FOODSTUFFS FOR BRITAIN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23951, 28 October 1939, Page 11

FOODSTUFFS FOR BRITAIN

AUSTRALIAN CONTRACTS MEAT MEANS £12,000,000 A YEAR (From Our Own Correspondent) SYDNEY, Oct. 11. Organisation of schemes for British purchases of Australian surpluses of meat, wheat, sugar, butter, cheese, eggs and dried and canned fruits is gither completed or being rapidly pushed forward. No announcement of the price the Imperial Government is to pay for Australian meat has yet been made, but the importance of making the details known with the least possible delay has been strongly urged upon the Commonwealth Government. The deal means about £12,000,000 a year. Mr A. C. Fisken. chairman of the Australian Meat Board, said that questions pertaining to the contract were discussed by the board and a number of recommendations made for consideration by the Commonwealth Government, which has been actively endeavouring to complete the contract. In controlling the export of meat during the war, the board would do everything possible to see that the existing organisation of the industry is interfered with as little as possible. , The board has decided to set up a central committee to watch the interests of the meat industry generally during the war. The war-time committee will be so constituted as to enable as many members as possible to attend meetings at short notice, and, so that constant touch can be maintained in the immediate future with representatives of shipowners, it has been arranged that committee meetings will be held frequently in Sydney. In any discussions with representatives of shinowners regarding allocations of freight requiring refrigerating space, the central" committee will be represented. Wheat will be handled by a Federal Government pool, and its first step in the export of grain to Britain has been the taking-over of all old-season's stocks in New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia at 2s l{d a bushel bulk and 2s Old bagged. Ten million bushels have already been acquired either in grain or flour, and about 5,000.000 bushels remain. As it acquires the wheat it makes an advance of 2s a bushel. The price for the new season’s wheat, soon to be harvested, will depend on variations in world prices, the price of acquisition being announced from day to day. The prices announced are from 3d to 4d a bushel higher than thfse ruling immediately before the outbreak of war. The Commonwealth Government has sold 50,000 tons of flour abroad, and the orders will keep every j flour mill engaged busily until Christmas.

Arrangements that have been completed by the Commonwealth Government for the sale of Australia’s surplus eggs—about 340,000 cases— to Britain will return more than £600.000. The Minister for Commerce (Senator McLeay) announced that the contract provided for the following prices (c.i.f. and e. London): 13 \ and 141 b packs, 10s sterling per grade 100; 15 and 161 b packs 12s sterling: 17 and 181 b packs, 12s 3d sterling, all on a f.o.b. basis. The prices were a little lower than had been expected, but the contract would ensure that all of the surplus would be provided for.