SLUMP IN MEAT

New Zealand Times, Volume XLVII, Issue 10849, 15 March 1921, Page 5

SLUMP IN MEAT

WHAT IS THE REASON ?

PRIME MINISTER ON FAILURE OF MARKETS. AMERICA AND VESTEYS. Would the Prime Alinister inform the House the amount of New Zealand meat held by the British Government in store at Home, on the seas, and in store in New Zealand, asked Air W. D. Lysnar (Gisborne) in the House of Representatives yesterday. He thought that the producers had a right to know what, tile position was. Air Massey said that he had not the figures by him, but he would be very glad to comply with the hon. member’s request. He thought it was a reasonable one. and that the producers in this country should know what was the exact difficulty at Home as regards prices. He had received a telegram from the High Commissioner stating that the slump was due to two reasons. One was that some months ago there was sent away from New Zealand a very large number of carcases of mutton and lamb to the United States. At that time we were informed that it was a good market, but Something seemed to have gone wrong, and instead of it being disposed of in America it had been necessary to send much of the meat to London for sale there.

Air Wilford (Opposition Leader): Perhaps the producers in America got it pushed out. Air Alassey said that he could not say. Then, in addition to that the Vesteys firm —which was not in the United States Trust, by the way—had purchased a very large quantity of meat this country from the Imperial Government. That was wanted to place it on the markets of Central Europe—Germany in particular. But, again, that market had failed, and it was intended to place the whole of the meat in London. That had brought a lot of beeP and mutton and lamb into competition with meat sent from here, with the result that there was a glut, and the people in the meat trade naturally looked for a considerable reduction in price. Personally, he was not inclined to think that this positiom would last long. He was optimistic enough to believe that in a month’s time we would get over the difficulty and that the markets tor our meat, so far as London was concerned, would come back to normal. However, the moral was that we should cultivate the London market, and not be too dependent on markets outside. (Hear, hear.) We should look first to the London market, and if that was not able to take all our produce, then we could endeavour to find .other markets for it. (Hear, hear.)