A NORTH ISLAND TALK.

Otago Witness, Issue 3201, 21 July 1915, Page 17

A NORTH ISLAND TALK.

(From Our Own Correspondent.) PALMERSTON N., July 15. The wool demand still keeps buoyant, i The crutching sale at Wellington last Fn- ! day gave evidence of this in some remarkable prices. The 2000 bales offered received keen competition, and while pi ices generally are considered to have been on a par with tho extreme rates which closed the month of May, there were several sa.es of exceptional interest. Chief of these \\as the disposal of Mr H. J. W. Lords line of light, bulky crutchinga from Masterton at 15£d per lb. 5 The prices may be summarised as follow : Crossbreds — j Medium and coarse 13icl tc ltd j- Pieces and bailies 8d to H^d ! Locks and stained pieces .. Id to 8d Crutchinga— , Superior 13d to lo^d ; Medium and good Hd to UJd ! Seedy and inferior 3d to lO^d Lambs 14cl to 15£d Dead 12d to 16id j HOW BEEF PANS OUT. i Auckland is always greatly concerned about tho price of beef cattle, because "Auckland more than any other place produces beef inadequately to its needs, and has to import from the rest of us. This season, owing to tho blockage at the works, there have been willing sellers of overripe stock, even of beef, and we have seen none of those picturesque paragraphs in the newspapers telling of the frenzied operations of Auckland butchers in the southern markets. Perhaps this is coming now, for there is talk up north of apparently un- ; warranted prices being paid there just now for cattle fit for beef. have lately : been trying to learn how to calculate up the value of a prime fat steer on the basis 1 of tho price fixed by tho Government authorities. But while we have been aiming to learn how two and two make four, the Auckland buyers have discovered that two and two make five. They have been buying beef at £2 Is and £2' 2s per 1001 b, while the highest price they can get for it from the Government is £1 19s 7d. This looks at first sight like either a bid for bankruptcy or a big cornering scheme, or a gamble on a speedy rise in values. However, according to Mr A. Schmitt, provincial secretary of tho Auckland Farmers’ Union, it ;s neither. The buyers are making their profit on the extras. They pay the farmer £2 Is for the meat alone; they sell to the Government the same moat for £1 19s 7d, and then they set about turning into cash the various 11 waste products” which the farmer gave them for nothing. Thus, a prime steer producing 7001 b of beef at 4Jd would bring £l3 17s Id. The “waste” items would be:— £ e. d. Fat (40lb at Hd) 0 5 0 Hide (541 b) 1 16 0 Tongue, tail, etc. 0 16 £2 2 6 Sold for .. .. 13 17 1 £ls 19 7 Freezing charges, etc. 1 H 0 Net cost £l4 8 7 This is equivalent to about £2 Is 3d per 1001 b for the boast which the Government buys for £2 Is. Tho buyer seems entiled to a little move than the Is 9d' per boast which Mr Schmitt’s little sum shows, and really I rather suspect he gets. BEEF BOOM AFTER AUGUST. This same gentleman makes a cheering forecast of what will happen when tho freezing works cease to overflow—a millennium which ho dates for the end of August next. Ho says tho congestion at the works is diminishing owing to tlm work of tho shipping services —the Tongariro taking 8000 carcases, tho Athcnic 5000, and the further allocations up to tho end of August accounting for additional 33,000. _ If this speedy work comes off without a hitch, that will sop tho end of tlm storage trouble, and make beef values again dependent on tho local demand as tho barometer of prices. Tho local markets will then, thinks Mr Schmitt, show immediately that they are short of supplies, and keen contests will ensue among Auckland butchers for possession of the offerings. He sees no likelihood of serious storage trouble in the

future, and explains that tho situation was eased at a critical time by sending 150,000 or 200,000 carcases for shipment at southern ports. He tells dairymen they will have adequate storage space. and a good season. EMPTYING THE STORES. Confirmation of tho new Auckland optimism as to emptier cool stores comes from other sources. Mr Barugh, chairman of directors of the Auckland Freezing Works, says that if the present and prospective rate of cargo-lifting proceeds the requirements will be overtaken shortly, and there will bo space in the works in August for 3000 cattle or 45,000 sheep. Hawke’s Bay reports are in the same strain, and attention is called* to the fact that beef is a more urgent commodity than mutton. ORCHARDS TO LET. Among Crown land activities in the North Island is included tho offering on the optional system of five orchards at Waorenga (known in the railway time-table as Te Kauwhata), varying in areas from 23 to 44 acres, of which from to acres in each case is orchard, the remainder grass and a little swamp. The land is of poor quality, though (probably because it is planted in orchards) it is officially classed as first’ class. It is much twisted by small gullies, which intercept orderly cultivation ; tho shelter is inadequate, and the roads are bad. On the otnor hand, the orchards are near the railway, they are priced reasonably, and they are in a district that is reputed to be not badly damaged by frosts. The Waeronga Experimental Farm is on the same estate, am, numerous selectors of previously-offered orchards arc residing there. The growtu of the trees on the orchards now offered is only medium and there are severe conc.itions imposed as to the system of treatment.