THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE.

Otago Witness, Issue 1927, 26 October 1888, Page 17

THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE.

• m Tbe directors uf the New Zealand Refrigpi-nt-ing Company, through tho Secretary of tho Company, Mr W. Cuningham Smith, have handed us for publication tho following lutter from Mr Julm Douglas, of Waihao :— " Waihao Downs, Waimate, „„, _. . October IS, 1888, " W. Cimingham Smith, Esq , «NZ. Rffrijeraliufi Co., Dunedin. "Dear Sir,~l am in receipt of yours of 11th msfc., and carefully note contents. If it be admitted that bringiug grower and consumer within direct touch is tho msenca of commercial eoonoioy— and I bnve nevt-r bwml of the soundness of this axiom being questioned— then it must be evident you, in the first place, would he starting upon a wrong basis in fostering the sale uf our mutton to speculator* out hero. " Bufc in the working out of your theory, other issues militating against its soundness come into play. " 1. Mufcton being a perishable artiolo is not a fit subject of speculation, and hecause of tho attendant risks— roal and imaginary— only few speculators would invest hi it. This fact at once unduly restricts tad limits the mmher of buyers Then no buyer who had not already secured ship space would bo safe in buying and no grower who had not biaasdf already secured spare would be safe hi refusing an offer if ho required to sell. These difficulties alone nut 'this question ou.t of court, •'2. Then said risks-real and imaginary— would prevent full valuo being obtained by growers; or at least would be used jib sn argument of the justness for allowing buyers a vr ry large margin of profit. "3. Again, if it bo a sound axiom that a seller should uot place himself in the compli-re power of his buyer—and the soundness of this also I have never heard questioned— th b n vonr beory, gauged by this test, falls to pieces. Ifc would be an easy muttov for the t'uw buyers (ml hero who would engage in this venture to put their heads together; and how, thai, would growers feel wheu thiw unexpectedly smdh-d wltn a perishable article tnty rtqnirt'd to part with without perhaps either buyer or *pac B for shipping it, f 1

4. Your theory imposes upon this m;vv buypr in tbe colony certain costly machinery ami «xppuses, as well as entails an extra co'mmUbioa upon the grower, with all of which th* mutton is quite unnecessarily handicappe.l before ife reaches the Home market ; and all these outlays, as a matter of fact, come out of the growers' pockets.

11 5 Bear in mind, growers would be rea-iy to pay legitimate commission, hero or nt lit tnn to agentsacting directly in their special iiiteresfcs but object to all indirect commissions, an Undinu to compromise their ageufcs' independence witii Home middlemen, which consequently militates against reduction of charges, and rahiug for us the price of our mutton in Home market "The object of raising th* price of' frozen mutton to its pair relative iiomk valuereducing char^ to the lovett point possible*, and l placing tbe Jm«« w otherwise v F a a sound •SfS 1 W1 bab F° WeTa » im afc - believing, as they do, that such would, in all human prlba0S th& VaIU6 tf SUitabI ° v The serious import of this quesfcrbn minces me to ask yeur di^otors to give my abure re01 wks fteij fts W d f^ cousyleraijou ; the more

bo because every one of the points upon which I have hitherto differed with them have resulted as I had predicted, and the point now at issue, I feel sure, will not prove an exception. "With the object of eliciting the views of other shareholders, as touching the subject of this letter, I am most desirous that publicity to this communication should be given. — I am, &c, "John Douglas. "The outrageously absurd manifesto of the new Home Combination affords some idea of the depth of depravity into which this * ring ' has sunk. You will of course have noticed the views of this in Christchurch as expressed iv Lyttelton Times —J. D."