"PRIME CANTERBURY."

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11197, 20 August 1898, Page 3

"PRIME CANTERBURY."

TO THE KDITOR. SI R) Although I cannot claim an interest in this question myself further thwi that the trade has »S6uuied proportions of sufficient magnitude (o be of interest-to the whole community as affecting one export trade, still I .beg to offer the following remarks for the consideration of num&rons correspondents whose letters I have read in your columns of late, and who seemingly are directly affected :— : ', In the first place, in suggesting remedies of one sort or other a good many of them seem to have missed the mark altogether, and it might be an well first to ascertain the real cause of complaint. - It was my good fortune to revisit England recently after an absence of many years. I wan staying in a town in-the north of oyer 200,000 population. Complaints were as rife here then as. now abont the want of. organisation, or mismanagement of this trade, such as' New Zealand, meat being sold as English, "prime' Canterbury", bringing Id a lb or nearly more than Otago and. Southland, which it is averred is quite' as good and some or. it much better, besides other grievances of a like nature. In the town referred to I could see mo chop announcing New Zealand mutton for One day I chanced to be in the company of an officer of the Midland Railway Company when the prices of meat were being discussed.. I said, to that gentleman, " I can sea no New Zealand meat offered for sale in this town as such ; does your-com'pany bring any ?"..., _ r ~. , "Ob yes," he replied, " we bring several; vans a week sometimes, and I know the Great Northern brings as much, if not more." ' " Where is itr disposed of then, or who gets it?"-.... -'v' ': ■" • " •"' , ''""■ " ■'■■ ''.'■ . ■'■ ! ":H.selislotsofit,"saidbe,. • The next Saturday morning, at an early hour, I siood before H.s shop whilst the salesmen were arranging the display of meat for the Saturday niavket. The proprietor himself was there slf'o superintending all. ■ _ Now, i*; is'customary in first-class' butchers shops in England to hung the carcases of sheep, with the heads attached, in order that the initiated may know the breed and the age of the animal, whilst the locality where fattened, is usually also'notified. :•■ . • ,■ There -were some fine specimens in the frontranks ticketed "Prime Southdown . wethers, bred and fattened by 1... J., of Si. Park"; "Prime Leicester, bred by ,F. D., of ?. Grange," and so on. , , . ■ ..... I remarked to the proprietor, "You havereally a. "wonderfully fine display of meat, Bir, this morning."". nn.il- " Bud to beat," was the reply. Can t■ be beat anywhere. Step inside here." • "I'mnbt a buyer, sir," I said; "only a visitor to your town, and looking around for curiosity and information." "All right," he said. ■"You'll seldom see such fine meat wherever you go." "It is certainly the finest display of meat I bnve'seen for a long sime." ~■:•;••■ Thus flittered, he became communicative. At the back of the shop were hung several rows of carcases, but without the heads, with a great, flaming placard in red letters, " Prime Canterbury." ■ .- .- ~~ « .-. '■ ■■ f■ ' '^ •-'- ---" Wby don't you show' these with the heads attached the s»me as the others ?."'": "These," lie" *aid; "are a few I did not kill myself, but. all' the others were slaughtered here. But they are* qually n's good, sir: Prime stuff all of them'; can't be beat'anywhere:" •'Now, sir," Teaid, 'Vthe fact is these are careaeresof New Zealand mutton".; looking at. him steadfastly in the face, " I know them.'? - ; He- winked the other' eye. "I see you kaow- * little about it,'? he paid. (I really would not have/done but for the information received from the Midland official.) .: . ~; ■:•■ "Yes," I said, ■"■ and I suppose you can Bell them as: readily as the others P,"_.:...-. "Well, it's Maw way,'/he. »aid:" I can buy them for a little less, and I can afford to take a little lew for the prime of our own. I have heavy charges to meet, aud it sort of equalises things a bit, you tee." . "Preciaely; and you find no complaints about the N«w Zealand meat, which, I'Mipoose, all got-s at the same price, as you adroit ? " ' ' '•'No complaints whatever. They never know; they nevwask; and it will all be sold, every ounce of it, by 12 o'clock to-uigbt." I moved away pondering, and I am pondering still. .■■.-•. . ■ ■..■■•■• Now, I will not go so far as to say there was auy dishonesty, there more than .is practised here by our own tradesmen daily and continuously, in their, specious advertisements, nor nny false pretence, but mutely trading,' if you like, under a tacit suppressio veri. ~,•''.,-. The. fact appears to be that our neighbours to the north of u« bave found out that it is a fortuitous circumstance their province'should, bear the name of one of the most' fatuou* grazing districts in England. They have seized upon it as a trade term,, and work it with jealous zeal to their exclusive benefit and to.the detriment of Otago and Southland mutton, much of it as good and some of it better ; and i-who'can blame them? They have got the j market, and they will try to keep it. ; ! Novv, I will venture to asserts that there.is 1 not more than one person in every t>oo of the population of England, from Carlisle to the Laud's End, who knows that there is any other ' Canterbury in the world than that in their own Kentish county ; and I,would not be far off the mark inlaying that as many knpw ltsa or : nothing of New Zealand. Oar astule friends 'in the north know this well, and make the best iof it. H.C Cameron kooAyg it too. I knew i that gentleman here; I met him there; and if ever he should see these lines he can corroborate ' every word in them. Cameron is an , energetic and'splendid worker, and he is Oiago ,to the bone ; but they have the advantage of him, and ho told m« so. . ■-••. : "But what are we to do, then ?" ask disj appointed shippers. "No use tolling us all ■ this and leaving us in our misery and bitterness lof feeling What remedy do you recommend jto help us ?" . ■ . _ 1 If I tell you, you won't do it. Let us see. I quote from your London correspondence of July 2, published in your columns on the 13fih inst.y the following paragraph :—" New Zealund Meat: Since the Ist of January the- total number of carcases of mufc.tou received from New Zealand have been, so -the (5. C. and D. Company write to me to-day. .814,157. or 35,071 more than came to hand for the same period last year. A steady trade, they say, has been done, and despite the heavy May arrivals stocks are in quite manageable compass.. Prices, too, have improved slightly, for good-quality mutton; as it is wanted, and from its scarcity commands high rates. Really prime mutton is unobtainable; the best Canterburyu offering find a ready sale at 3Jd ro 4d per lb, and a considerable quantity would find buyers at these rates. Very little Southland or Dunediu mutton has been seen on the market., Values have ranged from 2fd to 3^d per.lb. Tbe con- ! certed action of the two principal holders of North Island mutton has prevented the slump that at one time seemed imminent, and, though sales in consequence hays been somewhat restricted, values have been fairly well maintained • 56ib to 641b sheep have sold at 2|d per lb, heavier, at. 2fd,per lb, though for each sort less.monayby id to id has been accepted by some consignees." I find from the above there is an average ot Id per lb—all but a shade (l-16d)—in favonr of Canterbury. On sheep of the weight named that would amount to 4s 8d to 5s 4d psr carcase. I would recommend then: Close all the freeing works from the Bluff to the Waitaki, or lt'ave them for the rabbits and canning industries. Let abattoirs and freezing works be erected near Lytteltpn of sufficient magnitude to deal with all the meat exported from the South Island, and rail the sheep alive over the border, and let it all go on the market as "prime Canterbury." Ido not know the railage on sheep that diftance, but it cannot be 5s per head, or more than a quarter of it; at any rate it could be fixed low enough to meet such an enormous traffic;; and further, it would elude the exorbitant dues levied by the Dtmedin Harbour Bo«rd. But you would interfere wiih " local iudustries." Bother local iudustriee. Three-p»rts out of four of them ought never to hive been started, and many of my friends and acquaintances wcnld give the last button off their shirts to know they never h*d been. But I must forbear further trespass, only sddiog that it w.'uld be quite useless inventing another trade term, such a- " Lincoln merino*," as one of your cui-r«apoi\«ieiits suggests. One. xu^presnio veri ia enough, make the best of ih r auj, &0.. Bast Anglian.