KILLINGS OF MUTTON AND LAMB

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 187, 4 May 1940, Page 17

KILLINGS OF MUTTON AND LAMB

Record Season Expected

VIEWS OF CHAIRMAN OF PRODUCERS’ BOARD Dominion Special Service. .MARTON. May 3. "Killings of mutton and lamb this season again look like being another record, as our kill to date is up, compared witli the same date last year, by more than 500,000 lambs and 300.000 ewes,” said the chairman of Hie New Zealand Aleat Producers’ Board, Mr. T. A. Duncan, in an address at. a meeting of the Marton branch of the Farmers’ Union. Wethers, however, were certainly down by about 200,000 to date, so that would to some degree counterbalance the killings of lambs and ewes, he said. Producers were to be congratulated on the increased production, since the larger killings would be maintained till the end of the season AH stock were doing -well and there was quite tr lot of lambs left to kill, particularly in the South Island. In the early part of the year the board was faced with an over-produc-tion in mutton and lamb carried forward from the previous year, mat gave the board some worry to know what to do with the surplus and how to deal with it at a payable price, and so clear the way for this season s kill. At that stage the war intervened and temporarily solved the problem. Up to the present the board had encountered no shipping difficulties, and had been able to keep the stores sufficiently clear to allow for full killings, but it looked as though the disorganization caused by the war was. going to affect the regularity of sailings, and some works might be affected. He said he was sure, however, that the Government would do everything possible to provide shipping for. the most necessitous cases first, as it was o vital importance that all works should continue killing. The policy adopted of increasing the cold storage capacity at a number of the works was proving of inestimable value, as without that precaution the increased kill could not have been dealt with without increased shipping facilities. With the killing season so far advanced it looked possible now to get through without any undue embarrassment. Efforts must be made as tar as possible, however, to see that the stores were cleared out of this season’s meat before next season’s main kill started. From the beginning of the war the board pledged itself to help the. Government in every way possib.e m its war efforts. That necessitated the board agreeing to the adoption of some changes because of the Governments war policy, including the sale of meat through the Government's marketing department to the British Government and the control of hides, tallow and .Stipe wool. Since the war, however, the policy of allowing freedom of shipment of all by-products, other than those required by the British Government, had hud to be altered, and that had caused delays and misunderstanding between the various interests affected. Though the Government was not responsible for the whole of the delay, the farmers did not get .full values for their slipe and wool hides, and it was! only recently, after prolonged negotiations, that the last of the matters in dispute had been finally settled on a basis which, he said lit hoped, would be satisfactory to all concerned.