UNDER TRUE NAME

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXIII, Issue 11826, 6 January 1933, Page 4

UNDER TRUE NAME

i marking : o'r meat, v *’■. /*• •. ■ - /;.

preservation of identity ESSENTIAL. ' ■ Mr. 11. J. Wernham, managingdirector of the New 'Zealand Cobperatve Wool .Marketing Association Ltd., who is "at present in Welling-, tis astonished at' the' hostility in New Zealand to the proposed compulsory marking of meat, “We want bur goods to go on the market,” he said, “under their true name and with a cbiintry of ’ origin'mark; It is more necessary for New Zealand than for any other 1 country .in ' tho world., "• ■ ■:

“The reason for that,” Amid,;.Mr Wernham, “is that our ooimuodities are'all, of •'<- super kind—our riuifton,’’ out lamb, our butter, wool arid’honey. If they go on the market as ‘Empire’ products their identify is lost. One of'the greatest difficultes the marketing associations have had is in keeping our identity/'Marking with the country of origin is what the New Zealand primary producer wants We want our lamb tq go on the market as New Zealand iamb and be known as New- Zealand lamb. It is' the very thing we require. This opposition to the National Farmers’ Union’s proposal is not what the producer wants. The more intimately we can connect the name ‘New Zealand" with our own products the better It will be for us.”

Mr. Wernham is in Wellington at present for the purpose of seeing Cabinet in connection with wool marketing. He returned only recently from England, where he made some surprisig observations. “1 have seen New Zealand iamb sold at Smithfield,” he said, “at prices ranging from 4<l to s?d, the retail prices on the same clay being from '1 ltd tr> Is 7d a lb., irrespective of grade. For mutton sold at 2-Jd to 3|d i was asked Is 3d a lb. for a hindquarter. At the same time I have seen New Zealand iamb sold as prime English at Is 104 a lb. The dairy section appears possibly the best served, but even here abuse is rife. Several convictions were made in a single month against dealers selling Russian butter as New Zealand or Empire. The blending of inferior brands and selling- as super qualities s much in evidence.