SPACE FOR PRODUCE

North Otago Times, Volume C, Issue 13223, 19 February 1915, Page 2

SPACE FOR PRODUCE

Till) POBITION IN OANHBR< BVRY. -a - , .GLOBING THE WOKKS. . mtmmkf mmxy «. / Tlio seei clary-, of llifl Canterbury I'ro-jcu Meat Company informed ut to> prcsclilallvo of "Tim Press" yesterday that it was probablo that tho Fahllcld works would bo closed dowu Id i'if <or to morrow, aud a notice of the closing had. been postchl for (lie lufoimatioii of tho cuiplojeca. Tho Belfast works'will probably, cloud I'll Friday or Saturday, but it is. ex-' pecte'd tllilt. tlio. Pareora works., can :bo kept > running until'tlio cud of tlio m'Outh,, not,. howcyor,. at full prcssujo. The date of tho' closing of tho Christcliui'ch"Meat Company's'works is,not definite,. but it .wjdl probably be. at, tho Olid of tho month. - ; ' v . •■, ,' ; ; ; ;';A(i(litloiiW Storage. •'A gcritlc'mauc'OJliiCcted with, the, industry made some femnrkrt tfltli regard' to,tho.erection .of additional cold «t(Jr'' ago. at the work's and at port to rcllejfl the prcsciit.'pixssur'c.. Ho said; that the 1 g(illi!ll|0. whs not' within tho rango of practical ipolltlcn. Admitting, for tho sake, of argument, that the idea-was sound it was now..too late to.start building additional stores.. Tlio 'fact J was,that the'idea was not sound; tho i schoinc• would do no more than relievo' mutters temporarily.' It was,truo.that It would possibly picvont stock dotriuniting oil-tho farms, but it would only take •them OHO stop on; what was;needed was more ships; Mid.moreships wjis tho only practical solution otthfl diffl culty. It wns of little uso holding up stuff at this • cud and accumulating stocks that could not be got awliy. Tho miilii point was to get tho meat to the coiisumer in a steady supply. "It ;,is quite iucorrcct.": he .continued:, "to think that'wo can run up fresh cool stores all of a.suddcu. These places eannotibo put together like a 'batch' at New' Brighton. Tlio proper materials must : bi! used, and propor machinery installed. These lire not in the colony, and it is quito obvious to ovcryonothat ■it is,loo Into to begin• importing mftvhincry and materials, if thoy could bo got. Besides, in normnl timos, tkch) is ample storage for all incut, and wo should then have (if we built now) a lot of unnecessary buildings to pay in-

terest on. If such, buildiugs were. constructed llipy must bo properly built or it would possibly invalidate all our insurance business, which is another point to think about."

Shipping Manager's SUlcmont. . At Aku'roa oil Monday tho Hou. E. :I, Rhodes meutioucd that eighteen

mouths ago the shipping companies evidently realised that there was a lack of insulated tounago, us ono firm had announced .thai it was going to lay down an extra six ships for tho I»cw Zealand trade. Two of these ships, ho believed, had already been started. Mr Bennett, manager of the hew Zealand Shipping Company, was asked about tho statement yoslerday, and replied in the following words: "What I think' Mr lthodcs meant to say was, that last season our meat tonnage was somewhat inadequate, that is twelve or fifteen months ago, and in responso to urgent requests from the Board out here the London directorate assured us that wc should have a larger amount of insulated tonnage for loading this year. The result has been shown, inasmuch as up to the end of the month wc shall have provided spaco for about 700,000 carcases, whereas duriug the same period last season wc had space for about 'IOO,OOO carcases. Besides this, the management in London initialed a building programme, some of ike Bteamers in which have already beer contracted for, and this would have giveu our company sovcral more steam era by this dale'if it had not-bed for lite outbreak of'the war causing tho coinploliou of these boats to be in definitely postponed,'.. Two of thesi boats wcro started at Dunkirk, « France, aud ouc was launched..', lb boats were built in France, because thi congestion in the buildiug yards a Home was sucli as to make it. clear tha

wo could get quicker delivery iron France. Actually tho only boat in 111 uow building prog'rammo that wc hav got is tho Hororata, which was com plctcd sonic timo previously. . \ Letter from the Employees, Tho following letter lias been foi warded to the Prime Minister;— '' Canterbury Freezing Works, Bacou Manure, and Soap Employees' Unlor 7 Trades 'Hall, ■ Christ'ehurcli, > lGti February, 1915,-ltt. Hon. W. P. Ma« gey, Prime .Minister, Wellington.—l)oa

Sir,-1 am directed by tho above Union to draw your attention Id the fact that the closing down of the freezing works in Canterbury affects no less than four hundred members of this Imi ion. Notice Im been posted at the live freezing works in Canterbury that they will all closo down during the neck, the men being given to understand that their services will'not be required until further notice. This i.umb'r 01 four hundred \* ini, the total number affected, as the Slaujjhcriiicn.'s niul Fcllmoiigcrs' Union cover at least five hundred more men, so you ace the closing down of these freezing works will -inflict widespread hardship on the workers of New Zealand; hardship which is icudercd more serious by tho absence df employment in otficr directions, mid the general rise iu the cost of living. My Union lias, therefore, directed me to ascertain what steps the Government propose to take with a view of relieving the"-un-employment and distress resulting from tho throwing out of work of theso nine hundred men in Canterbury.—(Sigued) F. Ellis, Secretary." ;

THE POSITION IN POVERTY BAY. T GISBOItNE, February 10. - , Mr. C. A. Do La'tour, chairman of directors of the Gisborn'e Sheep Fartriors.' Frozen Meat Company, slated today that the position in'this district,'uuaccouilt of tho shortage of inaulated tonnage' would, not, -be as ucuto as in the South Island'because 0f..t110 difference in tho conditions. "As fat as our company is,concerned,'' lie Buid, "with riiodcratc bookings it is anticipated lliataiw works will be able to, keep goingV until 'the. cud- of March. After that it is quite impossible to say what shipping arrangements will bo practicable, but there.is no necessity, for any alarm. If it had not been for tho exceptional 'pressure caused by the dry weather and au active market, wo should have got along with littlo troublo at all. As a matter of fact, uearly 40,000 moro sheep and lambs were handled at the works this season up to the end of January than in pro vious years." , The positlou at Messrs Nclsou BrosTaruheru Works was explained by Mr C. A. Fenwick, the acting manager. Up to the present, he said, the worlds had been 1 going stcadily-not in full swiug, but handling about 2000 sheep pcr<day. They could keep going on this output until the end of February, awVafter that, unless additional bwls were.provided, they Iwould Jiayejo, caso down - considerably. Present arrangements provided for. only ono steamer for -March. The steamer Miniiro was Ipading from the works at present, and with the allotted spaco was -affording' a little relief to tho works, where tlio full storage capacity'. ; was;, 9,0,000.c0r-' 'cases.-"'- : V. : ! ; -/■ - '■■'■•> .-'.'■"'.^•'■■'■■:>■..<''''.;,--' -r A- Tokoraa'ru Bay. rc ; , ports that ou account of tho shortago of .spaco liio .Tokouiaru.: FreczingWorKs iiro" Aaviu§|o ;cIOBO vtkrto dnyg\ until tho iTrriyaP-t of vthc v >noxt, ,%amer WJ :C-vj;v.';;,;;.' -%-. : a--- >';• -'-vf '•'