HELD UP

Evening Post, Volume XCVI, Issue 15, 17 July 1918, Page 7

HELD UP

MILLIONS IN PRODUCE

SCARCITY OF SHIPS

A YEAR'S EXPORTS ON HAND,

Uncertainty still attaches to the shipping position. On the one hand, large holders of butter are under the impres* sion that they will be able to effect a considerable clearance of accumulations .well before the nest season's make comes in in any considerable quantity. On the other, so far as can be ascertained in authoritative quarters, the "visible" supply of tonnage is almost a negligible quantity, considering the vast amount of produce already in store awaiting shipment. By far the greater part of this .produce is held on Imperial Government account, and the storage charges for it must amount to an enormous sum in. the aggregate. To that extent the prodiicer is not affected—at present. But in respect to lambs, especially in the South I Island, a serious position is likely to arise for producers, unless some clearance is effected in good time for the reception of next season's killings. Some figures showing the accumulations of produce in store awaiting shipment have already been made public by Mr. W. H. Bennett, general manager of .the New Zealand Shipping Company. Revising, supplementing, and bringing them up to date, the position is approximately as follows :— ■ ' Produce held Quantities Value . : , . £ Greasy wool, bales 475,760 11,418,400 Freezing Co.'s slipe, bales 83,400 2,802,000 Meat, 601b carcases 5,200,000 7,020,000 Cheese, crates 335,000 2,345,000 Butter, boxes , 180,000 720,000 Tallow, casks 45,000 900,000 Rabbits, crates 80,000 - 78,000 Hemp, bales 20,000 100,000 £24,178,400 These figures are unofficial,' but. they afford a bird's-eye .view of the position." In addition there- are also held 1 for J shipment pelts, hides. dried'milk, leather, honey, gum, and other general cargo, the total value of which is not at the moment ascertainable, but which in the aggregate will amount to a very large sum indeed. Further, much of this produce is being held on account of owners other than the Imperial Government. Hemp and tallow are notable instances. Apples, which would be worth a lot cf money just now if they ■could be shipped, have no chance of getting away, and even Australia, near as it is, offers no satisfactory market, Tasmania and some other States being in the same predicament as New Zealand with respect to export of surplus fruit over and above local requirements. "SAVED THE COUNTRY." Most fortunately for New' Zealand nearly all the produce in. the above table has been bought and paid for by the. Imperial. Government. It. would' then be grave indeed for the producers of the Dominion—and for everyone else indirectly—if some £23,000,000 to £24,----000,000 worth of produce were held up solejy on their account, because there were not the sKps available to tako v a/way. . ■ "Urod only knows," said Mr. \V. t>. Bennett (chairman of the New Zealand Wool Brokers' Association), "what would have happened to this Dominion if the Imperial Government had not taketo our produce. .It practically saved the country from bankruptcy." Mr. Bentiett was speaking at a Departmental social gathering, at which, the Prime Minister was present. Mr. Massey's comment then was, "Mr. Bennett is quite nght. But for the Imperial Government pureo&Bes the consequences for this country would have been very serious indeed.'" • ■• ■■ From enquiries made by The Post it is learned that "the shipping, situation to-day is worse than it has been at any period since the outbreak of the war." But it is felt, and not without good ground for the belief, that Australia has been unduly favoured as against New Zealand in the matter of tonnage for lifting produce for the United Kingdom and elsewhere. AVhen the small allocation of tonnage for New Zealand is taken into account, together with the heavy accumulations of produce awaiting shipment here, the Dominion shows up rather badly beside Australia. These matters are all arranged in London, and the local Overseas Shipping Committee, it is understood, is practically limited to allocating space in such ships as are detailed for New Zealand loading. No doubt the committee has made strong representations of the actual state of affairs here, but, if so, its requests for more tonnage j have not .at' tho time of writing moved I the London committee to put New Zea- I land on the same footing as Australia in ( this respect. '

A COMING STORAGE PROBLEM.

It is fairly correct to say that stocks of meat held in store, in. New. Zealand are enormously in excess' of those held for shipment on Imperial account in the Commonwealth at the present time. But Australia will be in a much better position than New Zealand .to hold next season's meat. The quantity of meat held in New Zealand is equivalent to 5,200,000 601b freight carcases. The total storage capacity will take some 750,000 to a million more. Notwithstanding the substantial additions that have been made to the freezing storage of the Dominion, unless arrangements are made between now and December to clear out a very large quantity of meat now held in 'store, the outlook for sheep-farmers, especially in the South Island, will be by no means bright. In the South Island on the high country feed for sheep is far I^ss ab,un-, dant than on the hilly pastures of the North Island, and the climate is not so kindly. It i 3 of the utmost importance for pastoralists in the highlands of the South Island to get their lambs off at the right time and as quickly as possible, as the land is not able to carry the same number of sheep and lambs to the acre as North Island pastures. Any.stoppage of-freezing will therefore be more quickly felt in the South Island than in the North, hence the necessity of relieving the congestion in the cold stores as much and as speedily as possible against the time the lambs for the 1918-19 season come in.

The value of all the New Zealand pro•duce now awaiting shipment is.believed, by those who should know to be fully £25,000,000. This is nearly equivalent to the full year's exports of 1914, which totalled £25,984,717. For 1913 the total value of exports was £22,577,890; in 1912, £21,272,400; and for' 3911. £18,781,898.

The producing year of 1917-18 is ended. Butter and cheese-making have practically stopped (but the cows will bn coming in again at the end of next month to the beginning of September), shearing will not begin: until October; the freezing works will start killing again in November, to. -December, and flax-cutting is.stopped. . v T': "■'.'.'.' The position, summarised, is that the Dominion has already the equivalent of a. whole normal-years-e xports in stock, and stands on the threshold of another producing year. It is true that much of the produce has been bought and paid for by the Imperial Government; and is being held at its charge; but will that j£Uj}&wenjLk£-a%tiAue<Ui it it im^tos-

siblo to provide in time tonnage for the goode? And, besides, what is to become of next season's unrequisitioned. produce in the form of tallow, pelts, flax, and other smaller exportable lines? This position created by the shortage of ships is exceedingly difficult—apart from the pressure on the cubic feet of storage available in the country. It can only be relieved in one of two ways: by (1) reduced production, or (2) more ships. Bnt some relief could be afforded by placing New Zealand on ah equal footing with Australia"'with respect to its rightful share in the limited amount of tonnage available for what are still technically known at Home as "The Colonies."