COMMANDEERED MEAT.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17291, 5 October 1916, Page 6

COMMANDEERED MEAT.

The sheepfarmers who met yesterday to consider tho price of commandeered meat had a genuine, substantial grievance, but in our opinion they handled the subject not too well. They passed too many resolutions, they asked too much, and we are afraid thoy indicated an inadequate appreciation of the relations that should exist between the producers and the Imperial Government. Mr H. S. Bourn was quite right in saying that the only point at issue—wo mean the only point that ought to have been at issue—was the disposal of the surplus meat, and that a short resolution asking for the safeguarding of producers' interests in that connection was the only thing necessary. We agreo entirely with the farmers' protest against the manner in which tho surplus over Imperial requirements is disposed of in London, where prices are secured far beyond those paid at the source of supply. It is nothing short of a scandal that any appreciable quantity of meat taken from the grower compulsorily for the purposes of the war, a£ a fixed price, should be handed over to speculators for them to juggle with and fill their greedy pockets with money; and if some of those middlemen are German-Americans, as was asserted by one of the speakers, the scandal is, of course, intensified. There is no shadow of excuse f,or permitting these hyphenated experts, or any other manipulators, to prosper at the expense of the Now Zealand sheepfarmer. Wo are prepared to endorse the most emphatic objections to what appears to have been going on for some time past in this respect, and we are surprised that the New Zealand Government has been slow to realise the position and to act, particularly with a man on the spot so familiar with tho subject as is tho High Commissioner. But, while it was right and necessary to lodge a protest against exploitation by speculators, the request for higher prices for meat taken by the Imperial Government for war purposes is an entirely differont matter. The plea that another penny a pound would yield £1,325,000, which would New Zealand to make provision -for men who have fought the Empire's battles," strikes us as being too far-fetched and specious. It would be much more practical to save tho Imperial Government from the proposed extra payment so that it might more easily provide food for the men who are at this moment helping to smash the Germans. We are afraid tho conclusion is inescapable that the primary producers of this country have failed to tako a noble view of their obligations in this war. During recent weeks there has been some very depressing haggling for another farthing a pound for cheese which is wanted for soldiers in the trenches, although the figure offered exceeds the wildest dreams of tho producers in prewar times. The butter-makers seem to bs aiming at about two shillings a pound, and complain of the "losses" they are suffering because tho output is subject to some control. And now prosperous sheepfarmers wish to add over a million and a quarter sterling a year to their profits and to the financial burdens of tho Mother Country. One farmer talked yesterday about New Zealauders having been " induced to acquiesco" iu the commandeering of meat. The contradiction in terms is selfevident, but wo may add that, if it were not for the Navy, maintained almost solely by tho people of the United Kingdom, there would be. no export trade to-day, and, what is perhaps more to the point, had it not been for the commandeering of the output by the Imperial Government the shipping problem might easily have brought the freezing industry to a standstill. Another farmer complained that "not a single.consumer had benefited through

the Imperial Government's embargo on New Zealand meat." That may or may not be, but scores of thousands of soldiers have been fed, and tho producer at least has done remarkably well. The value of frozen meat exported in tho year ended August, 1914, was £741,000, while in the year ended last August it was £1,614,000, and, of course, there has been no corresponding increase in quantity. Tho truth is that this great producing country has taken every possible advantage of Britain's necessity during tho last two years. Except that soldiers have been sent to fight, New Zealand has done nothing but add to the Mothor Country's troubles by taking additional money for produce, and taking it in millions, and at this stage it is distressing to sco people who have participated in these gains asking for more. The meeting yesterday ought to have confined itself to the bona fide grievance.