THE MEAT CONTROL BOARD

Otago Witness, Issue 3613, 12 June 1923, Page 15

THE MEAT CONTROL BOARD

WORK OF TIIE PAST AND FUTURE. ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT. Mr D. Jones (president of the Meal Control Board) addressed over 89 farmers on the night of the 2nd on matters concerning the boil’d. The meeting, which .vas given in connection with the farmers’ school at present being held in Dunedin, was presided over by Mr R. B. Tennent. Mr Jonees received an excellent hearing, and at the conclusion of his address he was passed a unanimous vote of thanks on the motion of Air J. Gordon. Mr Jones began by tracing the early history of the board, stating that before the board was formed they were being offered at the beginning of the season 4d per lb for lamb in the North Island and up to 5d in the South Island, which, as they all knew, meant ruin to the farmer. In 1913 the price of lamb at Smithfield was 6«d per lb, and they had to take from that the increased charges for freezing and shipping. This emphasised the hopelessness of the fanners’ position. It was also stated that the men in London could not give higher prices because there was sufficient moat stored in Great Britain to last until April or May of next year. That meant that that season’s meat would have been purchased at sometlnng like the prices then offering. The remarkable thing was ihat

immediately the board was spoken about things began to move in fxmdon. and by the time legislation was through the House —even before the board was actually in existence—lamb was worth lljd in London. All the mountains of lamb which were held in store had disappeared. They now knew that such quantities of stores were not in existence. He was satisfied that but for the formation of tho board meat values would have remained permanently at the low figure they then were, which would have spelt ruin for the farming community. Dealing with the question of freights. Air Jones showed how exporters ware bound by action of agreements with the shipping companies which made the business a very complicated one. The contracts seemed almost impossible of being broken, but the war ended them. This was one of the factors considered when the scheme was being drafted, and the legislation introduced gave the whole of the meat freights into the control of the board. So long as the freights between New Zealand and Britain were in the hands of shipping companies, freedom was of no value in what were looked upon as times of peace. The whole of the freights were to-day at the control of the board. It has been stated that the board exercised no influence on the drop in freights, but he outlined the beard’s negotiation with the shipping companies, and both at New Zealand and in London, whence Air .Tessep, vice-chairman, had been sent, as a result of which a substantial re duction had been secured. This reduction had meant to ihe producers of the dominion £575,000 this season.—'Applause.) Reductions on a considerable scale had also been secured on railage charges in New Zealand. One striking instance of the efficiency of the compulsory clause was supplied in the question of freights. While much had been said and done in the matter of cleaning up the trade in New Zealand, not much was said about the position in London. For the last 20 years there had been discussion regarding the sending of a mail to London. It was held that until they had control in New Zealand there was littie use in discussing control in London, and this led to the question of (lie multiplicity of marks. He gave an instance of one vessel—an average case — to illustrate the system hitherto in vogue. The ship carried 106,350 carcases of mutton and lamb. It was sorted into 791 different lets. Of these 224 contained lots over 100. 567 under 100 —of the 567, 84 were under 50, 115 under 25, and 236 under 10. That was an average vessel for many years past, and at the London end the carcases had to be sorted out. They could understand the loss on the wharves at London, and the tremendous cost of a modern steamship lying at the wharves while this sorting was being done. The board decided that this would have to stop, and brought in a regu lation which fixed the minimum parcel at 300 carcases. He quoted testimonies from firms in London which emphatically justified the action of the board in this direction, arid said that this, amongst other things, would lead to lower rates of insurance. Without the compulsory clauses this im pravement could not have been effected.

lie deemed it unwise to say much about the shipping of the meat. To-dav they had inspectors of their own, and a remarkable improvement had been effected in connection with the loading of frozen meat. In this regard the shipping companies had rendered every assistance possible, and an immense difference had been made in loading so far as the wharves were concerned.

Mr Jones proceeded to quote figures showing the enormous extent of the Argentine, stating that, in view of these figures, the board had thought it wise to keep a good deal of meal, in store. This had been done, and now there was every prospect of a better price. Mr Jones stressed the necessity for keeping up the quality of exported meat. During the war the reputation of New Zealand meat was undermined- by some shipments of inferior meat, and the market difference of brades was now indicated by pence per pound, so insistence was the preference tor choice quality. Afany farmers in fattening their lambs often turned them off before they were quite ready. A large proportion of the lambs would profitably carry another two or three pounds; this would mean a material gain to the dominion. and would improve the quality of their lambs on the market. There were now supervising graders who visited all the freezing works to see that the grading was properly done: and the goal of the* board was to get the New Zealand grading accepted at presentation at. the London end. If they could get the New Zealand grading accepted as final it would mean many thousands a year to the dominion. As farmers, they sent too many second-quality lambs to the works, and this should bo stopped. There was no other part of the world which could send first-quality lamb such as New Zealand could produce, and more attention must lie given to quality in the future than had been given in the past. The average farmer sent his lambs to the factory three weeks too soon, and there would ”te an immense gain if they could get the additional quality and weight. Referring to the question of leaving the kidneys and kidney fat in lambs. Mr Jortes said this decision by the board had caused a howl, and it was said that the carcases would not keep ; but experience had proved otherwise, and matters were working quite smoothly. He did not say that it resulted from the decree, but the fact was that lamb had gone up a farthing per lb after the decree that the kidneys and kidney fat must lie left in the carcase. That did not look as though the carcases suffered, and it resulted in putting a lot of money into the pockets of the producers.—(Applause.) Speaking of pork prices, Mr Jones said that, these had been mast unsatisfactory till the board had cabled Home and secured a very substantial reduction in freights in order to develop the trade. The board’s representative had interviewed leading men who were interested in the pork trade in Great Britain, and had asked for and secured their assistance in getting this market on a heller basis. Reductions had been obtained till the freight was now only one penny per pound, and the export of pork had gone up enormously, as a result of what had been done. Up to March 31 this year, 2,164,0001 b of pork had been sent away from New Zealand, and the way had been opened up for an immense trade in this commodity. The result of this would be to stabilise prices for pigs in New Zealand, and the pig trade was a most important adjunct to the dairying business. This was an exceptionally valuable bit of work; and, again, it would have been difficult of accomplishment without the board’s compulsory powers.

Mr Jones went on to show how the board had regulated shipments of frozen meat from New Zealand. In December and

January the board had told the shipping companies that it was only prepared to ship a certain quantity of meat. If shipping had been allowed to go on in the ordinary way practically every carcase that had been killed this season would now be on the water, or at the port of London, and nothing could have prevented a serious drop in prices. But through regulating shipments throughout the season a glut had been prevented and prices had been kept firm. In regulating shipments as it had done the board had taken a serious responsibility, but results had .shown that the action taken was fully justified. The board might, and no doubt would, hake some mistakes, but it would never make the mistake that was made two years ago. when, without any control, the London market had been smashed through lack of regulation of shipping. Shipments could now be regulated to the advantage of the Home trade, to the advantage of the shipping companies, and certainly to the great gain of the producers of this country. Reference was next, made to the visit of Mr Jesscp to Great Britain for the purpose cf selecting a London representative of the board. Air Josser) had gone very carefully into this matter at the London end. and after consulting t.he speaker, by cable, at this end. they had agreed that the representative appointed should be one possessed of the New Zealand point of view.—("Hear, hear.’ ) A good deal of criticism had been "met because they had not appointed a man who knew London from end to cud. but he was satisfied that in appointing Air R, 8. Forsyth the board had acted wisely.— (Applause.) Air Jones said the board recognised that one of its great functions was to nut the N ( w Zealand farmer on as good a fooling as the exporter so far as information was concerned, and the board would be in a position to do this. Invaluable service was being rendered by the weekly prices of fat stock which the board was causing to be published. Farmers looked for these; and the difficulty experienced in getting them indicated that the exporters did not look upon them with a friendly eye. Effective service had be°n done through the publication of these prices. The information that the hoard had been able to obtain from the Argentine and Patagonia as to what their competitors were doing was practically nil so far; but Mr Fraser (the board's general manager), who had been in the meat trade all his life, was now ott his way to the Argentine to investigate the methods of carrying on the industry there. It was necessary to know what the ‘'enemy” was doing, and the board had not been idle in this respect. There was a big field of operations ahead, and one very important problem which would have to be faced related to insurance on moat. This matter had been in an unsatisfactory position for years. Unjust claims had l>een paid by those who sent meat from this country, but the compulsory powers which the board possessed would enable it to secure a remedy. If no other way out could be found it might be necessary for the board to take over the whole of the insurance of meat sent out cf New Zealand. —(Applause.) It should be remembered that the board’s work was all new; it was “blazing the trail,” and had to feel its way as it went, but it could be depended upon to treat every problem in a businesslike way. Its every step was being watched by the enemy, but it would not be stampeded into a course of action which it did not think right or in the test interests of the producers. The hoard was only a little more than a year old, and it was composed of able and disinterested men. who could te trusted to do what was right. He could not indicate the future policy of the hoard, but thought he had said sufficient to show that it liad already carried out. important and far-reach-ing reforms, which could not fail to bring profit to the producer and to the dominion as a whole. And it would continue to act in this way. (Loud applause.)