THE MEAT BOARD

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 66, 11 December 1929, Page 10

THE MEAT BOARD

MR. DICKIE REPLIES TO MR. TROTTER NORTH-SOUTH ISSUE By Telegraph.—Press Association. Hawera, December 10. In a letter to the “Star” to-day, Mr. C. D. Dickie, chairman of the Patea Freezing Company, replies to Mr. J. Trotter, a member of the Meat Board. Mr. Dickie states that though cattle and pigs pay the levy, the Meat Board is a close corporation, the exporters of beef and pork having no vote. Mr. Dickie refers to his own gratuitous services to the producers, and in reply to Mr. Trotter’s suggestion that in standing as a candidate for the board he (Mr. Dickie) was seeking a “big salary,” he says further“lf Mr. Trotter believes that the purchase of the white elephant storage site in London was the cause of storage rates being reduced he is capable of believing that the Admiral Codrington caused a reduction of shipping freights. If the Meat Board was the cause of the reduction in freight rates from New Zealand to the United Kingdom, what caused the Australian and South African rates to fall lower in proportion than ours? Last, season insurance rates on boneless beef and sundries rose from 25/- to 105/-, less 10 per cent, and 2$ per cent. I rang up the Meat Board’s manager and pointed out that the Dairy Board had secured a reduction in rates on butter and cheese and asked what his board was doing in the matter. The reply I received was that he did not know the board’s policy in regard to the matter. Advertising Overlapping. “I agree the board has done a lot of advertising; sd has the Empire Marketing Board,” Mr. Dickie continued. “At the same time I consider there is much overlapping and waste in this connection. I think all our produce should be advertised through one board, and also shipping and insurance rates arranged through one channel. The cost of electing two members /of the Meat Board last year was £583/8/2 compared wtih £l3O. the cost of electing three members of the Dairy Board. North v. South. “Mr. Trotter is quite wrong in suggesting that I wish to bring up the North v. South Island issue,” says Mr. Dickie, “but since be has mentioned it he can digest these facts: The season before last the Meat Board brought 32,000 lambs from South Island works and none from the North Island. The board professed itself anxious to assist in developing the boneless beef trade with Genoa and assured me that tonnage would be available. After two sailings had been cancelled I was given three hours to decide if my company would guarantee full freight to Genoa or pay one-sixteenth ' extra on an equivalent amount of London cargo. In other words, to guarantee a ship for the rest of New Zealand, which the Patea company did. I would ask Mr. Trotter to ponder the question of how many more of these expensive boards the producer can carry before his back be broken.”