THE MEAT CONFERENCE.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 998, 17 April 1891, Page 23

THE MEAT CONFERENCE.

The Meat Conference passed a number of resolutions all bearing on the improvement of the arrangements of the carrying trade. An opinion was expressed that they would prove cumbrous and unworkable. But discussion and negociations will possibly take the sting out _ of any such criticism as that. The main ques tion, however, is of freights, which was considerably discussed. At present the average rate of freight is per lb, which at two million carcases of mutton averaging between 551 b and 601 b, represents a revenue to the shipowners of over half a million of money—between Lsi>o,ooo and !L580,000. Every farthing of freight means a large annual sum to the ships. That there should have been considerable discussion about the proposal made for reduction is the most natural thing in the world. On one side the freezer holds that the trade is assured and increasing ; that the new ships are less costly to build and to run ; that they carry larger cargoes; in a word, that the shipowners can afford to meet their demand for a reduction, which in the face of unsteady prices they hold to be reasonable. On the other hand the shipowner can plead that he has made numerous concessions ; that he has invested a great deal of money in machinery which .may at any time become out of date ; that the danger of competition is very real and seiious : and that he has made losses at the beginning. It is not unnatural that he should, as an equivalent for further concession,ask for a guaranteed term of freight—say five years. The freezer on his side objects to be cut off for so long a period as five years from the probable improvement in methods. To both, the trade is exceedingly valuable. The annual consumption of mutton in the United Kingdom is 16,000,000 carcases, of which 3,100,000 are imported, and the importations are increasing. Here we see the magnitude of the interests involved. They are so great, and the trade is so well understood y all concerned, that we feel sure the

two sides to the freight discussion will find no difficulty in arranging an amicable compromise. |