AUSTRALIAN'S MEAT TRADE.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1201, 9 August 1911, Page 8

AUSTRALIAN'S MEAT TRADE.

INCREASE IN' LA JIB FREIGHTS. . . . Referring to the increase of 1 16d. per ,Ib. in the freight en frozen lamb, which iig to tnkc effect in Australia from September 1, a Sydney writer says it is impossible to tec any justification for the ■increase. It is understood that the principal reaBons which have .actuated tbo owners- in iiicmisiiig the freight rate are- (1) the extra, cost of conveyance, in the shape .of higher''-wages of seamen and others, 'aiid '(2) that lambs occupy * more space per ton than mutton. The fact is, says the writer in question, that far tco much is made of tho. increaso in wages, which iimouris to very little, and it is an utter fallacy to say that laiubs do not stow as well as mutton, the experience of exjiorters over n number of years proving, that one stows just as well as the other. Undoubtedly the shipping companies 'hav;s made big profits in recent years, ..6eeing that not' only has the- volume of meat exports from Australia been much ■bigger, but it has been maintained, more nr" loss, all tho y«\r round, instead of ,-being a spasmodic effort, as was fonnerMy the cate. As the. exporters are 'in competih'on virtually with the world, it is impassible for thsm by any artificial 'moans to recoup thouifolves. They are compelled ;to pass on the extra charge to the ■μ-ro-■jduoer. Last season's freights were raised U;d., on both frozen shcop and lambs, so I that growers of the latter have now to i pay 6d. per carcai's more for freight than 1 they paid 12 months ago. The exporter.* both •in Naw-■-South .Wales and in Victoria take the "view .that they cannot, unaided, hope..to oppose ' tho shipowners successfully,. Hitherto : thoy have not sought Government, aid in their negotiations, with the shipping companies, but the'point hns been raised whether—sceintr ihat the increased freight directly concerns tho pro- ; (lnccr —the Government should not now .be asked to take- action. Tho rat?, of ; freight, on meat from the co.imtry which j innst directly competes with Anstr'nlio, viz., Argentina is very much lower thnn Hio Australian, -being under Sd. per Ib; The nctunl leeway which Australia nas '• to make up would amount to .£300,000 a ■year.