NORTH OTAGO MEAT EXPORT TRADE.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXIX, Issue 10673, 24 January 1911, Page 4

NORTH OTAGO MEAT EXPORT TRADE.

STRIKE AT THE FREEZING WORKS. MEN'S DEMANDS' TO BE FAVORABLY CONSIDERED. SCARCITY OF STOCK. An agitation on the part of live men engaged in the Christchurch Meat Company's Freezing Works at Oamaru for higher pay assumed acute form this morning. Since the killing season opened in December the number of.fat lambs dealt with has been so small that the men employed bagging, stacking, etc., at the freezing works have found it difficult to.obtain more than a "few days' work' weekly: With so uiiiph. broken time the daily pay of 9s, which was their apportionment, was considered inadequate, and the men decided to ask for 10s for a day's work of eight hours. TKe.reaiieSt being refused, the men decided to strike, and' did so this morning. The strike was not, however, of long duration, for after remaining out only a short time they resumed work, pending the Company's favorable consideration of their demands.

.' ; . Inquiries made :by a Mail reporter go to prove that compared with previous years very few fat lambs have been dealt with since the Christehurch Meat Company opened their: ; works a little over a'month ago. 'The-reason for this is undoubtedly td' be found in the dry season, although the competition afforded by the Belfast and Islington works, which started killing during the first week iri'< November secured the "tops"? in North ;OtagptNnay also have been a' ; factor, ; But while this may be so, not one-quarter, it is stated, have been railed away of the number that were railed from North Otago at the corresponding period of last year. The extent of the •falling off locally may be better it is stated that the butchers":are only receiving about a third of the pay they were re° eeiving at this.time last year. The impression conveyed by dealers arid-r buyers is that the : stock is not in the district. Buyers complain that it is extremely difficult to get together a truck load of lambs. "Drovers," they s#> "who woiild come from a district last yeari with a "flock of 300 or 400 sheep; can "only ibis year rake np a matter of 50 or 60." The reason for this scarcity of stock is variously assigned. Some well qualified to express an opinion say it is not one dry year, but a- succession of dry years, that has caused a marked diminution in the number of breeding ewes; :■ and that while lambing percentages have been fully maintained, no notice has been taken of the large number of ewes that have, been railed awav for pasturing and never been replaced. Conditions are expected to improve in a few weeks' time, as sheep will shortly be feeding on rape, on which they fatten quickly. Improved labor conditions may then be looked for. One disability under which Oamaru suffers considerably is the want of accommodation for boats on the loading berth for West of. England ports. A good deal of frozen produce is being shipped by these boats at the present time, Oamaru's quota of which be railed either to Port Chalmers n>r Timaru.