A NEW INDUSTRY.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19261, 27 August 1924, Page 10

A NEW INDUSTRY.

PIG RAISING IN THE DOMINION. MR J. S. JESSEP’S INVESTIGATIONS. LARUE WHITE MUST BE INTRODUCED. (Fnou our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, July 19. Although Mr J. S. Jcssep is in England for personal reasons, he is taking a 'ory live interest in flic question of developing (lie pork am! bacon industry in Now Zealand -md is studying the matter from this end. Ho has been visiting many of tho important pig breeders in the country, ho has conferred with bacon carers and provision dealers, he has visited Holland, ana he is going over to Denmark. So far, he says, he is convinced that New Zealand cannot do hotter than follow tno Danes and import “largo white ’ pigs o cross-breed with tho New Zealand stock, which is largely Berkshire. The cross with the “largo white’' gives a long side with plenty of lean and not too much fat, and such is what the English market demands. “New Zealand has about reached tho limit of her production so far as frozen moat, and wool is concerned,’’ said Mr •Jossop. ‘Wo may increase by half a million carcases per annum, but that is about tho full possible extent. Our exports of butter and choose may increase as oul farms pay more attention to herd-culling, and as land is more closely farmed. But when vSiberia comes into tho market again and other countries develop their dairy industry, tho average price of butter and cheese will most assuredly gradually decrease. Hitherto the price of butter and cheese has been high, and such high prices have made our dairy farmers neglect the side lines of the dairy farm. Of all such side lines tho raising of pigs is the easiest and most profitable. . “The Danes side by side with their dairy business have developed pig-raising on scientific lines, and have succeeded so well that the export of hams and bacon alone from Denmark now exceeds the value of butter and cheese. To England alone Denmark sends £16,000,C00 of hams and bacon per annum. Now the Danes have to import a great deal of pig food; New Zealand can grow it all. Also the Danish farms have a severe winter to contend with. In New Zealand, and especially in the North Island, we have none. The old idea of rearing pigs in styes and carrying all their food to them is going, and in all pig-raising countries pigs are now being grazed like sheep until they have reached the stage when it is necessary to fatten them. A NECESSARY POLICY. “ England annually imports over £59,0C0,(KX) worth of hams, bacon, frozen pork, and pork products like lard, etc. Of this amount ->ew Zealand sends practically none. Now it is absolutely necessary for Now Zealand to increase her exports if we are to carry the load of war taxation and continue to develop our country. I know of no way in which we can so easily and profitably increase our exports by several million as by developin'- pig-raising side by side with our great dairy industry. It is' because I believe if can be done that I accepted a seat on tho board of the New Zealand Bacon and Meat Company. We killed some 60,CC0 this year, but they wore all for local and Australian trade. “The Danes have developed their English trade by breeding pigs that will produce the typo of bacon and ham that tho English trade demands. We must do the same. Wo have tremendous natural and climatic advantages over any other part of tho world, and if in a few years’ time New Zealand is not exporting several million pounds worth of frozen pork, hams, and bacon to England I will be disappointed. In any case, I am going to do what, I can to develop the trade. There is an immense' field here. I wonder how much Denmark buys from England in return for the 50 or 40 million pounds worth of butter, cheese, ham, and bacon that England buys from her?”