Feilding Star, Oroua and Kiwitea Counties' Gazette. SATURDAY, MARCH 4, 1916. FROZEN MEAT TRADE.

Feilding Star, Volume XII, Issue 2886, 4 March 1916, Page 2

Feilding Star, Oroua and Kiwitea Counties' Gazette. SATURDAY, MARCH 4, 1916. FROZEN MEAT TRADE.

With an approach unto completion of its own freezing works, Feilding will from now on take a more intimate interest in the meat trade. We have never had any doubt whatever about the prospects that await the frozen meat industry in this district. The enterprise cannot help being not only a certain, but a great success. Even though .the.machinery is not yet installed in tho Oroua works, producers already havo occasion to rejoice that they had laid the foundations of the good work. Competition is going on in tho district just as if the machinery was running on tho banks of the Oroua. Our fear is that the works will be found all too small for the demands made upon them once the freezers are ready for the foodstuffs now in so great demand in the Old World. But growth is a natural thing, and provision will be made for that development. The C.C. and D. Co.'s annual report, of which a copy is sent to us from London, refers to tho Feilding works as being likely to start operations this year, and adds the general comment that as "tho majority of the new works arc intended to exploit the New Zealand production, and as the capacity of that country (New Zealand) to raise stock for freezing purposes is not unlimited, it is possible that the benefit of the competition for the stock- may be con lined to tho stock owner." There is nothing to complain against in this comment so far as Feilding i.s concerned, as,the Oroua works are on the co-operative plan they have been started by fanners for farmers. And a.s Feilding is I be finest breeding and fattening district in the Dominion, there will be ne question here of running short of fats with which to keep tho freezers doing their duty for tho profit of the producers. Nor do we. think there will be any very great difficulty about getting the meats away. Ships will conio and shir>« will go, for without them New Zealand would cease to count and politicians coast* to exist. And as to tho future

of tho industry, with the end of the Avar will come an open door into Europe for all our produce; and just what that means suggests an horizon promising enough for the keenest optimist. Commenting upon the outlook of the'frozen meat industry, the report, of the C.C. aud D. Co. to which reference ha.s already been made says it would be easier, "and perhaps plcasimter," to tako long views of what lies in (he future for the trade than lo forecast what may be in store in the limited period of 11)1(5. None can say when the war will end, and even the probable immediate results when it does end arc the subject of widely divergent; opinion. On the one side, the dire distress which has followed nearly all great wars is quoted; while, on the other, it is pointed out that no war has been on such a scale as this, and the enormous demands to replace the wastage of war must create unprecedented trade activity. "Which condition will prevail must depend upon the financial capacity and commercial ability of the country to deal with the .situation." We are still inclined to the opinion that New Zealand meats, like our wools, must continue in high demand, because thoy are held in high esteem, oven immediately after : tho war, and thenceforward.