COLD STORAGE

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 146, 17 December 1924, Page 14

COLD STORAGE

ASSOCIATION'S AUTUMN DINNER

THE LEAGUE AND MIGRA-

TION.

(fROM OUR OWS CORRESPONDENT.)

LONDON, 24th October.

What is known as the autumn dinner oi the British Cold Storage and Ico Association, held this week, was a very pleasant affair, but no great attempt was made in the speeches to deal with matters of importance. An excellent musical programme was provided, and after the dinner itself, the "vests were entertained with vocal and humorous items. Sir Gordon Campbell was in the chair, and at the president's table were Sir James Allen, the Hon. H. P. Colebatch (Agent-General of Western Australia), Mr. M T. Brown, Sir Philip Proctor, Mr. Charles Page, and Mr! Kussell Sinclair. Among New ZeaMr. Hal Williams, Mr. E. F. Nicoll C bb and Mr> Alexander

c h?> P r.esldent- m proposing the toast of Refrigeration and Allied Industry " announced that the proceedings of the recent International Conference were being put into print. There had been i,f pa££i s Tead and these would oc^py some 20C0 pages. In addition the extr£ discussion would run into 100; COO words

t« ( ?, olebatch sPokB on the openings for settlement m the sparsely-popula-ted regions of Western Australia, It was a white man's country, he said, and at Geneva the people of Australia and it was going to be maintained as a white man s country. I n sp it. c o f conferences iSew Zealand were going to decide this matter of population for themselves. They would stand together in their decision, and their men would fight for it just as they fought in Gallipoli, * ranee, and Mesopotamia. Mr. (Jolebateh went "on to say_ that he did not think the producers in the Dominions had grounds for complaint that the retail pnee of their produce here was out of Proportion to the wholesale price they received. Some of the beef for whil sold for Is a pound, but he had taken the trouble to examine the prices in the poorer distnets of London, and he had found good joints being sold for 5d and 6d a lb. A fruitgrower had complained that a retailer was selling his fruit at Is tWi£ at c had S°t only 15s for the 401b case. On inquiry, it was found tnat the latter price was a good market price at the time of sale, but that the buyer had put the fruit in cold storage until there were no other good apples on the market. The producer,, said Mr. Colebatch, was not entitled to more than the fair market value of his produce on the day he sold it. OVERSEAS SETTLEMENT.

On the question of overseas settlement the speaker said that the Governments of this country had made the mistake of putting the matter into the' hands of a committee. If it had been put into the hands of one man there might, have been mistakes made, but something would have been done Sir James Allen replied to the toast of The British Cold Storage and lee Association." The association, he said, was not only for the purpose of looking after the trade interests of its members 1 here was the greater work of scientific investigation for the benefit of mankind generally. That day-he had re ceived a message from a man he knew in New Zealand. That message had «>me by way of amateur wireless sets. He could not help feeling that in the very near future by means of scientific investigation the problems of communication would be solved. Not many years ago it would have been impos" sibls for the workmen in this country to have New Zealand lamb and New Zealand butter.

The principle of refrigeration had made- this possible, though it was not always known that it was New Zealand butter or New Zealand lamb that was being consumed. He had been toid that it was inexpedient to advertise the butter as "New Zealand," as it was a seasonal commodity; With the aid of the refrigerating chamber they would soon be in the position to supply New Zealand i butter all the year round. There were New Zealand apples being sold to-day though it was very many months since they were gathered from the orchards, of the Dominion.