1 MEAT EXPORT QUESTION / ■ V

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 121, 16 February 1920, Page 10

MEAT EXPORT QUESTION

: v • DISCUSSED BY FARMERS. (Special Correspondent.) Palmei'ston North,'tebruary 13. 'At the meeting of the Wellington Provincial Executive of'the New Zealand Farmers'' Union, held at Palmerston North, Mr G.-L. Marshall (president} took advantage of the opportunity to re- ■ view the position which would ensue at the conclusion of the meat commandeer, which would take ,place shortly. 31 p prefaced his remarks by expressing regret that all the time and trouble, that had been taken f o appoint a commission to »o Home to set firsMiand information ; .as to tie meat position had l>Pen practically wasted, a? nothing definite 'had so far Been . done. He pointed out that after the matter had been taken up by the Dominion conference it passed nut' of his hands, and it ljested with the ' Dominion executive to wess the question further, but he was afraid that that body had not.taken the necessary action. So »tho" matter appeared to haVeliecn dropped. Now a further effort was' beini: made'to send the commission Home, and he felt that the union should support it. Had the commission pone Homo in the 6prinir. as was intended, they would by now have had ca'bled Teporls coming to tljem wliich they would have had confidence in, instead of receiving the contradictory reports constantly sent to the Dominion, often by interested parties.

Speaking on the termination, of the commandeer, Jlr.. Marshall snid tlint iinloFS the meat could "bo lifted by the beginning of next year, it would the .producers in a very unfortunate position, as the freezing companies could no.f .pay out-on meat until shipping was -possible, nor would the banks provide ■the!necessary accommodation. If the . Government could guarantee the fr«ciinj: works and the banks up to. say, 75 per cent, of M\o price now .being paid for meat it might then be possible for farmers to sell through the usual channels, but unless: something of the port ivore the trade must go to the 'American mcat-packine firms, iiecnuse thev would be ready' to pay out cash for the meat, ito could not help remarking that their experience of price-fixing had ' been unfortunate, aid in the en/1 lie felt that they would, be .clad that tho commandeer was not continued longer. The price charged at Home was so great ,that the public coultl Tint afford to buy enough to keep pace with the imports, nnd so the glut 'would continue to get worse 'as long as the'commandeer lastid. :. What was really wanted was to have thci price bweml at Homo so as to stimulate consumption. The public did not apprar.to benefit by the fixing of prices, apd'tlie producer was (leecrd of-part .of his. profit. Tato'ng the wool, meat,, wheat and hides:.. In wool themanufacturer was making enormous profits:, in meat the price Mind been raised unduly high to cover the loss which had been made on the meat bought at a high price in America; the price of wheat was fixed so low that it discouraged farmers, who put in more' profitable crops instead, with the result that wheat ..was to-day very scarce indeed. In the .ease of hides it seomed that the farmer •had been Tobbed of something like .£1 '7)'ef'l)ide,..but the prices of manufactured leather, and boots had not. so far been affected by this loss. In fact the.middle men. seemed to have mopped tip the whole amount between them: He moved the following motions, which were adonted, and ordered to bo sent to the Dominion executive for presentation to the .Government: "That the Government be urged to send th<; commission appointed bv the Dominion Farmers' Conference •and Sheepowners' Union to England as ;Boon as possible, in order that wo may , have some ■first-hand evidence of what -the conditions of the market for meat fire. and.the prospects for the future, both at- Home and dsewhere." "That this executive is "of opinion that Hlio practice of fixing prices for primary products of the land tends to lessen proauction and does not protect tbe consuming public."