MAY HELP NEW ZEALAND!

Grey River Argus, 22 August 1934, Page 2

MAY HELP NEW ZEALAND!

What I Learnt in London (By Robert J. Terry.) Yesterday I was looking at some exhibits in Australia House and I over heard a conversation. “Beef 4/- per lb. What’s Joe Lyons doing about it?” “I paid l/<> for a small helping of mutton’’ remarked the other. There was niiivh more talk in a simi lar strain, but it was only the two quotations that really interested me so I said, “Pardon me, 1 am from New Zealand. Where are they selling the beef at 4/- per lb?” “Oh,” replied the Queenslander, “I mean cooked beef in any of the restaurants of the City.”

Now I want to point out to my readers in New Zealand that these wild statements of tourists and visitors cause a. great deal of discontent, and mislead the New Zealand producer. Aan illustration. It is impossible for the average person visiting London to say whether they are eating New Zealand butter or not simply by the taste. Any well- made factory butter which has journied 14,00(1 miles anil been in cool store would taste similar. I have decided to give the position as i. reallv is.

It is a fact that cold roast beef i< being retailed at 4/- per lb., ham at 3/6, other meats in proportion. If you buy them at leading hotels it would probably work out double this price. You will naturally say, “then, why is it that we do not receive a higher price for our beef, mutton and pork exported from New Zealand?”

First, it has to be remembered that these cuts are the prime portion of the animal, that it loses weight in cooking, and last, but far from least, it is sold at these prices in shops where rent and expenses are very high. Unfortunately, in addition to these things the catering and handling of food stuffs is rapidly becoming a monopoly in London and spreading to other centres.

Personally knowing some of the merchants connected with Smithfield I am in the inside running to some extent re the handling of food stuffs, but no good purpose will be served by my discussing it here and now. Tt ’s really England’s trouble and it may have to get rather more pronounced before the public awaken and break up the clique. What really interests us is the price that the British farmer obtains for his beef. At the present time really prime beef is worth from 26/- to 28/per cwt., that is live weight. Tn other words, 3d or rather under per lb. The English farmer is probably losing £3 or £4 on each prime beast. He is living in hopes of improvements in the future, which politicians promise him from time to time. It is only reasonable, therefore, to suppose that the British farmer will endeavour to bring pressure to bear on the Government to check importations of beef ami other meats. . i

Forty years ago when T knew the 1 trade the British farmer supplied about three quarters of the beef consumed. To-day he probably does not supply more than one-third, but the serious aspect is that the consumption of beef, and to a lesser extent other meats, is declining per head of population. This is due to a very large percentage of the people eating more fancy foods, or made-up dishes, having more meals out at restaurants. Let me give one illustration. I visited a district in the West End of London, where prior to the war thousands of houses kept at least six servants, with the result that every day a large joint of eithe* beef or mutton would be consumed. To-day the position is completely changed. Park Lane, St. James, Cromwell Road, Mayfair, in fact the West End generally is either empty with notices of sale or to let, or the houses are let in single rooms, so called flats with gas rings, and there is no longer the facility for the cooking of the joints, even If the residents

could afford it. The owners of these houses retain one room, so that they may have a fashionable postal address, but they live chiefly in the country. Further, the bulk of the money seems tit be expended on finding diversions, in new food dishes and entertainments. 'Therefore. many meals are taken in restaurants, hotels, cafes, etc., and so as in the case of purchaing a suit of clothes one does not pay for lhe stuff used (the wool) but for the trimmings. The large catering firms would seem to be out to break up the old idea of good honest meat and vegetables which the housewife could cook for herself or family and naturally check up expense. Menus are given in so called French or other 1 foreign languages and dishes greatly disguised. One catering firm showed a profit last year of £1,003,000 and yet their expenses must be tremendous. The food is high in price when compared with prices obtained by the producer. Expensive buildings, music, waiters in dress clothes, overseers and other officials all raise the price to the consumer without any benefit to the producer. The cheaper caterers of plain food (one time a prominent feature of London) have either been pushed into bankruptcy or absorbed. It is a state of affairs that we in New Zealand cannot help to alter at the present moment. It is possible the pendulum will have to be pushed a little. bit further, and then it will swing to the other extreme. Some say they can already read the writing on the wall. J am not overstating the case when I say that a great deal of the prosperity that is talked of is just inflated prices. Much of the meat is sold at double the price that it was prior to the war. Ffcm is two or three times as dear. It gives a good idea of the manipulation of cliques. Prior to the war, skate, plaice (plaice is like a large flounder), cod, eel. haddock, were sold at from 3d to 4d per lb. To-day they are double and treble the price. Herrings would be sold on the barrows four and six a penny and their bright red gills denoted their freshness. To-day they are 6d .per lb. and have often lost the brightness. Fruit and green stuff is dearer. Even beer and spirits is double or more the price. Now what I am coming at is this, on this line of reasoning butter should be higher than pre-war, but it is the only food stuff that I can see in common use which is not higher in price. To be consistent in this ‘ manipulated ’ rise in price, butter should be at least 1/8 per lb., whereas it is selling at 9d or lOd. Now, how can we legitimately alter things? WHAT WE IN NEW ZEALAND MUST DO. Even in a manipulated market there is always one class of produce which

can dictate to some extent to the buyers, that is your article of superfine quality. Therefore our butter must be superfine as regards imported butter. Tt is folly to suppose that we can equal Danish butter during their periods of grass, which would not be more than five months in the year, but we should be able Io beat all other countries; but only if there is true cooperation between the farmer feeding his cows, the milker and the butter factory manager. We must aim at the eradication of objectionable odours] in the cream, whether due to the feeding of the cows or dirty milking, then it will not be necessary for the factory manager to over-pasteurise because when this is done you have a tasteless neutral fat. Even the wharf labourers should co-operate that the boxes of butter are not left in the sun longer than necessary. More attention must be paid to the quality of cheese. A well-made cheese when cut should show a smooth, even, slightly fat surface. When holes or cracks appear either the farmer or the factory manager is at fault. We can make some good cheese hut to get higher prices for New Zealand cheese the whole of it must be good. If necessary the dirty farmers must be prevented from sending milk to the factory and a slovenly manager get the sack.

We should pay more attention to opening markets, especially in some portions of the East and Japan for dried milk and by-products. We should make up our mind, and quickly, whether we will combine with Australia in fighting the “Margarine sales” in Great Britain. Personally, I think it would be best to combine with them as Australia and New Zealand are the only two countries that have any real effect on the British market as regards col<l store butter. L will give an illustration of why we should combine. Last week-end I was visiting a small village iu Lon coin shire. Practically everv house is over a hundred years old and there are no up-to-date stores, yet in this sleepy little village was a placard asking the people to eat EmI pi re food. 'The word Empire was in quite small letters, but underneath, the quite large letters were “Australian Butter.” There was no mention of . New Zealand. We. cannot grumble if Australia is finding the placards. , IMPROVE THE RABBIT. Now I am going to startle you all, but have a little patience. Both AusL tralia and New Zealand have in the 1 past expended much money in endeavours to exterminate the rabbit, and failed. It is very doubtful if to-day we look upon the rabbit as a pest. 1 am speaking now of New Zealand. As we cannot exterminate it why not im ’ prove it and give New Zea la ml an additional name for quality. Prior to the war the peasants of Belgium exported to Great Britain some few thousand tons of dressed rabbits week- ' ly. 'The rabbits when skinned and 1 cleaned would weight 34 to 4 lbs. each ' when four months old. This result was obtained by evolving a breed of rabbits from four varieties; the Flem--1 ish giant (show specimen would weigh ’ over 201bs each), the Belgium hare rab- • bit, which looked like a hare but was a 1 rabbit and had white flesh, the ordinary wild rabbit, and the Himalaya. ’ The Himalya rabbit is noted for its well developed hind quarters, loin and thighs (prime portion of the carcase). We could cross our wild rabbits with the Belgium breed or with the Himalya which is a short-haired white rabbit with black or smutty feet, tips of nose and ears. The progeny of the cross ’ would certainly not be more difficult I to capture, therefore I cannot see any reason for any scare, and don’t say that I am mad in suggesting the im- • p rovemen t of rabbits, for if you do

‘the day will come’ when you will say that you were mad for not following the suggestion. Think what half a pound more solid flesh would mean. The frame, intestines, etc., would still weigh about the same, but the market as regards exporting rabbits would be ours. CALL THE POORMAN ORANGE N.Z. HEALTH FRUIT. Tn the future the man on the land must pay more attention to mixed farming so that he does not have all his eggs in one basket. There has been a lot of twaddle written about New Zealand growing sweet oranges, but the seedless poorman orange should be an asset, properly marketed. When it is called a grapefruit it takes a very low place because it is hot the shape of the grapefruit and the skin is not the same texture. Therefore, it is only a very poor copy. Now to my mind a grapefruit is rather anaemic when compared with the poorman seedless orange. Grade them truly, call them “New Zealand Health Fruit” and there will be another market because their flavour is distinctive and there are large sections of people who are eating health and so-, called health foods. We missed a great opportunity in not impressing Great Britain -with the facts that our meat and dairy produce is the ‘product of grass eaten in sunshine.’ How it would have appealed during this period of drought. Still mistakes of the past should make for success in the future. ROBERT J. TERRY.