The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro, SATURDAY JULY 30, 1932. NEW ZEALAND MEAT

Southland Times, Issue 21773, 30 July 1932, Page 4

The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro, SATURDAY JULY 30, 1932. NEW ZEALAND MEAT

When the meat industry’s delegates are discussing preferences at Ottawa they should not overlook the peculiar significance of the development in Britain’s consumption of lamb and mutton. The roast beef of Od England was not merely a catch-cry, nor was it a trade slogan. It expressed the taste of the Englishman, who preferred beef to other meats as a steady diet, and relegated mutton to relatively minor positions. This preference for beef is still a strong factor in the meat trade, but since 1913 there has been an extraordinary change, the effects of which must be felt even more strongly in the years to come. In 1913 the total shipments of lamb from New Zealand, Australia and South America totalled 5,617,405 carcasses, but in 1931, the dimensions of the lamb importations had expanded to 16,805,148 carcasses, an increase of 200 per cent. In 1931 the three countries mentioned sent forward the following quantities of lamb:—

Carcasses. New Zealand 8,167,984 Australia 3,257,445 South America 5,379,719 This Dominion last year sent more lamb than the three countries did in 1913, and South America’s total almost equalled the 1913 aggregate. At the same time there has been a steady increase in the quantity of mutton taken into Britain. Compared with 1913, of course, the beef importations show a rise, but there has been practically no movement in the last ten years. The figures indicate clearly that the British palate is demanding more sheep meat and less meat from cattle. About 8,000,000 carcasses of New Zealand lamb are taken by England, and the quantities taken by other countries do not reach an aggregate of 100,000. Between 1927 and 1929 New York took about 800,000 carcasses, but the American farmers objected and additional duties shut this market, so that in the 1930-31 season New York took two carcasses, Boston three and San Francisco two. Outside of England, the largest importer of New Zealand lamb is Italy. New Zealand’s meat export figures are extraordinary. Since the 1923-24 season the quantity of lamb has almost doubled, and there has been an increase of about 50 per cent, in the shipments of mutton, while the port trade has shown a rapid rise from 4043 carcasses in 192324 to 146,075 carcasses in 1931-32. The development in the meat trade is best shown in the totals, expressed in 601 b freight carcasses covering the whole industry:—

Season. Carcasses. 1923- 5,705,608 1924- 6,438,056 1925- 5,610,730 1926- 5,956,708 1927- 6,998,086 1928- 6,152,695 1929- 7,506,227 1930- 7,358,865 1931- 8,291,584 The return from the high-point figures of the most recent years do not equal those of much smaller years, but as the Old Country is the largest buyer of New Zealand meat, they show that the absorption of the Dominion’s meat products is steadily growing. The rise in the South American lamb trade indicates the point from which the strongest competition will come in the future, but this country maintains its pride of place in quality, and secures a premium in lamb, which, allowing for the lower level in the market, is about as marked as it was nine years ago. Economic pressure hits the higher prices hardest, and so the fact that in 1931 the best New Zealand lamb enjoyed a price premium of more than one and onethird pence per lb over the best Argentine must be taken as an indication that the quality of this country’s lamb has been maintained. It is on this point that the Meat Board is particularly vigilant, and the grading in this country is kept at a high standard in order to ensure that there will be no weakening in the main factor in New Zealand’s success. The total proceeds of the sheep and cattle industry, expressed in the export statstics, in the twelve months ended March 31, 1931, were £16,578,000, an amount large enough to justify the Government’s anxiety to assist the

industry wherever it can, and to protect it from damage by illconsidered legislation designed to satisfy laudable demands, which, however, do not recognize sufficiently the supreme importance to the whole community of this great industry.