MEAT BOARD.

Gisborne Times, Volume LXVIII, Issue 10711, 8 October 1928, Page 3

MEAT BOARD.

MR COOP REVIEWS ITS ACTIVITIES.

HOW IT HAS- HELPED THE GROWERS.

MOVE TO GAIN ADDITIONAL

MARKETS

“The New Zealand Meat Control Board is doing: more than the average farmer realises.” in these terms, Mr R. W. Coop summed up in favor of the Meat BoardV policy when: addressing members of the Poverty Bty A. and P. Association. With Mr E. R. Biack, Mr Coop was a Poverty Bay oinciaf delegate to the Electoral Committee of the Bard, which met in Wellington recently, and, therefore, he was able to give members an interesting insight into the meat trade as controlled ijy the Board. Mr Coop said that it was only after hearing an address by Mr David Jones, chairman of the Meat Board, that he had realised the amount of good work the Board wag doing in regard to the meat trade from the time the stock entered the works until it finally reached the overseas market. The regulation of shipments and continuity of supplies that the Board had arranged with the shipping companies wa s a great factor in keeping the Dominion’s meat continually on the London market. and was a great improvement on the old method of pitching it on to Smithfield and glutting the market. A saving in cold storage was also effected by reason of the fact that a good deal of meat went straight into consumption. The Empire Marketing Board, of which Mr Forsyth, the London manager of the Meat Board, 'was a member, had taken up on a large scale tbe' advertising of New Zealand mutton and lamb, with the result that more meat was going into consumption, er demand 1 . The Board had made and consequently there was a greatexperiments, in freezing and had discovered that the o:d method of placing carcases in the cooling chamber before freezing was out of date. The meat now went straight off the killing board into the freezer. By this method, the Board tound that the meat retained its bloom and color and it went on to the market in a fresh cond.tion and there was also a saving of i-31b m weight. This represented £IOO,UUv. to the producer. The Board was responsible for the kidney and kiduey fat-Deing left in the lamb, re- . ulting in a gain to the producers or many thousands of pounds. The Board, Mr Coop continued, realised the danger of New Zealand meat being frozen too hard -on the sh.ps and had arranged to obtain a chart showing the maximum and minimum temperature of every ship on every day from the time it leaves New Zealand until its arrival in the United' Kingdom. This, together with careful grading, handl.ng and discharging, had resulted in a saving of £7O,UOu annually in insurance. With a view to opening a market with America, the Board had made several trial shipments to both the East and "West Coasts of America, and special shipments of beef, mutton and lamb to New York. The beef had met with a favorable demand indicating that there was a market available. A± present, the Board was investigating the question of making a trial shipment ol eh.lied beef to this market. The total amount shipped to he said, would probably be 500,0‘JU' freight carcases. The consumption of meat in the United lmtl lately dropped from Tib to olb pel' head" of the population, but he claim-ed’that-from 1,1)00,000 to 2,000,000 lambs could be absorbed without affectum the market. Thus there was a possibility of laying the foundation for a trade which would be immensely valuable to the Dominion. it was pleasing to know that New Zealand pork was held in high regard. This year there had been a substantial increase lor export, viz. 144,993 porkers and baconers * compared with 86,143 for the same peiiod last year. The Board had arranged tor a special shipping rate, which was about half what re way in 1922, the saving on a KU b pig being 9s 3d, equal to fd per lb. The. special concession in regard to shipping rates on pork was practically a subsidy lly the Board to encourage the industry. Dealing with cold storage, Mr Coop isn d that the Board had made repeated- requests to owners of com storage in London without any satisfactory results. The Board nad bought a site on the Thames, adjacent* to Smithfield; with a view U) building its own stores. Since the purchase of the site, satisfactory terms had been entered ing m a reduction on the ld-o rate ot 10 per cent the first month and 20 per cent for the second and subsequent month. It was estimated that the reduction from the rate would be £50,000 a year. It cost £I2OO a year to hold the site, hut that, was small compared with the saving and when it- was considered that it was only Is per year foi each of the • 24,000 sheeptarmers it was hot very much, rreference hau been given to i\ew Zealand beet bt Great Britain and the contracts tor the Army and! JNavy orders were invaluable to our beef industryThe Board, he continued, realised the danger of foot and mouth disease, and was taking a v ei 3 stand in the matter. They,- as farmers, should keep on battering away at the authorities and the Government not on any account to allow stock to be imported mto this country and also to see that the regulations were carried out. ft * use waking up once the disease was here. ' In the Argentine it was very bad and iust recently seven extra ex- . perts had been sent to that country to deal with it. . The bearing down m ewes was - 1 matter that the Board and delegates discussed, and it appeared to be veiy bad. Many suggestions were made such as— farmers should go among their ewes earlier m the morning too much long grass; cattle; ewes too tat; and that it was a microbe. The latter to Ins mind was nearer the mark and ho thought, the Government , veterinary surgeons should go out into the country unu see if they could do something. “I would like to draw your attention to the fact that , farmers «« not taking enough interest m the Meat Board. This is plainly shown by the voting in this district. Gut of a total of 922 voting papers issued only 394 valid papers were received, showing that the farmers as a whole were not interested, said M “ r jSe° P freezing works have drawn the Board’s attention to ram li • being sent to the works, it recognises that a few cannot be helped but some farmers have just been ear-marking and cutting the ta Is off and sending ram lambs to h works. This is. detrimental to out trade. We must keep ur> our standard and farmers are particular lj asked to be careful in this matterotherwise they will be. prohibited C said that the Board had undoubtedly performed good work. It had not heeded the extremist views, but had gone steadily forward: He considered the Asso ciation should hack up the policy .of ! The president remarked that the Board had, enormous powers and could erect large cold storage build ings at any-time. ■ Mr*. Graham: . “Blip there, has been & fair, amount of criticism directee. the Board a»opg, ; iv»«s,

who contend that the Board is not functioning properly. Do you think we should pass a, resolution supposing the Board’s policy S'” '“Yes, I think we should back up the Board,” said Mr Coop. A motion, proposed by Mr Graham, and to the effect that the Board’s policy should be endorsed and supported by the Association, was carried unanimously.