PRIMARY PRODUCTS

Southland Times, Issue 19157, 29 January 1924, Page 5

PRIMARY PRODUCTS

STATE OF ENGLISH MARKET PROSPECTS FOR THE FUTURE MR MASSEY HOPEFUL. (Special to the Times). WELLINGTON, January The Prime Minister again referred, at the civic reception at the Town Hall t.hiz afternoon, to the prospfets for the primary products of New Zealand. Mr Massey said he was convinced that the present high price of wool would be retained and we must even be fwepared to pay slightly higher prices for woollen manufactures in consequence. Whatever improvement there was in the price of thia or any other of our primary would be reflected in a general improv®* ment in the condition of the British work* man and of our own people as well. In regard to dairy produce, while he could not see ahead of next season, he believed that prices would be maintained for the present. One circumstance that would contribute to this would, he said, be the British Empire Exhibition this year and the largo numbers that would attend it and ask for foodstuffs produced within the Empire. He made a serious complaint, however, about the state of New Zealand meat as shipped to the English market.

“I went to Smithfield,” he said, “and saw how our meat compared with that sent by other countries. The mutton and lamb from foreign countries was prepared belter than ours, although everyone said that the quality of ours was the l>est. The canvas wrappings around the carcase waa very often soiled and there were cuts in the carcase that should not be there. I must admit, however, that 1 visited Smithfield between the seasons. The old season’s meat was just being disposed of and the new season’s goods were coming in from South America. We have established a reputation for our meat and so long as we keep up the quality the prices will stand but our get-up must be improved.'’ Mr Massey commended the state in which the initial shipments of New Zealand eggs arrived on the English market. Reviewing the position he said that for quite a number of years in New Zealand, eggs were being imported from China and in response to representations, he and the Minister of Agriculture prohibited further importations despite some objections. In a few months the difficulty was the other way; more eggs were produced in New Zealand than were needed for home consumption. North America was tried, but the market was not considered quite satisfactory. Then they turned their eyes to England. There were two lots of half a million eggs landed and be was told that there were only two eggs broken and none were unsound. The representative of the leading firm of London caterers said he would take the whole shipment and as many more of the same quality as could bo shipped from New Zealand.

For a long time, continued Mr Massey, there was trouble in the bacon trade. At Home there was a market for an unlimited quantity of bacon. “In Smithfield they showed me tons of American bacon,” he said. “I do not find fault with the bacon from another country because of that fact, but the bacon I saw would not suit New Zealanders. With all the dairy farming that is going on here, there is nothing to prevent us from producing and exporting bacon to England. 1 admit that the quality of the Danish and Dutch bacon » good. I am told that the Dutch buy American bacon and consume it, sending their own to the English market. There is a great opening in England for our bacon and why we have not taken advantage of it, I dn not know. An increased export of our primary produce filters down to every individual of the population and is reflected in the general prosperity of the Dominion” (Hear, hear).