LAMB IN AMERICA.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 15459, 2 March 1921, Page 9

LAMB IN AMERICA.

THE NEW ZEALAND ENTRY. A NEWSPAPER’S ENTERPRISE. “There are two extraordinary reasons why readers continue their raid on the authorised Globe stations for New Zealand lamb,” writes Alfred W. McCann in tho New York Globe. “They have learned for themselves that New Zealand lamb, in spite of all tho trade propaganda'at, its expense, is the last word in lamb excellence. They also know that the Globe stations are constantly inspected, and that the chances of getting inferior domestic lamb under a Now Zealand label are few. Superb quality at fixed price is the big hit of the year, it- shows what can he done by a little constructive surgery and careful nursing.- It points the way to great achievements in the future. “The people are beginning to grasp the significance of tho uniform price at which New Zealand lamb is sold at the Globe stations. They know that at the beginning of the movement all butchers who were not- members of the Globe family had to pay the packers twice as much at wholesale for the same lamb.” Mr .McCann is referring to the importation and distribution by the Gl'obe newspaper of 'consignments of New Zealand lamb ns an enterprise of its own, and an effort to cheapen meat in New York. 11c proceeds : “Most of the Globe butchers, when the Globe's exposure knocked the bottom out of the wholesale profiteering prices, stood by and resisted the temptation to purchase otit-of-condition, bargain lamb at the kind of bankrupt prices which would have shown them enormous, even thought secret, profits on a topsv-turvy, hysterical market. YIELDING! TO TEMPTATION. “I do not say that! all tho Globe dealers had the good sense, honesty, and courage to resist- this form of temptation. 1 strongly - suspect,, , thought I cannot yet offer conclusive proof in support of my conviction, that a few dealers fell for the temptations put in their way, and juggled not only with the confidence placed in them by the Globe, but also -with the confidence placed in them by their own patrons. “Unhappily, I' have reason to believe that a few Globe dealers, who can see only as far as a dollar will let them, picked up odds and ends from a declining and out-of-condition lamb market, and sold them to their unsuspecting pnt- ; I rons as the genuine New Zealand product. A few others, believing they were going to get, cheaper lamb, deserted the, Globe family by cutting down their purchases of Globe lamb to an inconsequential minimum in order to make room for the temporary bargains which they could not resist. As the facts in this regard develop I shall give them to the public, with names and addresses of the unaithful ones who, whilst enjoying the benefits of membership in the Globe family, shirked the moral obligations which they had voluntarily assumed and betrayed' their trust for a few pieces of silver. i “THE PUBLIC' CAN SEE.” ! “On tho whole, I can safely say.that 95 pbr cent, of the Globe stations have, stood up manfully when.file odds seemed against them. The public is not without eyes. It was impossible not to notice tiiis fact,, and as a result the faithful ones have enjoyed still greater confidence among their patrons. This confid-, ence is the essence of reason No. 2, and explains in a large measflre t he' constancy of the public in patronising the stores that deserve it. It- also promises much for the new stores -soon to be added to the Globe list. “Never before in the history of New? York has such uniformity of' price prevailed over so long a period in the buying and selling of any one staple ’ food' product. Specialists in marketing have observed this phenomenon with inereas-, ing wonder. Well may they speculate ns' to the advantages to'lie obtained by a! wider application of the same methods.; That violent, fluctuations are wholly unnecessary, wholly undesirable, altogether vicious, has been established for fill time, and by a continuance of tlfeir interest Globe readers can prove that they, want an extension of such benefits and are willing to work for them.” MUTTON IN AMERICA. By way of comment on Mr McCann's remarks, it may be said that the feeling of some closely associated with the export business here is that the American market should take a certain proportion of mutton with its lamb. The latter is tho most sought-after lino of New Zealand frozen meat in Hie United Kingdom and elsewhere, hut. in no market open to this country is it likely that ail mutton and no lamb, or very little, would be acceptable. This is certainly the case in the United'Kingdom. In America, as on the Continent, the public taste for mutton is not so fully developed ns it.is in Great, Britain. The reason i may he that the locally-raised ‘mutton is not so toothsome as that raised in Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and South America, and therefore tho demand is more for beeT, pork, or veal’; but the fact remains that, tho Americans are no 1 such heavy consumers of mutton as the British people are. The taste, it would seem, has still to be acquired. It, may be created if the market is consistentlv exploited with the very best of mutton produced in New Zealand. Hitherto New Zealand enterprise in this direction has not borno encouraging results. The American markets, via San Francisco, have been well tested with New Zealand mutton, but, whatever tho reason, they did not respond so heartily as was expected.