NEW ZEALAND MEAT

Otago Witness, Volume 06, Issue 2899, 6 October 1909, Page 22

NEW ZEALAND MEAT

A CONFERENCE OF AUTHORITIES.

FREEZING COMPANIES, AND RETAILERS. CF9OU Otis Own Coeeespondent.)

LONDON, August 20. The meeting of freezing company man* agers and persons interested in the New Zealand frozen meat trade took place afe the Colonial Consignment and Distributing Company's office in Dowgate Hill on Tuesday. Sir Joseph Ward and" the Hop. W* Hall-Jones were present, and Sir E. Montaguo -Nelson presided. Amongst those present were: Messrs Gordon Woodroffie, W. G. Foster-fWelJing-ton Meat Export Company), W. H. Millward (Gear Meat Company). F. Waymouth and R. «E. N. Twopeny (Australian Pastoralists' Review), H.,S. Fitter, J. T. Critcibell, and J. N. -Newman (National. Mortgage and Agency Company), G. P. Phipps (jNew Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company), Joseph Winite, Harold Nelson, G. Goodsir, H. D. Bell, Gilbert Anderson, and 57. Henderson (Christchurch Meat Company). A. F. Houlder, M. C Thompson, and J. W. Marshall, Sir Thomas Borthwick, Mr .#. B.- Proctor (secretary .of the CO. and- D. Company), and Mir W. A. Porter (secretary of Nelson /Brothers, Ltd.). ... In introducing Sir Joseph Ward, Sir Montague Nelson said he did not think it likely that he- or anybody else could domuch to help them at .the present momemj*, ' but it was just possible that in. New Zealand- ih the future he might- be able togire such advice as 'would prevent a recurrence? of the trouble. Sir Thomas Bortbwick said though -theNew Zealand people wore suffering from very • low - prices they toad really nothingto complain of any more than the English,. Scotch, or Irish growers of mutton bad.The difficulty could not .be cured in a. short time, since the station holders and farmers of New Zealand had been goingin for' ewes specially for ■breeding lambs, and that could not be altered at once. Hewould not like to eav there would not beany improvement for 12 months, but it did not look much like it at present. Even. Ireland, which provided a very <small proportion of the mutton for the market, haoT sent 88,000 more carcases during the last few weeks than for 'the same (period oF last year. England was doing the same, ami New Zealand had been increasing her output from year to year. It could nofcgo on for ever. England could not swallow ,up whatever jaas sent. There was sometalk about advertising, but he could not see that it would do any good. New Zea* land meat was known-everywbexe, and the companies every week sent out circularsbroadcast letting the butchers know what the- prices were. The only thing to raisethe price was smaller supplies. j Mr H. S. Fitter said the trouble began ' about last Augnst> When retailers "could" get English ewes all over the country afe 3d a pound, of course they did not want the frozen meat at something about the same price. It was simply a matter of overproduction in England, -Denmark, the Continent, Argentine, and Australia. For some years sheep had paid the .producers wonderfully well, and now they had got .to the highest production and" expected? London to eat the, lot, — ("Hear, hear.") The matter would cure itself; Mr G. Goodsir did not agree with the policy of sitting down and accepting the inevitable. - They were face to face with a. tremendous over-production. If the peopleof New Zealand had listened to advice from this side of the water they would have known what was going to happen, and" would not have been in such a hurry' to put such tremendous quantities of meat on themarket They could imagine the Government of New Zealand, which took such a> live interest in the welfare of its industries, being in a position to advise shippers of what would happen, and indicating generally the probabilities of the market. The over-production was largely duo to the high price- of wool. He could not believe it 'was beneath the dignity of a Government to advertise at all. By this means the Re-

public of Sao Poalo had recently produced a demand for coffee, which no amount of private energy could have achieved, and the Government of Greece had done the same with regard to currants. A drop of a farthing a pound in the price of meat meant a loss to New Zealand of from £10,000 to £12,000, and since the last meeting to consider the matter the New Zealand people must have lost from £40,000 to £50,000". If advertising could arrest that loss it was worth doing. He did not agree that the supply had overtaken consumption. A single meal for the 40 million people in England would work off the whole surplus at present. Mr W. H. Millward said he had come to the conclusion, from his investigations in, England, that the position could only be cured by increasing the consumption. The question was whether the retailer was ' giving the consumer the benefit of the low prices. If .so, he thought larger quantities would go into consumption. He found by inquiry that many firms had bought large quantities c.i.f. at pretty high prices, and so were not able to reduce their quotations to the retail, and had to pass off on the public the effects of their mistake. He thought something might be done to encourage the barrow-men. This might not directly benefit New Zealand, but it would work off some of the surplus, and perhaps leave room for -New Zealand meat to come ia. Argentine lamb of very ] good quality and -in very good condition had come on to the market this year, and could be quoted both wholesale and retail at lower prices than New Zsalandsrs- could accept. Many of the shops displayed their meat in a very poor way, and they would be considered altogether inferior shops in New Zealand. • If they attempted to interfere or compete in this matter it might lead to a -boycott of New Zealand meat by those who were at present taking it. | Mr W. G Foster agreed with 1 Mr Millward that an effort should be made to force the sales amongst the poorer classes. Some time' ago he suggested that it might be j worth while, with 'a view to ascertaining whether the working classes were getting I the meat, to start auction sales by regular commission agents in some of the most : populous and poorest centres, and ' to seli the meat, as was frequently done in the colonies, by the quarter or half carcase. He did not feel qualified to say how that would work or its effect in possibly leading to a boycott of our meat by other retailers. A gnat deal might "be done, he was sure, in tb<* way of regulating tihe shipments to London. As for the Governments obtaining advice from the English market; he did not' know that people on I the spot were much better informed on the matter than they were in New Zealand. He did not know what could be done- without extending to out competitors gireater advantages than we could ourselves obtain. Sir Joseph Ward 6aid he was glad to bs able to take back to New Zealand the views of this meeting. He gathered that it was beyomoTiuman possibility for them to suggest a means of curing the effects of oyer-production. The only way to do anything was by combination (not in the ordinary sense), .first at I3ie New Zealand end to regulate- the- quantities to be sent to £he .market at a time, and then at thi.s end on the part of the- large distributors to help to' maintain prices at a reasonable level. That was- the problem they had to face in the future even if they had to aceep-t a generally lower level of prices tba.n in the past. The whole trade had changed in recent years. Men who could formerly look forward with some certainty for some wedfcs were now liable to have their calculations -violently disturbed by c.i.f. quotations furnished by outside distributors. Then there was the shipping position to consider. Every large ship leaving the Dominion naturally wanted to have a full cargo, and that meant placing large consignments on the market at one time. It was not in human nature for them to expect men who had bought c.i.f. in New Zealand at 2£d to sell "here at that price. From fche standpoint of the Government of New Zealand he considered it was impossible for them to •operate meat shops throughout this country. — (" Hear, hear.") Unless they had the ■moral support of the butchers in this country they might be subjected to a boycott of New Zealand meat inymany channels. He did not mean to suggest bhe formation of anything in the way of co-operative companies, but • merely that they rfiould try to minimise the over-supply occasion-ally ■so* as to avoid these slumps. If the peopl-* at the other end would give more attention ! to the wool values of their sheep and not hurry every hoof they could on to th'i ship ' -they would help greatly to improve the position. All the information- as to the -sbate of the market that was furnished by Ise* Hig-h Commissioner's office waa published in every -paper in ,New Zealand. It was a difficult iiiing for a Government to put its finger into the •eom.inercAal pie. It could not give advice to the community in the ordinary course at all. If it did so and the price suddenly went up or down the Government would be placed in < strange position. ' They could assist to bring about come system of co-operation to rejnaate the supplies to the market only with the active and sympathetic co-opera-tion of the interests concarned. The powerful shipping interests were dependent to ; a large extent on the meat freights, ami it «as a very difficult problem how to meet them. If it could be shown how they might do it they would be only too filad to help. Those who were interested mifeht help by giving information readily and willingly to the Government. In New Zealand they were prepared to give tha best article- in the world and they wanted to ro sell it at the best possible price so as to give the growers the right profit out of it, but they should not insist on having it branded New Zealand meat, because rome people had the strongest objection i -o that. What they wanted was to sot j ■the highest possible price to keep it in the | for© all the time, but not to do anything | 'rofn a purely sentimental point of view. If it could be shown- that they could assist n the wider distribution of New Zealand meat by spending- a reasonable sum of . money here he would be prepared "to recom- I mend to his colleagues the expenditure of a few . thousand pounds, but only on the understanding that the men concerned here were doing the same.- It would be a matter of sound business to do that if they could hope thereby to get their meat into larger consumption. He promised to go into the matter with the people representing the trade- in New Zealand to see whether a seasonable amount spent in that way would help to obtain such results as Mr Goodsir had mentioned ,in regard to coffee and currants. He thought they should be able

to do something in the nature of what the Americans had done in Tegulating and controlling their market here Sir Montagu Nelson remarked that during the last six or seven months the im- j portations of frozen meat had increased 40 per cent, over the previous year. It was impossible for England to absorb the whole of this, especially at a seaso.n when, owing to the slaekne&s of trade, the purchasing power of the people was less than usual. He agreed with Sir Thomas Berthwick in regard to advertising. The price at which New Zealand- meat could now be bought was well known, and that was the best advertisement it could possibly have. There was no question many of the retailers were not giving full advantage of the lon prices to the consumers. Middleclass families were not getting their meat cheaper, but he was told that in some working-class districts it was selling very low indeed. Years ago the barrowmen, hawking the meat about in the streets, dia much to open up new markets. As to the possibility of auction saies, people who had money would not attend, and those who attended had npt sufficient to buy meat except in small quantities. He was sure everyone recognised that wherever there was a chance of a meat shop doing anything there were men to start them irre-. spective of the Government. He extended the thanks of the meeting to Sir Joseph Ward for being presemt.