THE MEAT SITUATION.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVIII, Issue 18331, 13 February 1920, Page 4

THE MEAT SITUATION.

Whim it is necessary that the Govern- ; ment should protect the Dominion's interests aa far aa possible in regard to the meat commandeer, care should be taken to avoid any wild suggestions as to the manner in which th© glut should be relieved in the London stores. One producer, for instance, makes th© interesting and (shall we say?) unsophisticated suggestion that the Imperial Government should make a. gift to Austria ■ of a portion of the meat in store in London. This would he a very fine thing for the New Zealand producer, perhaps, in helping to clear the market, hut it scemß too much like begging. Britain, however, fears a shortage of meat herself, notwithstanding the present glut. Recently an interdepartmental committee at Home re> ported that there was little risk of a shortage in the Quantity of imported,

meat required to supplement home production, and that as far as lamb and mutton wore oonoerned the Empire could become self-supporting within a few years. On the other hand, Mr O. A. M'Ourdy, Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food, predicts that,, viewing the world as a whole, there will be a seriouß shortage of essential foodstuffs in 1920.- He stated to & conference of Labour merabera in the middle of December that while there was a meat surplus at the moment, they could not assume that supplies for 1920 were assured. For the nest two or three months more meat would be arriving in the Thames than they knew whafi to do with, and at the end of December last, he said, there would be 120,000 tons of hoarded meat in store in Australia and New Zealand. This was not a large amount—enough to feed Europe for about four days—if it were possible to dispose of it in that way. There was not sufficient storage for the whole of it, but all restrictions were being removed. Mr M'Curdy added that the cold stores in the United Kingdom had never been big enough for the national needs, and if they were successfully to. fight tho American Meat Trust and protect the consumers of the country against inflated prices for meat and bacon coming across tho Atlantic they would haye to provide such cold storage as would keep ample supplies in stock. The danger of the Meat Trust does not exist in Britain alone. It is very real in New Zealand, and the Prime Minister declares that the Trust is already at work. Therefore, no farmer, for the sake of an immediate advantage, should entertain the suggestion that its operations should be welcomed as a means of getting even with the Imperial Government, which haa troubles of its own Just now. Nevertheless the situation should not be left to ohanoe, and there is a great deal to ba said for Mr G. W. Forbes'a suggestion that an advisory committee should be set up to reorganise the Dominion's lost meat f trade, and keep the producer advised as to the method of handling and marketing the meat. The same ideal is embodied in a cablegram, which we publish this morning regarding the Australian scheme of wool control, but in the case of New Zealand meat the board, sitting in London, might go much further and advertise the product and see that quality is maintained at the highest possible standard. This would probably entail the handling of the Dominion's output as a whole, but the result could not be anything but beneficial to the producer.