The Patea County Press. (With which is incorporated The Patea Mail.) "Be Just and Fear Not.” MONDAY, 5th JUNE, 1899. EVERYONE FOR HIMSELF.

Patea Mail, Volume XII, Issue 55, 5 June 1899, Page 2

The Patea County Press. (With which is incorporated The Patea Mail.) "Be Just and Fear Not.” MONDAY, sth JUNE, 1899. EVERYONE FOR HIMSELF.

We luivo just to hand the nmvkot circulars of tlio Colonial Distributing’ Co. and Messrs W. and It. Fletcher, Ltd., under date ol:' April 21st last, and the meat (jactations in tlio latter ratlior incline one to wonder bow much longer the long-suffering farmer is to bo ruthlessly fleeced by an army of middlemen who are preying on his vitals. The following figures arc what specially arrested our attention : “ Crime Now Zealand mutton 2s !)dtu 2s lOd per stone of Mbs. (Second Duality 2s Gd to 2s <Sd.” And when wo come to think that there is no reason why our district mutton should not bo prime (there is no mention of “ Canterbury”) tlio value of the GOlbs freezing wethers us resulting from such price would bo £1 Os 7Ad per land, to which must bo added the value of tlio skin and oil'al, at present not loss than 2s Gd, or the respectable total of £1 Os I Id per bead for (><)!!> fat wethers. From this, of course, must bo deducted the cost of getting to the London market, and dating from this district we have firstly the rail charge of, say, Is Gd per head to Wellington, and then tlio consolidated chargs c.i.f. to London 1 £-d per lb, these two on the OOib wether, it will be seen, amount to 7s Ifd, leaving the net value of the sheep as IGs a head. Now, we ask, how many of our farmers oyer see IGs per

head on the farm for their fat wethers : yo t this is dearly tho ordinary value, after deducting expenses, of every GOIh wethor that loaves their homestead. Now comes the question, how is this to be righted, and the answer is as distinct and prompt as an echo : Freezing works. It is beyond all doubt that some understanding must exist between tho various buyers of tho prime freezers to preserve the market in such a state as to net, in addition to their freezing profits, from three to four shillings a head on every sheep s nt away, and it is time the sheepgrowers had a say in tins rigging of markets and a share in the heavy plunder absorbed between the farmer and dead meat market. The way out of this loss is clear and unmistakable, and is shewn in tho words “establish local freezing works.” That without doubt is tire one way out of the difficulty, and tho way is fortunately not impossible, nor even difficult as tho machinery for forming such an industry is at hand, and is to be found in the Western Packing Company. That company is prepared to at once begin the erection of the necessary buildings and plant, of such dimensions as to enable them to deal with a thousand sheep, or equivalent in beef, per diem, on the district interesting, sulficieiitly, itself in the undertaking to ensure reasonable support. What such an undertaking would mean to the sheep grower, and of course indirectly to all other “ growers.” can be best estimated by a comparison of tho not return of tho English value, with tho net amount paid to tho farmers on delivery to tho present buyers. In the Patca case also, there is a further and important saving for local producers, in the carriage of the sheep to Wellington, as compared with the cost of shipping the frozen carcases .at the Patea Heads. Soundings recently taken at tho Heads show that ships of tho present meat carrying type could find both safe and secure anchorage at little over a mile from tho bar —a circumstance that points very distinctly to the immense advantage which must accrue to our farmers; from the establishment of local freezing works. Wo cannot speak to a fraction, but wo are not [far out in saying that in carriage alone another shilling per head of the value of sheep would remain with producers, as at present rates it costs about eighteen pence per head to carry sheep from tills district to Wellington freezing works; whereas, if frozen hero, they would ho put into the freezing chambers of the ocean ship for sixpence per head, a difference, which at tho close of a year’s operations would make a very comfortable improvement to the producers’s credit balance, and one that they should not be long in bringing to an established fact. Everything is to hand, convenient site, with tinning works already established, and export direction, second to none in tho colony; surely such a chance will not bo allowed to go a-begging.