GRAZIER v.BUTCHER

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14927, 1 September 1910, Page 3

GRAZIER v.BUTCHER

AVI-iO SHALL PAY FOR CONDEMNED ■ CATTLE? ' ' ' V . " What' about a guarantee?" Tin's was ;the question usually .asked ..of . the. auctioneers by the bufohew-ccngragaied' round-the.cattle-pens at the Burnskfo sale vestwday, . when there was a doubt ;:o to theownership of the stock and the owner's attitude on. the compensation question. For some tin-.e .p-ast' there has been a feeling amongst a large number of formats and griusiws .that where the cattle sold by them at Bunisids -have bsen passed by the inspector as sound, but have been condemned alter slaughter,'they: (the grazieie and farmers) are not- in any way liable, and Gh-uuld receive the full amount which-their cattle brought at auction.- • The usage up".till. now has .been that; in cases where, passed animals' ,wet,o condemned after slaughter the Government ■paid one-third compensation- 011 the purchasing,, price of tho' bjast, and half the re- ; niaining ' actual ;loss. : was divided between buyer .and! seller.' As n result of the. feeling that they were not- receiving justice' in Vhe sale of their animals, a -large milliter of farmers and graziers .have signed a document in which they' resolve not lo recognise any claim that-may-be made on them for compensation in -respect.to any. animal fold by them for slaughtering at the Dunedin C'it.v Corporation Abattoirs, but, 1 jn : the event of any of their stock before sale''bearing evidence sufficient lo cause a doubt in the mind of the stock inspector with regard to its soundness, the said farmers «n<l graziers agree to fully guarantee such stcok. ' The butchers- then hold a meeting, atwhich, however, no definite arrangementwas come to; but. it was understood,, while they were to have a free hand, the butchers should give preference to these fanners selling imder tho . usual guarantee conditions.

The sals, therefore, wa-s.'the cocasion of a pitting of . strength between those farmers who would not give a guarantiee and the butchers who were disinclined to. buy with' out one.

■ The liret pen' of cattle submitted was owned by Mr William M'Bride,.of Cherry ■Farm,. Waikouaifc l . who. has not signed the before-mentioned' document, and, in reply to a genera! question .by the batchers, " What about a. the auctioneer replied, "The usual giuwrntoa will bo given." Three olieers were immediately given by the. butchers for' Mr M'Bride.

Shortly .afterwards a-pen of cattlc in the ownership of Mr W. Blackie, one of the signers of • the document, came under tho hammer, " ; No guarantee," being.the ultimatum of the auctioneer. Tho butchers present, however, would not bid, and passed on to the next pen. Mr Blackie immediately -afterward' sold privately, without a guarantee, to a, butcher ,at a very satisfactory figure. ■

At yesterday's sale, however, there was a large number of farmers and graziers from » distance selling their" stock, tho cattle of but throe fanners who had signed the refusal to sell, with compensation being on offor-namely, Messns W. Blackie, William Charters,'and'William Kirk. For Mr Blaokie's next pen the butchers bid, and it was sold by auction without a guarantee. This gentleman in all sold .12 cattle—four by auction and eight nrivntalv; Mr Charters sold half his number privately and half by auction; and Mr Kirk disposed of seven privately. In each instance these cattle wore sold without a guarantee as to soundness. The other sales made were in every case with the usual guarantee, except where a pen from, a stock agent had been forwarded without any instructions.

Mr Lindsay, another Taieri farmer (not a-signer),'6old a gcod number of. beasts with the usual, guarantee, and was honoured with cheers from the butchers assembled.

' "No guarantee" ol " The usual guarantee," there was no feelinc displayed by either sellers or buyers, except when the sale was nearly completed. On a refusil being given by ia seller, to sell with the usual guarantee; several butchers olamouiyd for the gnara-ntee, and slated that they had been approached by two or three farmers who had signed the restricting document with offers to sell privately with "the usual guarantee."- Mr Blackie asked for their names, but thoso were not forthcom-, ing. Yesterday's trial, of.strength as between butcher' and grazier was inconclusive. Most of the cattle, were,, as stated above, from outside sources—there were but few Taieri cattle :on sale. One Well-known butoher stated, however, had cattle been scarce and those on sale mostly belonging to farmers signing the document i butcher's' hands might -have been', forccd..' Ho was also..responsible., for the. statement that those signing tho 'agreement .were mostly Taieri farmers, and tihat Tlic absence of thess, sellers from., yesterday's' sale was rather significant. Questioned-as-to the advisability of the butchers and farmors forming ah insuranoe fund ,out of which the full amount of the cost of oondemned cattle oould be taken, Mr T. Smith said' the butchers wore :of the opinion, that an insurance scheme would be far more expensive than the system hitherto 'prevailing. Hiey oonsidered that the offioe and other exponsss would cat up a big pcrosnt-age of the contributions to the fund. Our reporter mads inquiries amongst several butchers and graziors as to the losses sustained by them through t.heir cattle being condemned, and tho answer received bore evid~«io; to the fact that tho percentage is very small.' He was told of one fanner who had sold. 1500 cattle in 12 uonths, only two of which had been condemned, the farmer losing £2 by such con(temnations. A butoher who puts through while of two other butchers one stated that ho had not had one loss this year, so far, while of tfo ether butchers one stated that he did not lose two per year, and the other said he' did not average one. Another well-known Taieri farmer stated that he had disposed of some 400 to 500 head during the last 12 months, and his average loss was but 1 per cont. He was in favour of the '' no guarantee," however, on principle. After witnessing yesteiday's sale of stock there can bo but ono conclusion come to— namely, .that the "guaranteed" stock secured far brisker bidding than those without such a -protection.' jjevera.l butchers absolutely refused to bid. for the "no guarantee" animals. As to whether the prices realised for these latter were or. an average us good as thoso for the guaranteed anima'ls is open to doubt. Several butchers considred thai, the guaranteed' beasts fetched 10s to £1 more than this unguaranteed. One of the farmers, however, who stood out against. whon asked .this.question, speaking with the ; wisdom of knowledge, said he was not prepared to answer. He, however, appeared to be well satisfied with the prices he had obtained. The danger whioh tho farmers signing' the. agreement have to ooiitend against is that some of their number may draw out of . the compact, and if rumour-can ba relied on, one prominent signer of the document, at least, will shortly take his name off tho farmers' list. ' A TAIERI FARMER'S OPINION. . 11l oonveraation with our rwuorter, a wellknown Taieri farmer said that .in the case of stock passed alive by-the inspector they considered. they should not pay any. com-pensation-if,, alter it was slaughtered, suoh stock was condemned. If a beast were condemned _by the inspector before killing the farmer had to fully guarantee it, and in the. caso of ah animal which passed the inspector and which was afterwards found diseased, they were in the habit of recoup>|"S the butcher the half of his actual -loss. Ihe trouble was tho slaughtermen would take tho position of each butcher's pur- 1 chases by a distinot brand to enable him to know each butcher's cattle. The slaughtermen thereby could not possibly know each vendor's lot. Consequently fanners sometimes found that the cattle charged to them had not been sold, by them. Had the Legislature made provision for farmers stock, being killed at the abattoirs, similar to what it had made .in regard to Stock slaughtered by butchers, matters would have been far more satisfactory scr far as the farmers were ooncernec. The act lays it. down-that whore a majority of butchers petition the Governor he may by Order-m-Cminci! cranial ttie ;to contribute to a comm«n lund to pay.for condemned moat, tarmere have always paid t.'nc half-share of animals condemned after "slaughter, others, however, have not dofle eo, more particularly graziers .and farmers living -at a te nC ®' who . mayfly otk! in one or: two Huoks in a-year. ..To tiose who'are SUD"tone the Burnsida sale.weekly tho matter LA u on f- Many of tho farmers.in weeks when the market' is • ilkW.lv: ovor•®a,tHo' " from the 'same l«ns asi tho butchen do. , These- cattle may be condemn#! fcho. following* week, or when the farmer.chooses to.sell, when the Jattcr is a heavy Inser. They had to pij half loss toi the butcher, but did not receive from the nre n they had bought