NEW ZEALAND LAMB

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23500, 14 May 1938, Page 3

NEW ZEALAND LAMB

OUTLOOK FOR 1939 CAUSE FOR CONCERN VIEWPOINT IN LONDON (From Our Own Correspondent) (By Air Mail) LONDON, Apl. 20. With prices averaging from id to gd per lb higher than this time last year, and with general stocks lower by 250,000 carcasses than in 1937, the immediate outlook in the English market for New Zealand lamb is good. The main selling season is now approaching, and it is considered generally that satisfactory prices should be realised for its duration While New Zealand farmers need have little -to worry them, therefore, regarding the sale of their produce this year, the outlook tor 1939 is a very different matter. I' is being viewed by those closely in touch with the market with some anxiety, and even concern. There are several reasons for this In the first place. Hocks in New Zealand and Australia have been increased together with those in Great Britain, whose farmers already provide nearly half the total of mutton and lamb required in the United Kingdom—from 46 to 48 per cent. With the exceptionally fine spring this year, lambing in Great Britain has reached the remarkably high figure of 125 per cent. (In New Zealand, during the past few years, the average ha? been from 88 to 90 per cent.) This increase in flocks will inevitably mean a higher production of

lamb and mutton, with Great Britain as the principal sales centre. greater supply will almost inevitably result in a lower price, with the distinct possibility that a readjustment of quota may restrict the importance of both New Zealand and Australian mutton and lamb into Great Britain. Already there is an outcry being raised throughout the country by the National Farmers’ Union against imported mutton and lamb, particularly New Zealand, which, ironically, is largely objected to by English farmers on account of the eminently successful publicity methods of the Ne\y Zealand Meat Producers’ Board. It is blamed to some extent for the fall of 2d per lb in the price of English mutton as compared with this time last year, and a certain influence is lent to the propaganda being conducted throughout the country by the, demand that Great Britain should grow more of its own food from a defence point of view. So great has been the agitation among the English farmers that a deputation recently waited on Mr W, S. Morrison, Minister of Agriculture, to impress upon him the disastrous losses sustained by farmers who had bought sheep last autumn with the object of fattening them. Unsatisfactory prices for home-killed mutton occupied a prominent place in the discussion. Mr Morrison said that the position was being watched, and he pointed out that the policy of the British Government was to control the price of homekilled mutton and lamb by quota. He emphasised that the larger proportion of this supply, unlike beef came from the Empire. Mr Morrison also mentioned that the lower price of home-killed mutton was. to some extent, affected by the decrease in the pirce of pelts and skins, while he also admitted that the price of meat was less than it was a year ago. Although it appeared that the production of mutton and lamb had increased in Great Britain and the Empire, he said, it also seemed that the consumption of mutton in Britain was static and not increasing, as was the case with beef. Mr Morrison suggested that English farmers might launch an advertising campaign to popularise their home-killed mutton. The inference of this discussion will be obvious to the New Zealand farmer. If the supplies of mutton and lamb to the English market are still further increased, and the price falls again, the outcry from the English farmer will become louder, and, in accordance with the policy of the British Government, regulation of price will probably be sought by the readjustment of the quota. There is, of course, no restriction on the production of home-killed meat. • Foreign supplies were reduced by 35 per cent, when the Ottawa agreement was signed, and again by 10 per cent when the Argentine Trade Treaty came into force. It is unlikely that foreign supplies will be further reduced. It is more probable that New Zealand and Australia will be asked to keep within their quota, while the reduction of their quotas is not by any means beyond the bounds of possibility. For these reasons New Zealand farmers would do well to bear in mind that, favourable as the immediate prospects may be for the sale of their mutton and lamb in England during the

present season, another tale may have to be told next year. Whether or not the facts that are causing uneasiness in London will remain unchanged, time will show. But of these points they are certain, that there is jealousy of New Zealand lamb, that English prices are lower, and that English, New Zealand, and Australian flocks have increased in numbers. PUBLICITY IN LEEDS A very successful publicity campaign was recently conducted by the New Zealand Meat Producers’ Board in Leeds, an important town in the Midlands with a population of 500,000. . In the butchers’ shops, in the newspapers, on hoardings, and in the kinema Leeds was told plainly that New Zealand lamb is the best. Special displays were arranged in the shops, material was supplied by the board, and prizes were presented for the best decorations. Butchers advertised themselves and New Zealand in the local newspapers, and £5 was awarded for the best advertisement. Two hundred posters were distributed throughout the city, showing a typical New Zealand lamb standing on a Union Jack, and 2500 children crowded ? kinema to see films of the Dominion and to watch prizes presented by the Lady Mayoress-elect of Leeds for a painting competition, for which over 50.000 forms were distributed. Finally, over 200 members of the trade attended a ceremony at which the Lord Mayor presented the prizes foi the window-dressing competition. Mr R. S. Forsyth, British representative of the New Zealand Meat Board, was also present. He made an appeal for reciprocal trade between Leeds and New Zealand 0.. practical as well as sentimental grounds, and referred to the recent lowering of the Dominion’;, duties on clothing produced in Leeds. The Lord Mayor revealed that he had always nursed a warm spot for the Dominion. Sixty years ago he had booked his passage for New Zealand, and he had always regretted that he had been prevented from going at the last moment.