PATEA MEAT WORKS.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLIV, Issue XLIV, 3 June 1924, Page 4

PATEA MEAT WORKS.

CANVASS FOR FUNDS

A SATISFACTORY RESPONSES

Interviewed at Patea yesterday %r a representative of the Hawera, Star, Mr. Christensen stated that about half of the £30,000 the public have been asked to subscribe under the scheme for taking over the Patea meat works has been collected. This, he thought, should be regarded as satisfactory, seeing that the canvass had only'extended over one month. It was in-, tended, he eaid, to seek an extension of the time allowed for closing with the offer. This will no doubt be granted, in which case Mr. Christensen is fairly confident that the balance of the money will be raised. Of the amount subscribed so far, the town of Patea had been responsible for £3000, to which has to be added over £400* subscribed by the meat works employees. It was stated that many farmers who at first coldly received the proposal that they should take up shares, have, upon reflection, decided! to give the schema their support and make the small sacrifice that has beer* asked. Referring to the proposal that the Patea works should be absorbed by the Smart Road Company, Mr. Christensen said the objections were so? obvious that there was no need tc* elaborate them, and even from the viewpoint of the whole of Taranki, the right place for meat works, if they were to serve the convenience of:the great majority of the farmers, is afe Patea. In this connection he pointed out that of 94,000 sheep and lambs treated at the works this season, only 30,000 came from the North. Patea. may be said to be fairly central as far as the stock producing part of Taranaki is concerned. From the country immediately surrounding it the bulkoofff the stock and the best stock came, and' the North with its comparatively poorer land could not hope to compete.with it. It was further stated by Mr. Christensen that if the works were shifted to Smart Road a considerableportion of South Taranaki stock owners would refuse to send their oa.ttle there r preferring to forward them to Wanganui, which, would suit their convenience much better. The only way tc* save the meat industry for Taranaki was to have the works at Patea, andT the Patea works should absorb ther Smart Road works. This would enable the whole of the Taranaki stock t» be handled at farmers' works, whereas if Smart Road is to be the centre of operations a large percentage of the stock will go out of the province. In, stressing the importance of the Patea works to farmers, Mr. Christensen ©aid that the discards from dairy herds in Taranaki must number at least 25,0(X> annually, and the -prices for these would be coneiderably lower If proprietary concerns were allowed an undisputed field to operate in. In the Waikato, where the proprietary meat companies held sway, sheep and lambs had been from 2s 6d to 5s lower than in Taranaki. Another matter touched upon by Mr. Christensen was the loss that-dairy companies in South Tara^ naki would suffer if, following the closing of the Patea meat works, the port is also closed. The Hawera Bairyf Company alone saved £2100 annually in freights by shipping through Patea, and the Joll Company was saving; £1900 a year. Up to the present timen the total amount saved to South Taranaki dairy companies in freight alone through using the port of Patea was in! the vicinity of £250,000. Business people are also deeply concerned. A considerable quantity of merchandise for Hawera comes through Patea, and in times of trouble such 'as existed during the railway etrike the port become* essential.

Mr. Christensen, is continuing his campaign, and is full of hope that thewhole of the money required will be? forthcoming. Little is asked front farmers, and it would seem that they are likely to receive back many timesover, directly or indirectly, all thafe they give.

(To the Editor.)

Sir, r—That the shares in the proposed new company to take over the Patea Works are not being rushed by applicants is very obvious from the tone of Mr Pease's letter in Thursday's Star. I am sure that no resident in South Taranaki will doubt the sincerity of Mr Pease, but his arguments are too weak to withstand the wave of scepticism caused by the failure of somany freezing companies, during the> last few years.

The cull cow argument is of no valuewhatever, and likewise the competitionargument. Production of butter-fat is ■ the dairy farmer's objective, not theproduction of cull cows. We can aswell argue that freezing companies: should assist dairy companies, becausewithout dairying there would be no cultcows for their works.

Every practical farmer knows thai competition at stock sales is caused by those buyers who operate independently of company buyers. We have had company buyers attending our sales for many Sear*, and I fail to see that if Patea Works are closed that the whole m^ket will collapse, because there wilF still be all the other companies left. Ao progressive dairy farmer bothers: much about a few shillings on his culls,, but prefers to let the freezing companies make what profit they can out °v .V and J^ging by the balancesheets of these companies (especially: r£f a ' they have not made much The value of the works at Patea Mr lease quotes as being in the last vear'sy balance-sheet shown at £193,362 " Thisis not a very sound basis of calculationwhen we consider the financial stateot the present company. Mr Peaselaments the fact that amongst business--people of Hawera the response has^ been weakest. Surely this is an indication of the unsoundness of the proposi"il- i Dusiness men can see that; a third mortgage in a concern of doubtful prospects is not a wise investment, and I would suggest to Mr Pease and the promoters of the pronosed company that perhaps if the dehentures were offered to the publie(thereby giving them a second morteage) and the debenture holders tak© the shares (third mortgage) the new company might see the light of day. To suggest that no interest would &• paid on debentures if no profit were* made is simply foolish, as interest cannot he paid when there is nothing to my it out of, but the debenture holders will stand a better chance of a dividend than will the shareholders —I am, etc., ANOTHER IGNORANT COW COCKIB