UNFINISHED LAMB

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22421, 16 November 1934, Page 10

UNFINISHED LAMB

DETRIMENTAL TO DOMINION - INSISTENCE ON HIGH QUALITY {Special to Daily Times.) i WELLINGTON, November 15. That there was an alarming tendency among New Zealand fat-lamb producers to export to England unfinished lamb; and that this tendency would eventually prove detrimental to the sales of New Zealand lamb on the Home market was the opinion expressed to-night by Mr E. J. Webb, general manager of Messrs Henry Fitter and Sons, Ltd., Loudon. Mr Webb has spent some time in Australia and New Zealand, and will be sailing shortly for England. “ After an extended tour through Australia, where fat-lamb production is becoming of increasing interest to pastoralists, I have found a tendency in certain in New Zealand to export lambs that are definitely not up to the standard of quality expected by the consumers in England. It will be fatal to the interests of New Zealand lamb producers if they do not maintain a high standard of quality synonymous with that slogan used so extensively at Home: ‘Buy New Zealand lamb, the best in the World.’ “I am convinced that small-weight, unfinished lamb will not continue to make high prices on the Home market,” Mr Webb continued. “The new branding regulations will prove to be beneficial to the industry in New Zealand only if the quality is maintained and independent distributors at Home are kept supplied. The tendency to monopolise supplies by combines of wholesalers whose chief interest is chilled beef from Argentina is a menace to the best interests of lamb production in New Zealand.”