EXPORT OF MEAT

Putaruru Press, Volume XXI, Issue 1232, 29 May 1947, Page 2

EXPORT OF MEAT

AUSTRALIA LAGGING Drought and Industrial Troubles While Britain is trying desperately to buy every ton of meat she can afford, 16 refrigerated ships have already been diverted from Sydney to New Zealand this year because Australia cannot provide meat to fill them. Shipowners say that, despite shipping shortages, they can provide vessels for all the meat Australia can make available for Britain. The Meat Board has appealed to producers to provide additional Stock for transport. Because of drought, industrial troubles, and other factors, Australia is lagging about 10,000 tons behind the export target of 91,000 tons set for the first half of this year. Meat expert authorities in Sydney discount the statement by the British Food Minister (Mr. Strachey) that normal meat shipments from Australia were a month behind because of strikes by Australian wharf and shipyard workers. They said that confusion had probably arisen because the Queensland beef export season, which normally began about April 1, was about a month late this l year. This was caused by such factors as drought and then floods, which even now were delaying the arrival of heavy cattle in the Townsville area. In addition to 13 reported earlier, three refrigerated cargo vessels will he diverted to New Zealand this month. The chairman of the Overseas Shipping Representatives’ Association (Mr. W. T. Craig) said that the lag of a month in shipments was directly traceable to the watersiders’ strike, which lasted a fortnight and which has since caused congestion at the wharves.