More Prime Canterbury. TO THE EDITOR.

Otago Witness, Issue 2302, 14 April 1898, Page 5

More Prime Canterbury. TO THE EDITOR.

Sib,— Lately some splendid lines of fa' webhera have been railed from a well-kcov • sbation in the south to Timaru to be killed, frosen, and probably, if thought desirable, in due course labelled "Prime Canterbury.' 1 There has ' been so much written on tlii? " prime Canterbury " business thab it rna.j begin to pall, but as the matter is such a senou* one for Obago and Southland growers it canno*. be deslb wibh too ofben, ab any rate while tb.^ objectionable tactics of the northern freezing companies are persisted in. For my parb I should like to see some one of the southern, freezing companies take the bull by the bores and brand their primesb lines " Prime Canterbury." It surely could nob be a greater wront. to do so than to rail Obago sheep to Canter bury, slaughter them there, and brand theta " Ptime Canterbury " ! In the London market, at any rate, the term is recognised as a trade term, and it is understood to indicate the very best frozen mutton on the market, irrespective of whether it comes from Canterbury or Ot»go. Its value is said to rise solely from the consumers imagining th&t th<s Canterbury is the English place of the nam>% and were it known to be New Zealand mutton it would nob realise any more than prime Obago. If the Otago freezing companies were to agree to take th's wider acceptation of the term it would not be long until the term was dropped altogether, and "Prime New Zealand" substituted. The

Canterbury sheep farmers can, in favourable "" seasons, produce a fine carcase for fre^zicg, but there are times " when the seasons militate against them, and then the best sheep have to hs purchased elsewhere. The fine paddocks of Brgl'sh grass certainly do produce a finer quality of meat than the coarse native grasses on the average run, but it musb be noted that the sheep farmers of Otago and Southland are laying their land down in grass as fast as ever they can. And one great advantage which they possess over Canterbury must not be ignored, and that is the facilities they have for growing turnips for winter fattening. Ofcagoand Southland are thus enabled to produce good freezers all the year round. I have no desira to raise interprovincial jealousy, for that should be a thing of the past. We are New Zealanders now, and together let as stand as such. It ia nob for Canterbury lo attempt to like any mean advantage of Otago, neither for Obago to look upon Canterbury us a hated rival, There is room for all in the world's markets, but the produca of every part of tbe colony should go Home and stand the teat in the LondoD market on its own merits ; it should nob require bolstering up by a fictitious trade term. — I am, Sec, , A. Sec. April 7.