FROZEN PRODUCE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLVIII, Issue XLVIII, 5 May 1914, Page 3

FROZEN PRODUCE

CURRENT TOPICS

LONDON", March 20. In view of the fact that March arriw.ls at hand and to come ate very luavy. t.ie frozen neat market is keeping pace with things very well indeed. For this month last year the total fiozen supplies cu niiiij to port were 1,200,000 .sheep a.id . ..us, and 4156,000 quarters of froz.m and chilkd boef. This month the total supply wilP consist of approximately a million sheep, 50.C00 short of that number of lambs, and 600,000 Hje*f quarters, (hilled and frozen, reckoning from all countries. Home meat supplies are fortunately in vi ry moderate compass, a:u) th? demand is "very fair all round. It will have to be wonderfully good, however, if the present market values are to be fully maintained, and the situati m points rather to cheaper meat. The first Canterbury lambs this season have i )t made a very good market, this fact being attributable, no doubt, to the firm position gained by other lambs whith ha .a already made* such a' remarkably good showing in the quotations list? for the early season. Canterburvs till now have only realised 6£d for lighter weights, a bare ±d' over North Islands, and. that "With difficulty and a rather weak trade. Beef has been a very fair market, chilled supplies, although ample for requirements, not glutting as they did rath ■>• earlk't- on. New .Zealand lores are st;ll a shade below the 4d, and hinds 4id. "TBUST" OPERATIONS.

In mv last letter I referred to the many rumours that are in circulation as to the rapid developments now in pro-

.ress b\ the Americans in acquiring* meat exporting properties in Australia, and elsewhere. The trade here is-deeply affected by these reports. 'ihe traue Press, moreover, is asking where are the measures cf protection again.t this incursion on 'British interest*, barriers of legislation which were making the cables vibrate with thsir rathrr blatant terms about a year aco. The horizon is c<>stantlv changed since then, as new we have "Mr D.nham, the Premier o; Queensland, in London, telling Press in-.erviewti-s that he r,fuses at the moment to believe that it is the intention <t the American companies to acquire coutrcl of the trade, and that even if they do, thev can still be stopped. Whether the , mare yet has her nose out cf the stab.edoor it is perhaps difficult -to say precisely, but those who know the urgency of the situation may pay little heed to such opinions as this.

ARMY" MEAT CONTRACTS. Possibly on the safe principle that any -tick is .rood enough to beat a deg with, -niite a Tiumbsr-of" queries have recently been put in Parliament concerning the new svstem of Army frozen meat crnTPcts." There is gemraUv the hand of ihe Horn* producer in tins, and t.io 1 iberal Government is hated by many for its' pcliiv cf buying in the cheapest nvulwl. The other, day in the Hon™ ot Commons. Mr G. Stewart asked the Seerotarv of State for War whether, (Utcr a )lowin" for carriage to destination, do.iverv charges. aunts' expenses, «iul other ffliicM'iniu in the ll v'' savins had "Win Hvcnnmliahrd by tle War through supplying the 'ar«e depots cf th. British Army with frozen beef under a bulk contract; whether this methou was as satisfactory ns ■he one previously practiced I whether ho was a ware that, owing to the large qua.,* tities of frozen beef which have been "rawn from Liverpool fur Una contract, he shortage and consequent increase in orice had been very adversely felt by letailers depending upon tins market m supplies. The allegation was that tin, vJi.t.d the Beef Trust to manipulate ori es but this is really beside the point, as the" raising of beef prices has been due o shortage Occasioned by American purchases for United States consumption. The" replv given on behalf of the War Office was that, after making allowance for all outgoings, the new a considerable saving, and in othei lespects is more satisfactory.

MEAT TiETAILJNO PROFITS. The fact that Eastmans, T,td ; , a his multiple-hop frozen cern is abl ■ to" show on its lyiA tracing, •i nrolit of (G62.964) some 60 i>pi- cent. above! that <?f 1912,, hows that the pos, tion of the retailer in ths past 12 n oh* has at aiiv rate, been rather better than f«wevlv. The voav 1912 ,«s a black VH-ii' both for the Argentine meat export companies and for meat wta,hrrs generally in Great Britain. Ihe nr Movement, however, has not been mad, .r, account of cheaper m«i • Jo Mi J. •K. Thomson, the the SS SiuS"fT-en meat handled bv i ~.,,,. li«t vear cost t loin U.ioa S, e basis of 1912 wholesale pnces.i'Press'' London covvespcmdent.