MEAT EXPORT CONTROL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18294, 10 January 1923, Page 9

MEAT EXPORT CONTROL.

THE WORK OF THE BOARD.

CRITICISM FROM BLENHEIM.

In reference to his criticism of the regulation issued by the Meat Export Control Board limiting the minimum parcel to 300 carcases, Mr. H. J. Stace, chairman of the Marlborough executive of the Farmers' Union, returned to the charge at , a meeting of his organisation in Blenheim last. week.

Mr. Stace acknowledged the good intentions of the board, and the possibilities of its scheme in years to come, but up to the present he did not see that it had done one atom of good. Much had been made of the rise in the prices of mutton and lamb, and the reduction in freights; but when he attended the conference in Wellington, at which the board was created, he had in his pocket private advice from London agents which foreshadowed exactly what had occurred in the meat market. Nor did he flatter himself that he was the only man in New Zealand in possession of such information. He could not see that the board had influenced the prices in the slightest degree, and as for the freights there was a surplus of shipping in need of cargoes, and the reductions were ■ a natural sequence of the slump. One of tho Christchurch papers pretty well met the case when it said that the board had created a position which could not bo solved, i • •

When the Waiwera arrived at Picton recently from 2000 to 3000 carcases were ready for export, he continued, but they could not be shifted, he continued, as at this early stage of the season none of the growers' had the required parcel of 300. Authority had to be awaited to shift the frozen meat, and finally this was received. ■ A quotation which appeared in the press recently appealed strongly to him, this being that the least governed country was the best governed one. There were so many boards and regulations at present that one hardly knew where he was.