CHILLED BEEF TRADE

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19694, 28 July 1938, Page 7

CHILLED BEEF TRADE

LACK OP SHIPPING SPACE

LOSSES TO FARMERS

GISBORNE AND WAIROA

(Special to the Herald.) WELLINGTON, this day-

At the annual meeting of the Sheepowners' Federation held in Wellington to-day, Mr. J. S. Jessep, vice-president, commented strongly on the lack of shipping space available for chilled beef.

The chilled beef trade, stated Mr. Jessep, was expected to prove of immense value to the North Island sheepowners, but last year, through lack of available shipping space, large numbers of excellent beef cattle could not be chilled. Representations were made last year to the Meat Producers' Board and to the shipping companies on the matter, but no satisfaction as to who was to blame could be obtained." Early this season- the matter was again brought before the Meat Board, the result, however, being very, very far from satisfactory.

"Insofar as the Hawke's Bay and East Coast districts were concerned, the lack of shipping space has caused a great loss to the sheepowners," Mr. Jessep continued. "It was not oniy the lack of shipping space that caused loss to the sheepowners, but the fact that large numbers of ca'ttle which had been prepared for chilled couid not be disposed of as chilled beet had to be frozen down at a loss of at least 5s per 100. This meant that ox beef competed with fat cows for the local markets, with the result that they also fell considerably in value." The net loss, through one cause or another, in Hawke's Bay and East Coast districts, Mr. Jessep estimated at many thousands of pounds this year.

Departure of Ships

The arrangements made for 'the departure of ships, continued Mr. Jessep, were simply appallkag. During a whole montn there would be one or two ships leaving Wellington and the following month there would be as many as three or four leaving within a fortnight, making it impossible to fill the allotments. As the control ol the shipping contracts was in the hands of the Meat Board, the sheepowners must look to it for redress. There were clauses in the present shipping contract which eventually would work adversely to both the snipping companies and the sheepowners.

it was useless to say that ships were provided and allotments not filled, declared Mr. Jessep. If the trade was to continue, arrangements must be made for the regular dispatch of ships and, if occasionally allotments were not filled, the traae would grow so rapidly that this would soon become a thing of the past. This season, he continued, some of the finest types of chilled beef produced, 2£-year-old steers of beef oreds, weighing up to 6401 b., had had to be frozen down. Gisborne, of course, in the meantime, could not ship chilled beef, and Wairoa, through the unfortunate destruction of the railway by iioods, had been cut off about the middle of the season. However, had sufficient shipping space been available for the Hawke's Bay and Wairarapa districts at Wellington, fat cattle from the Wairoa district could have been fed into Hawke's Bay and forward cattle from Gis'borne, as is usually done, could pass through to the Waikato. It was useless to try to breed better beef and produce for the chilled beef tarde if the ready shipping was not available.