EXPORT OF MEAT.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14985, 12 August 1919, Page 5

EXPORT OF MEAT.

VIEWS OF SIlTj. WAB.J3. GREAT NEED OF SHIP^IXG. (special to the Herald.} CHRISTCHIJRCH,, tiiis . day. Referring to the proposal that . the •.Government should be asked -,10/ set, up a, committee of expert producers; to^.proceed to ' England' to investigate: the. whole position of. I^ew Zealand -meat at .Home, and,; if ••possible, to arrange for the future distribution of our • meat, Sir Joseph , Ward said that anything that could; be done to 'relieve the' situation certainly should be done, 'but the whole difficulty was m regard to shippirig. The, Government had -tried ail mv its power to get extra ships out here to relieve the congestion, and had succeeded m getting certain increases m the tonnage from .time, to time allowed to the Dominion. When the suggestion was made that if the position is not back to normal by the end of June next (when the present contract expires), the Imperial Government might arrange. toY extend the period of. the purchase of New Zealand meat, Sir, Joseph expressed /.the opinion, that the, sooner the producers could get -their free market back the better. OnceHwe . had a proper supply of ships, there was no. doubt that the: producers would be better off with .an open market than they were under present conditions, and there was every reason why the producers should desire .the free market.; Until the present , contract expires the British Government would continue to distribute the meat at Home. Ever since the armistice much of the; meat had doubtless found ,:ita» -way to armies •on the Continent, for v . 'besides the army of occupation,, the French and,, ltalian troops were not-yet. demobilised. . T&qae countries, could not- carjry out • demobiiiisation so quickly as the, nations farther, from the centres of unrest, ' for with; lateenemy countries adjacent to them ', they must move more cautiously. As to the meat outlook th^,en,d,,it was- quite evident' that it was, gom£'to;take, a. little time for real daylight to be seen, hi con-, nection with the iniportant side of the business of this country,, the producers' side, and anything that' could be done, whether it be the setting up of a.committee to' proceed Hpme/ V or , anything eCse that was calculated, to #inprove matters, should not be left undone. Both during and since the.wat'ttHere had been such a huge business at Home, and the machinery connected with; it \liad been so big, that those who, sought, to .investigate it with a ; view;, fcci, .improving it, got' up against a very big problem. '■' "The key to the w,hole. thing, so., far as my judgment goes;" said Sir "is shipping and plenty of it-rrefriger-ated ships, that is— aoid that applies to the .future as well as to the; present." ■ Questioned as to any, .tendency of the British public to become- less of a meateating people than iiu the past, Sir Joseph, sa,id ( that ho was unable, from liisrpersonal observation, to say ahythiaig .of that. He had, however, found that m regard to the.. United States" of America, the opinion was very widely that as the result of high prices and the rationing sys.tem, beefeating had diminished very considerably. Tfre prices of beef had fallen about cSd pel* jib, and the tendency; was for a further' fall. Tlie householders of the ■States, it was said, had got. out of the Avay of consuming meat,, and now that the heavy export for army purposes had leased, the total consumption was much i'6diJced. and prices had fallen, and it was anticipated that the' drop would be heavier yet. , .