MEAT BOARD’S BAN

Hokitika Guardian, 10 July 1934, Page 6

MEAT BOARD’S BAN

CAUSES CONSTERNATION. (Per Press Association —Copyright). AUCKLAND, July 10. Tlie- Moat Board’s ban <>n boneless beef pr bobby calves has created consternation a'giong the trade in Auckland. One man prominent in the trade said: “Without a word of warning the Government has kicked the stool from under us, and at one blow our vast organisation has been affected. .--Slaughter mon freezing employees, those dealing in by products, yardmen and those in the field with 'motor trucks will 'a’d suffer. It will mean a tremendous loss to the railways at a time when there is very little -other livestock moving.’’ Last year this trade was worth £IOO,OOO to Auckland province and the opinion expressed to-day is that the ban means the collapse of the trade. Bobby calves will now be dealt with as in the o'id day®. They will bo killed on the farm, the skins removed and the carcases fed to the pigs. The bobby calf season lias only just started and it was expected to be l'arger than last season. Fortunately the season for boneless beef is alm-ost over, but unless the 'ban is removed or modified, the loss of this export trade will also be serious. Those associated with the trade in Auckland are at a loss to understand the reason for the ban and until information is available are disinclined to commit themselves to criticism.

THE EMBARGO DENOUNCED. UNEMPLOYMENT CREATED. HAMILTON, July 10. Commenting upon the embargo on bobby calves, Mr W. Ah Phillips, chairman of directors of the New Zealmd Co-operative Pig Marketing Association, the largest exporters of calves in the Dominion, said to-day the serious aspect was that over twenty carriers mid buyers employed by the Association were thrown out of employment overnight. ' The carriers had’ built up a business specially to cater for the constantly expanding trade. The effect of the decision would not only throw these mien out of .but would also render idle' thousands of pounds worth of plant and equipment. It had been a terrific shock for the officials to learn of the embargo, as no- indication of 'the impending restriction had been given. Over last year the Association had distributed among fifteen thousand suppliers £55,000 166,000 calves having been handled. The present market price for hides was 18 pence 'below the figure for the same period last year, .and although no meat 'of any consequence had been sold this season, the indications suggested a ■market price of three-farthings less than for the same period last season. At the Lorotiu freezing works about one hundred men would be thrown out of jobs. They had been employed for only a few weeks. Other Waikato pastoralists and marketers, when; interviewed, stressed the seriousness off the 'action on farmer's, but some consider it inevitab.c.