NEW ZEALAND TRADE WITH WALES,

Otago Witness, Issue 2745, 24 October 1906, Page 34

NEW ZEALAND TRADE WITH WALES,

a IMPORTANT LOCAL DEVELOPMENTS. if — -— — — c OPINIONS OF IMPORTERS. (From Ovb Own Correspondent.) LONDON, September 7. 3- Further evidence of the succe«s of the - experiment in bringing produce direct from ? New Zealand to Barry was on Tuesday t obtained by the representative of the South y Wales Daily News, who had a conversation s -with several importers on the subject. "Wa had nine-tenths of the meat that o&me on the Waiwera." said Mr H. Woodley, a very large importer of frozen meat, r in reply to the representative's query. £ " She waa the first boat put on to L inaugurate the direct trade from New Zear land.'' ho continued, "and the success ,- which attended her first voyage is very encouraging for the future. Our moat arrived in very gocd condition, and we had prompt i delivery. It was. for us quite as smart and r satisfactory a service as they have in Lon- ' don from New Zealand, and was a great ' improvement in every way on the boats that ' have previously come to Barry. We have had stuff by boats which took between two and ' three months to get to Barry, but the Wai- '. wera sailed on July 15, and arrived on [ August 27 — two days before her time." : What are tho advantages of having the i produce landed at Barry as compared with ■ Avonmouth? Mr WcodJey was asked, t "Well," replied Air Woodley, "the great point is that frozen meat is so perishable, and it must not be exposed to the atmo- ' sphere in transit. It has to be kept several degrees bslow freezing-point until it is : 6enfc out for consumption. When landed at Avonmouth it is exposed for some time to , the atmosphere; they have no mechanical • means for keeping the meat below freezingpoint. At Barry, on the contrary, the meat is taken direct out of the chip and placed in the store within a minute — practicably that means there is no exposure to the atmosphere whatever." Mr Woodlev was next asked if much produce was imported direct to Barry and Cardiff at the present time, and his repiv was: "Yes, a fair portion; from 50 to 70 per cent, of the foreign meat consumed in South Wales is imported direct to Cardiff and Barry. Last year we had one lot of over 20,000 carcases direct to Barry, but we had to have several lots sent to A\onmouth and railed round.' 1 What is there to prevent the whole of the meat being landed direct, either at Cardiff or Barry? "Very often,' when our bills of lading have been made out for Barry, the carcases have been put off at Avonmouth and railed. But the chief difficulty is that of trotting freight. We cannot get freight from Australia to Cardiff and Barry without paying a premium over other ports. But from New Zealand we can get direct freight?, and, of course. New Zealand will score."' Could nothing be done to get direct freights from Australia? i "The Australian ships bringing meat are so very large, and South America has such a 6trong hold on the South Wales trade, that the quantities coming from Australia are not sufficiently large to induce the shipowners to give direct freights." Mr Woodley went on to .say that the next ship (the Wakanui) left on August 26, and is expected here six or seven weeks from that time. She is carrying beef, mutton, and lamb for Barry. " I know they are accepting freight for Cardiff and Barry regularly," continued Mr Woodley. " Only this morning we received another contract for shipment to Barry for September. It, looks as if the trade was going to be regular. As for Australia, a couple of months a<jo we tried several times to get direct freight, but were unable to do so." It appeared from further conversation 1 that a considerable qua-ntity of South American meat — in fact, the whole consumed in this district— comes- diieet to Cardiff. Taking the meat imports of the country. Cardiff takes a prominent place. Last year there were landcj at Ca'd'ff and Barry 6312 carcases of lamb from Australia. 469?. carcases from New Zealand, and 12.154 of mutton, 7141 of lamb, 37.183 quart ere of frozen beef, and 1598 quarters of chilled I I>eef from the River Plate. Only London. Liverpool. and Southampton imported more than Cardiff. For the present year j the figures relating to New Zealand and ' Australia will greatly exceed those given above. " What we want to enable us. to compete, with London," said Mr W«.cdlev in conclusion. " i» a regular sorvic™ at freights not exceeding those London merchants get. "Rut as it is, our trade is increasing all the time. Bristol people give us good facilities, but we prefer to have our stuff landed at Barry." Mr Neale, of Messrs Neale and West, the well-known importers, wa-« v«m-v emphatic as to the advantage of direct, trade. "Perishable stuff," he said, "if railed fr&ro Bristol, is apt to suffer, especially in warm weather. On the other hand, at Cardiff and Barry it goes direct to the cold store. Merchants thoroughly appreciate the convenience of th<* direct sor\ 'cc. "Two fresh linos, of boats are beginning no\t weo-k. but I am not at hbertv to j <li\u1k> their name*. I know merchants," i concluded Mr Nfrf-le, " who won't have anvt'iinsr landed at Avonmouth at any price ■ — neither rabbits, mutton, nor anything " Oilier importers spoke m a somewhat similar stiain as to tho advantages of direct trade imlea-cl of Rvi-,tol, and it appeared that tho efforts made to develop the ini)>ort trade of Cardiff and Barry were ben.g attended with much succe->s.