The Lyttelton Times. MONDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1884.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXII, Issue 7412, 1 December 1884, Page 4

The Lyttelton Times. MONDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1884.

1 Urojj ihi; subject of frozen meat the I Chairman of the Chamber of Com- | mem? *puke most hopefully at the quarterly meeting. lii« tone was hopful about other thing*!, generally hopful in fuel, a thing most refresh*! ing after the long priodof depression that h.w heen oppressing everybody. We, of worse, mean no reflection iljoit the President's prede*ee»orn; we merely mean that tlie spcches of the* chief* of tin* fommemiU representative body are, o» they to a large extent ought to l>o, reflections of the mi ml of the mercantile community. It m refreshing to find that the reflection i* at last beginning to l»e. hopful. “A more hop. ful feeling pervade* the community." thought the Chatman "and the Colo* ni«t ii beginning to sec a hit of clear «kv through the cloud* and inisto of seasons, low price*, ami financial stringency." It would invidious to mine the question of whether the improvement upon former years extend* to the Chairman’# speech. Upon that point it i* only nwmafj to say that the speeches oi the Chairmen * of the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce have always been remarkable for thoughlfuuMMiH as well a* businesslike ability, and that tha last > I* not unworthy of its predecessors m any way. It resembles those pr©wide range of the snb--1 j«ct* oonaectod with the Canterbury

that it displays, and it »1 ifTor« from Homo of thorn in the greater hopefulness which it announces. The signs of impi 'voui-'Ht are at present chiefly in tho pastoral interest, which shows decided signs of revival. That tho grain interest has also a future Is'foro i! only tho croakers have denied, In this matter il is very satisfin (orv to son that tho Chairman of )ho commercial representative body of tin* greatest agricultural district in New Zealand i« not a croaker, His hopefulness rests on three great fuels: the sclf.euring tendency of overproduction, the great superiority of Australian wheat over its Indian rival, and tho growing importance of the Australian markets to New Zealand. Those should he well considered by all agriculturists in the time of struggle, which, for them, (teems to be gradually orawing to an end. Of all* these matters the Chairman spoke hopefully, but Ida moat hopeful (one was given to the frozen meat industry. Prices have become fairly good, the Provincial markets are extending, with a settled demand, and the problem of the supply has boon solved. Inolherwords,wUhan increasing market of demand, wo have proved (he certainty of the sources of supply. Ik*fore (he trade was set agoing, opinions varied considerably as to the jnnver of onr (locks to keep it going. Many even held that in the present state of our flocks it was not worth while to establish tho trade, Weans© the trade would exhaust them too soon. Between these and tho men who held that tho supply of marketable sheep is practically inexhaustible- fully equal, that is to say, to any demand that can lie mode iqion it by all jMWsihlo facilities of shipment, there was no means of deciding. The test of actual experience was the only one for a case which could not be argued from published figures, for the simple reason that the published figures give almost none of the particulars required. That test has been applied, and the verdict is for the men of the larger ideas. In spite of tho 120,000 carcases sent over sea during the past year, there were more sheep in Canter* bury at the end of that year than there were in the beginning. Tho fact was more than suspected, but it will bo none the less pleasant to the majority of the people who wish well to the cause of meat export, to see it in statistical black and white. The two great facta of this trade, then, upjiear to Ik* that at both ends it is secure. The demand at one end, at good prices, is increasing; the supply at the other end is more than keeping pace with the demand. Truly there is ample room for hopefulness. While discussing the two ends of the trade, the Chairman did not forget the middle. He devoted most of the attention that he gave to this part of the subject to the enemies of the trade. His picture of the efforts of the great vested interests to stave off the danger with which tho meat importations from New Zealand threaten them was graphic, and, as everybody who has read anything on the subject is ready to admit, as true as it was graphic. He did not devote as much attention to another class, whose dealings are with the middle of the tradi* The middle part of the trade, between tho raisers and the eaters of the stock, are. of course, tho middle men. It is their business to fight the enemies of tho trade who seek to interpose between the meat and the meat eater. The more numerous and the more powerful and tho more effective tho enemies, tho more united and the more vigilant and the more efficient ought the middle men to be. Now, the complaint of those who are interested in this end of tho trade is that the opposition so well described has not produced this effect. Tho middle men, a public meeting was informed the other day, not for the first tithe, are not united, and their arrangements, probably for that reason, are not by any moans efficient. Wo read of New Zealand mutton competing in the market against New Zealand mutton; wo hear of Now Zealand mutton mixed up at public exhibitions without hope of distinction from Australian, hidden under a bushel, as it were, when kept separate, and oven sold at tho grill as English to appreciative consumers. There are well authenticated stories of Now Zealand mutton sold systematically in various places as Home-grown. The air is full of complaints of meat allowed to appear in the market badly thawed, of stores in inconvenient positions entailing heavy expenses. These are tho things which have made the heart of the stockowner heavy. Those are tho things which be calls aloud to bo remedied. It is satisfactory that, in spit© of them, the demand increases, and that the price lias risen alum? the dreadful limit to which, a short time ago, it had receded. It is not improbable that the novelty af the trade is resjionsiblo for most of the evils of arrangement. But that inconvenience has passed away. The trade is no longer new. The necessary experience having been gained, the time lias come to establish unity of purpose among the middlemen, to improve and cheapen the storage, and to ensure for the meat an invariably good apjicamiwe in tho market, «This triple result of combination can not be secured without expenditure. It seemed at one time as if the low prices would prevent the raising of the sinews of war. As the prices now give the necessary encouragement, it, is nut too much to exjsjct that the triplet results of combination ought to be immediately secured.