FARMERS AND THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2416, 28 June 1900, Page 7

FARMERS AND THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE.

(Wyndham Farmer.' j More than the usual amount of writing is being lone just now in the agi iculttira! press ' anent the disposal of our produce at Home. j Judging, however, from past fljqperienee, it seeiiis too much to hope (that any good will result in this endeavour to revive the interest in a subject of paramount importance to the staple industry of the coJony. What is everybody's business is nobody's business, and according to Mi H. O. Cameron, our Produce Commiesioner, if the trade is allowed to drift for a year or two longer, New Zealand producers will awaken to Tealise that they have been ousted from their premier position in this industry by a more energetic people, who not only possess the advantage of being more convenient to the world's markets, but who hold millions of acres of firstclass land at a cheap rate, ha^e cheap labour, and who already own thousands of the finest j scud cattle and sheep in the world. "With these facts before him, and the additional one that the sale of Riy.er Plate meat is now being pushed_ in every city und town of any importance in Britain, is it any wonder that Mr Cameron is repeatedly urging on the New Zealand producers the necessity of serioasly considering the future of our frozen meat industry? The question is, Should it be left to private enterprise, or should the Govern■ment take steps to ha^e the trade put on a more satisfactory footing? Taking as our example the success *vhich attended Government assistance in introducing and pushing the sale of Danish butter and Canadian cheese, wo would say that the Government would be justified in using public money in assisting an industry the success or failure of which is of national importance. At the came time, wo must remember that there is much truth in the old adage that " God helps those who help themselves," and sheepbreeders, who are each and all financially interested in the trade, should lose no opportunity jf gaining an infcight into what is chiefly required to put the distribution of >ur produce on a thoroughly sound and economical basis. We have many i public bodies whose membership list contains the names of men veil qualified to take the necessary initiatory steps towards a thorough reform of the whole system ; but it is a surprising fact fchat seldom, if ever, is this important subject broached at the annual" and other meetings of our A. and P. Associations. ! We admit that this silence appears to us ominously like a feeling of complete indifference, and yet the members of those bodies are almost tc a man personally interested in the trade. I\> such men it may appear gross presumption on the part of the ordinary newsp&pei scribe to dictate to them thoir duly on a matter in which they are so vitally interested ; but even at the risk of being considered presumptuous, we venture to remark that had the early pioneers of this colony shown the same apathy toward? matters of much less moment, New Zealand would not to-day be such a standing monument to the enterprise, pluck, and perseverance of the British race. In the early years of the frozen meat trade, purveyors of it had admittedly to contend with a strong prejudice against foreign meat of all kinds. To-day this pre- i judicehas been largely ovorcprau, and foreign meat is now recognised as a necessity by a large proportion of British consumers. The quality of New Zealand meat has done something towards fofcteringj this feeling, but tho energy and push of South American produoers have done infinitely more. We make this statement advisedly, and from a persona}, i 'knowledge of the facts. .It #yar $j2ttear % libel

" on the business eapabiiitie-c of tho?e who con- > trol the New Zealand trade; but when we heai 4 periodically of glutted and bare markets, damaged cargoes, and note the great fluctuation in prices compared with the steady supplies and complete control of pi ices which , characterise the trade of our Argentine rivals, i is it any wonder that we coincide in Mr j Cameron's opinion, that; it is full time -for I producers to take a more active part in tho disposal of an article tho production of which is annually becoming more expensive?