WAR TIME MEAT TRADE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23718, 26 July 1940, Page 6

WAR TIME MEAT TRADE

Proof positive of tho manner in which New Zealand meat producers have striven to provide Great Britain with adequate supplies of essential foodstuffs since the outbreak of war is provided in the annual report of the Meat Producers' Board. Under the stimulus of emergency, the record kill of the 1938-39 season has been exceeded by approximately 1,650,000 freight carcases; in beef, mutton and lamb, production has been higher than in any previous season. This result has not been achieved without sacrifice, particularly in mutton and lamb killings, for, as the report points out, the interim sheep returns at April 30 show a decrease of more than 840,000 in the total flocks of tho Dominion and of nearly 284,000 in breeding ewes. Producers themselves will have to study the bearing of these figures on the future of their industry, but another point of supreme importance in which they may require external aid concerns

the provision of adequate cool storage facilities. The board reports that already a great deal has been done to remedy deficiencies in this respect, but it is definitely of the opinion that the additional storage provided is not yet commensurate with the increased kill. The production of foodstuffs for Britain is among the first of our national responsibilities and there is no telling when a sudden intensification of Germany's counter blockade may interrupt shipping schedules and throw an additional strain on local storage space. In Great Britain, the people have cheerfully accepted the rationing of foodstuffs. The producers of New Zealand are playing their part in an effort to ensure that this rationing will be adequate. There is still the necessity of seeing that, from the farm to the ocean liner, all obstacles to the prompt and efficient Bupply of foodstuffs to the Mother Country are rapidly removed.