FARM AND STATION.

Otago Witness, Issue 2319, 11 August 1898, Page 14

FARM AND STATION.

(Conttnued from page 7.)

OUR PRODUCE TRADE.

VIEWS OF A WELLINGTONIAN (From a Coruksi'ONden't.)

Wellixgtox, August 4

The other day I glanced over a rather j Me-vcsting report from the Agent-General j to the Minister for Agriculture on the New I Zealand produce trade in England. The chief part of the report deals in a comprehensive manner with frozen meal. Several remarks by the Agent-General appear to me to be of j jnore than ordinary interest to your readers, and, bearing them in" mind. I sought for and, obtained an interview on the subject with; Dr A. K. Newman, oi this city. For many ; years Dr Newman has been a director of the lamous Gear Meat Freezing Company ; he lias always taken a keen and practical interest in the meat export generally ; and last year he obtained much valuable information during a visit to the old country. IS OTJR I'ROOVCK BEING SCITLAXTED?

In the first place I asked Dr Newman wlut lie thpught of the statement by the AgentGeneral that our meat was being supplanted by meat from Argentine and Australia by means of cheapness, energy, and fraud. The. doctor rather poohrpoohed the idea. " Indeed," said he, " my impression is that our meat is holding its own iairly well. Two million carcases are sent Home fiom this colony every year, and they are disposed of very rapidly.' There must be a good demand, because there is no more difficulty to get rid of the large quantity now thai) there •was to get ml of the .smaller quantities in former years."

AS TO FR.WDULEKT SALKS

'• I)o you think," said I, " that an attempt is still being made to class all frozen nieat as New Zealand, <'tod to sell it as such ?"

The doctor replied with an emphatic No. •' A good deal of rubbish," he continued, " appeared in tho New Zealand papers, and ■was written by New Zealandcr*. as to our meat being sold as River Plate and Australian." * From \thnt he saw orrhis recent visit he was Mire that the bulk of New 'Zealand mutton was sold as such. For that reason he did not think any practical good would result from the marking of foreign meat, another idea strongly favoured by the AgentCieneral.

WHY HN'ULISir MUTTON IS PREFERRED.

" As a matter of fact," proceeded he, " the flavour of English mutton, careful!}' nurtured on English pastures, is far better than that of New Zealand mutton, which often has to hustle for a living on the roughest country. Then, of course, the English mutton is killed on the spot, and is disposed of quick! y, ■whereas the New Zealand mutton has to undergo nia'ny changes from the time it is driven to the railway station to thetime it is m)1<! to the consumer. These changes iiecesssii nly lead to deterioration; the flavour is not the same, and very little New Zealand mutton, 1 think, is palmed oft as English mutton." In the Smithfield market Dr Newman saw Kng(isl), Scotch, and New Zealand mutton hanging side by side. The English iitid Scotch labelled 6d to 6]d, and the New Zealand 3d per lb. The difference in jjrice was owing solely to the difference in flavour. "It is exactly the same as in cigars, for instance," he said ; " you can buy one for 5s or one for 2d ; both are tobacco, but there is a difference in the flavour. Rich people to whom the price of meat is not m great consideration will not buy New Zealand miirton knowingly, but people with more limited means find the New Zealand article a veiy useful and wholesome food. There is no good in saying that New Zealand frozen mutton as it is sold in England is the best mutton on God's earth. It is riot." SHOr.S THAT WILL SKLL N'KW ZEALAND MEAT

I pointed out that the Agent-General gave great prominence to a scheme to secure dealers and letailers who would not touch either Australhin or River Plate mutton, bi/fc would confine them&el.ves to New /Zealand produce. " Every effort in that direction since the trade begun has ended in disaster," declared the doctor emphatically ; " and in England at the present moment there is not a single shop that sells New Zealand meat only. The idea is very fanciful, and is not suggested by a knowledge of the trade."

Dr Newman had evidently taken particular pains to inquire into this aspect of the question. He told me that shops on the lines suggested had actually been opened at Islington and Chelsea, by what was called the Free Trade Company, but they existed for about only twelve months.

X SSGN OK THK TIMES

Indeed, the trend of things seems to be in the opposite direction, for the doctor read to me a letter he had received from a practical man, who said that butchering was being combined with the trade of the general provision merchant. Even the drapers of London were beginning to supply their customers with New Zealand frozen meat, This,

said the write; of the letter, was a sign of the times, and indicated the class of retaileis whe would by-and-bye hand a great deal of our produce to the consumer.

STORACK ACfOMMODATfOS'.

Another point dwelt upon by the AgentGerjcrdl was the alleged insufficiency of storage accommodation. I referred to this, and Mas rather surprised to learn that Dr Newman thought the accommodation in this icspect was not only sufficient but perfect. He added that, oi' course, no matter ho'v perieel the freezing apparatus might be, carcases stored in the chambers were sure to deteriorate' day by day, losing their bloom and their freshness.

From this, the conversation drifted on to tin. I'ioposaJ to build a large central sorting &he.l" in the docks. The Dock Committee, i may say, is willing to erect a shed at a cost of about £40,000, but, the Dock Companies, will have to be guaranteed £7000 a year. The shipping companies will probably find a third of this guarantee, and it is proposed that thp Government and the producer* should find the rest.

Dr Newman thought that n sorting shsd would be erected by-and-bye, but there was no need for the colony to involve itself in the matter to any great extent. So long os the Dock Companies and others interested are led to believe that by hanging back they will' squeeze money from our Government, he thinks they will hang back and cry out for more money.

THE OUTLOOK FOR THE TRADE. "And what, do you think about the pre sent outlook?" I asked. •

"On the whole, 1 ' replied the doctor. '"I think it is very satisfactory. 1 have ma.le inquiries in London and I think that tr-e low prices of the laftt year oi two — thi-» _\er<) .they are not so bad — were bedrock pries-;. The question is the competition not of Nevi Zealand mutton against other mutton, but of New Zealand mutton against all othei classes of meat that go into the English market. Though there may be differences, the consensus of opinion from those interested in the trade is that the enormous supply of chilled beef and of live meat from America has reached its zenith. The reason for this opinion is that the population of the United State is growing so fast that it is overtaking the meat supply, which will all be wanted for home consumption. And in regard io meat from other parts- of the world, there is no evidence to show that the competition will be. any keener than it ha« been dimnj; the past few years. It is Quite true that the prejudice against New Zealand mutton is fast dying out. Our article is now recognised as a good, solid, wholesome food, with no drawback except that it lacks the dainty flavour of the article from England and Sootland."

VERT LTTTLE PROFIT TO TlfK IST'TCHER,

Dr Newman went on to say that newspaper readers were often Jed astray as to the profits mode by the butcher". Thus. a butcher may buy a carcase at 3d per lb. and is reported tc sell it at sd, making what seems to be a clear profit of 2d per lb. Bui, according to Dr Newman, it is so difficult to get rid of the neck, breast, and shoulders at even ?d or Id per Jb that the average price of the sheep is lowered considerably"

KXPORT OF PORK,

Pig-breeding is not carried on to any great extent by farmers in your part of the colony. It is true that various attempts have been made to pla.ee frozen pork on the English market, and an excellent article has been forwarded in an equally excellent condition, but the result has been failure. This T believe is accounted tor by the fact that mo.st of the English farmers have their piggeries, and that pork is probably the cheapest meat in England. I touched upon this aspect of our produce trade, and a.sked D 1 T <Y\vman if he thought it would ever coir, to anything. He agreed tlint our pork vas o; excellent quality, but s,aid that it wji> all a question of price.