THE NEW ZEALAND PRODUCE TRADE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2202, 14 May 1896, Page 6

THE NEW ZEALAND PRODUCE TRADE.

BOME IMPORTANT HINTS.

(Fhom Our Own Corrkspondent.) London, March 14-,

Mr H. C. CimeroD, founder and managing director of the New Zealand Produce Stores, Piccadilly, Manchester, was in town a day or two ago, and I bad a long ohat with him with reference to tha progress of his important enterprise in Manchester, aud a* to the position and prospects of the frozen meat trade generally. Mr Cameron, who has recently issued a valuable paoiphlet jetting forth in »n attractive fashion the advantages to consumers of using New Zealaud mutton and dairy produce, tells ma that Irs business is steadily and rapidly increasing. He assures me that even since New Year's Day hi« books show an increase of over 30 per cent, done in colonial produce. His chief difficulty now is that he needs more space to carry on hie enlarging trade, and that it is not ea&y to obtain additional space while retaining the splendid stand he occupies — certainly one of the best in Manchester — without paying excessively for the benefit.

Ou certain day : in th« weak, Mr Cameron tslls me, notably m Fridaj s, his place js simply rushed by consumers, who crowd the shop and its approachos in such numbers that passers-by often come in to ascertain what is going on to attract such a multitude. And this is all the more noteworthy because he has throughout appealed only to I bat class of consumers who can afford to pay fair prices for meat and dairy produce of the best quality. Among theao he has ft very uumecoos Mid steadily accum«iUtic£

clientele. Some months ago I quoted in your columns a siring of testimonials he had received from consumers of this dars, and now I find that these K*me consumers have recommended his goods right and left, and consequently the number of his customers is continually being multiplied. The Urge hotels *nd restaurants, which I mentioned in a former letter, had entersd into a contract with him to supply them with meat, dairy produce, &c., remain thoroughly staunch and faithful, and he has lately secured one or two mora Urge h->ti-ls. In short, hia bus'ne.ie in comestibles of New Zealand origin is already a very Lirg* »ffa.ir, and promises soon to be much larger. He tells me it is paying him handsomely.

" Now what the New Zealand farmers ought to do," he swd to me, "is just what I am doing. They should attack London: In London there is an almost unlimited demand foe meat, butter, fee., of the best quality. Now in Manchester and other Lancashire manufacturing towns tbis is not the a»«e in the same degree. There a better cl**o of consumers can be successfully appealed to, as I have shown and proved by my own experience, but the labouring clause*, as they are called at any rate, will not pay the price for the best article. They must have cheap things, and if fchey cannot get ' them cheaply they will not buy thorn. Indeed, more thnn this, they really do not care for the New Zealaud . meat and butter of the beet quaity. They like meat with less fat, leaner and inferior. Such as they can get from Australia or River Plate is far more to their ttsfce. Tb.9y also like a stronger quality of- butter. , For tbia reason lam not sp-cially sanguine about the possibility of New Zealand opening up a large direct trade with Lancashire. Something no donbfc it to be dons, provided it is done dire-.t, cud nob through too mauy intermediate ohannels. Eut ifc o»n only be done by someone who wtll take an immediate personal interest in the matter as I have done and who will *wcrk really hard himself to maVe the thing a fucceas, and devote his / whole time and energy to it. Uulrss it can be done on these principles it might just as well ba let alono.

"Another thing is that much tact and judgment have to be exercirej to avoid going into competition with tbe shipments from America — especially from the Hirer Plate. The people interested in the latter have already killed one or two shipments to Manehrst* * by cutting the prices w>th that express obj- cfc, willingly making a very heavy loin themselves for tho sake of Bt&rvity»pp.t a new competition, and so destroy ing it irfnS inception. Personally I think it would bs better to rend through London, because then the meat wonld be forwarded iv small quantities as requi/ed, and there would not be the same danger of «xeiting bitter and perhaps ruiuons c«.>mpe f ition."

"But in my opinion," he continued, "London Hhonld bo the great objective point of the New Zealand sheep farmers aud dairy pn-ducsre. There is abundant demand for exactly th 9 kind of stuff N«w Zealand is to well adapted to produce. Already the few people who are engaged in this special branch of tho trade in London arc doing very well. &nd tihtre is almost unlimited scop? for others p*rti- gating in it. What the New Zfal j tjd f«ia>»-rt> ought to do is to cst b'ifb. at s?vernl point* in Lotidon shops or produce stores conducted on the same basis na my own. Thi» of courde would run into money. They would have t6 reckon on spending fully £1000 in starting each separate store, but if that were ' done judiciously and tho butines- carried on wirh prudence and energy, and with the ssme amount of special effort that I dfvoted to mine, tture is no reason why they should nut succeed just as well as I havo done ; indeed, they have far better chances in Londoa than I had in Manchester."

"With regard to ordinary wholesale ihipmcntß," Mr Cameron went on to say, " I fiud that the necessity oE careful and- accurate grnding about which Bj muoh has been written in the New Zealand papers by yourself and others during the last three years, seems still to be ignored almost as much as ever. I wan through Smithfield marktt this morning, and saw a lot of New Zealand mutt on hanging up. Canterbury sheep were selling readily at 3fd per lb, while sheep of other brands usually considered of eec ndnry were in some instances bringin 6 a« low as 2{jd ; yet among these latter were tome as fine in every 'way as could possibly be desired, equal to tho best Canterbury sheep. I myself picked one in particular which I think was the best carcase in the whole market. Ifc was a beautiful sheep of the primest- Southdown type. 16 •weighed just 601b, whioh, as you know, is the perfection of weight for a sheep rightly proportioned and in proper condition. Thera were the plump, short legs and the abaenca of wasteful fat in the forequarters which distinguish the best Canterbury sheep, and that particular sheep was certainly equal to the best that were fetching 3|d per lb. Yet because it did not bear the Canterbury brand it was graded with the rest of the nominally secondary lot and 'wa* sold to me readily at 2§d per lb. I may tell jou that I bought it specially to send down to Manchester to be exhibited in my shop as a model of what New Zealand shoep should be and wore." "It is true tliftb odlv a comparatively inwll

propoition of that total lot were approximately of this quality, but certainly there were quite a sufficient number to make it wotth while to have graded them separately as a superior" clsks. . The balance left would still have fetched the 2|d per lb just as readily as before, and all the gain by the additional l£d per lb would have been to the good. At* any rate, had the sheep been properly graded a considerable ■portion of them wonld assuredly have averaged ■3£d per lb, and ea the average value of the entire lot would have been materially raised. This is a point which cannot be too strongly impressed upon New Zealand producers. A radical reform in their method of grading and classification is most urgently needed."

After a good deal of talk about the various fluctuations in the frozen meat market and ' their reasons, and also about; the great question of stoiage and regulated shipments, Mr Cxmeron proceeded to say: "I think it i« a mistake to store the meat in the colony and wait for advice hefore shipment. I am quite •aware that many authorities do not agree with me on this point, but my own opinion is that it i« much better, if the meat must be stored, to have it stored on the spot- that is to say, close by its intented market. It ia much handier then for holders to operate when the market proves favourable, ai.d it is no more in danger of being regarded as 'stale' than it is if stored in New Zealand, for the Euglish buyera find out directly the meat arrives whether it has been U ng in store in the colony ; if so, it ia, ■ in their eyes, quite as stale as .it' the stcage ■ had been in London, while, on the other hand, if the meat is 'kept on the other side of the ' water numerous chances of remunerative sale 'may be lost. Further, the buyers here arc so keealy watchful, thttif >h-y know the practice , of keeping meat back in New Zealand stores is . extei-sively followed, they are apt tor suspect - sny lot that comes of being stored meat,. and the mere suspicion, if founded on so much of truth, is apt to depreciate the price of a whole shipment."

" Aud' there is one more thing," added Mr Cameron, "which I wish you would again impie»B on your New Zealapd readers of the ' class interested. And that is that the br&nd- * ing of mutton, which has been proposed by Lord Ontilow and others, in such^a way ss clearly to define its identity i<j a desirable thing in the interests of the producers. All that < t*Jk about the impossibility of branding every ■chop may be cast aside at once as mere nonsense. Nothing of the sort is needed. A small definite brand on the principal parts ot each caicivse, Bay legs and shoulders, will not disfigure the carcase, and will be quite enough to ettmp the identity of the meat, aud should do < mil that is r< quired in this direction. It d.es not matter a bit if a few stray chops should bs Bold under & wrong designation, but I can ray from experience that no r-xtt-mive frauds of this kind could be perpetrated if the carouses were branded in the principal places as I have suggested. The measure is really one wholly in the interests of the New Zealand producer, who . sufferß very muoh more if River PUte meat of inferior quality is palmed off ss New Zealand than he does through New Zealaud meat being sometimes possibly sold as btat English, Scotch, or Welsh."

■ " I noticed," he said, in conclusion, " that some people wera complaining of your having quoted various reports from leading London salesmen to the effect that a good deal of meat of inferior quality had been ccming through during the la<it jear or so as best ' Canterbury.' I gee that some have even challenged the ' accuracy of this statement. I oan only say that it is within my own knowledge that those ' statement!,' which yon quoted, were absolutely correct. I know from my own experience that a" good deal of inferior mutton has been sent over under the 'Canterbury ' classification, and I have a number of letters in my own pcusei'sion complaining of the very fame thing, and s&ying that, in consequence of, the inferiority of some of the mutton which had been sold to them lately ass* bent Canterbury,' they had beeu obliged to try other brand*." Our conversation then turned on the subject of dairy produce. Here Mr Cameron had some valuable remarks to make. " I wi*h," he said, "you would impress upon colouial producers the urgency uf keeping up a regular and uniform supply. I get my butter as much as possible from one particular source, made np in one uniform way and bearing a special brand which has now Required a high reputation in Lancashire. Well, my last frhipment from the same source included no butter of this class, but merely" a lot of cured butter in bulk which was perfectly useless to me for the purposes for which it was ordered, because I was nnder contract with various good customers to keep them .supplied with beit New Zealand fresh butter made up in this way and bearing this special brand; I could not possibly a 1 tempt to palm off On them cured butter of a different quality and not bearing the l>rand Agreed upon. The consequence is I have been obliged to disappoint my customers. I httve been put to a great deal of trouble in trying to procure other butter as .nearly similar as I could, and thus a break has been caused in my bminess, which is not always easy to mend. If New Zealand producers' wish to keep- up a regnlar and profitable trade with English consignees they must send exactly 'what ie ordered, and it must be always of uniform . quality, otherwise the producers will very soon kill th*ir own trade. They must rem? mber it dw not take much to injure or check, or even kill, a comparatively new industry, and it is of , the utmost importance that the supplies nhould >-be regular so that they, can be depended upon, und also that the quality can bs equally de- - fended npon for absolute uniformity." . I have once more given Mr Cameron's .views »nd experience at como length, beoause be is thoroughly acquainted with all the ins and outs ■Of the New Zealand produce trade, because he -Jilso knows tbe colony and its producers very . ktimsteljt and because be has Individually

done more to promote the best interests of the New Zealand proiuee trade than any other man I know. You may rely on it that none of the "extraordinary means," which, I understand, our Lew Agent-general has pledged himself to adopt if necessary with reference to the New Zealand frozen meat trade, will be needed if only New Zealand producers both of meat and dairy produce will be guided by advice founded on epecfal knowledge and expediences and will put to practical uss the very valuable hints which Mr Cameron has given them through me.