon follow.”