The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luces Non Uro. TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 1917. THE MEAT PURCHASE.

Southland Times, Issue 17966, 6 March 1917, Page 4

The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luces Non Uro. TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 1917. THE MEAT PURCHASE.

The annual report of the Colonial Consignment and Distributing Co., Ltd., on the frozen meat trade of 1916 contains matter of much interest to the producers of the dominion. The report deals, of course, with the abnormal conditions caused by the war, and touches first upon the grievance of sheep farmers in this dominion that meat requisitioned by the Imperial Government hut not required for the forces in the field was sold by private individuals in the open market to their own advantage. The C.C. and D. Co. is under the impression that there is some misconception in New Zealand with regard to the form of control exercised by the Imperial Government. It points out that the first step taken by the Imperial Government was to requisition* practically the whole of the refrigerated fleet; it then purchased the whole output of frozen meat from Australia and New Zealand, and by direct negotiations bought a large proportion of the output of the South American freezing companies. It then arranged with the importing houses in Great Britain to dispose by sale for civilian consumption of the surplus meat not retained for military requirements. All this was quite understood by New Zealand’s meat growers. Those engaged in the freezing business were under no misapprehension as to the conditions under which the dominion’s meat was taken and disposed of. What they did not know, however, was exactly who reaped the profits from the sale of the considerable surplus of meat which was not required by the British Government as food for the armies in the field. It is understood that no lamb has been used for the army, and the surplus of lamb and mutton was sold in the open market at prices considerably in excess of those paid by the Imperial Government to the dominion producers. The meat grower here did not grumble because the British Government had taken his meat at a price lower than the level of the open market. He would not have grumbled even if the Imperial Government, finding that it did not require all the meat for the army and could dispose of some of it for civil consumption, had made the sale itself and kept the profit, but the producers were not satisfied, and are not satisfied yet, that the profit on the sale of the surplus went into the Imperial Treasury, and the chief interest of the C.C. and D. Co.’s comment

on this point is in the statement that the surplus meat disposed of was sold “on account of the Imperial Government,” The Departmental Committee on Prices appointed by the Board of Trade is quoted as reporting that price control appears to have been efficiently applied, and that the distributors were held bound to sell only to hona fide retailers in the old proportions, all speculation being forbidden. It is still not clear, however, that the middlemen, or “distributor” as the C.C. and D. Co. calls him, did not make a very handsome profit by selling at the highest price obtainable in the open market meat which had been requisitioned by the Imperial Government at considerably less than market prices. That is the point on which there is feeling in this country, and the C.C. and D. Co. does not make it clear that feeling is unwarranted. It cannot be made too clear that the meat growers of New Zealand did not object to- sell their meat to the Imperial Government for the use of the army at less than the market price. They were willing to hand their meat over at a price agreed upon to the Imperial Government for any purpose whatever, providing that if It were resold at a profit the British Government kept the profit; hut they were not prepared to let any part of the meat which they handed over to the Imperial Government at a considerable sacrifice pass through the hands of middlemen into ordinary consumption at ordinary market prices if the margin of profit was kept by the “distributor.” This part of the meat transaction has still to be explained, and the sheep growers will be glad to learn from Mr Massey and Sir Joseph Ward on their return that their dissatisfaction was due merely to “misconception.” As an explanation the report of the C.C. and D. Co. leaves ranch to be desired, and is certainly not a complete answer to the charge of profiteering.