“ABSOLUTE NONSENSE.”

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16530, 14 September 1921, Page 2

“ABSOLUTE NONSENSE.”

• V I NEW ZEALAND'S r4EAT. THE LONDON STORY. i. H J i i - .x :- - ‘ Absolute rion.iense ” was the tiescript ion given by Mr N. L. Macbeth last night to the first portion of tho cable message published last evening in which it was stated that the “ Pall A Lai I Gaze l to” was giving promineni*o to what it described as New Zealand’s liold-up of meal, and stating that several hundred thousand sheep and lamb carcases were lying rotting in 1 storehouses in Christ church instead of being sent t ( > the London markets. Air Macbeth, who is a representative of Armours, said that the ** Pall ALr.II Gazette ’’ reports regarding earct-nF.es rotting in store in Christchurch was an < n;iggcuatiou that never had any sort cf foundation. “ Me do not want that sort of thing Lo be said,” Air Alacbeth j-omarked ; “ it .will not give e. first-class- character lo our meat to begin, with. As for the rest of Ihe article, it is common property, and ; all we can say is that the matter is, going to be fixed up by Air Ma-s-sey one way or the other when he comes out.” I ALE AT KILLED SINCE JANE ARY. The fjmouut of frozen meat in store in Christ elm roll belonging to Armours, said Air Alacbeth, was roughly 350.090 ear eases, v.hieh hud been ki'icd Mince , the beginning of .lamiiiry 1 lie; e ! it would be seen how exaggerated anv reports were about meat rotting in store. A great deal of Government meat had stayed in stove for two yeais. j He had not the slightest apprehru.dots j concerning the condition cf tlie meat ; referred \ o. | ARMOUR'S STOCKS A DROP IN THE BUCKET '■ A drop in the bucket was the ■ phrase trod by .another moot exporter in re feeing to the meat hold in store iby Armours.- He stated that the storj ago capacity of Canterbury freezers ! was enormous, as it hail been added to ; substantially during the war. but never j yet had any meat rotted in the stores, ! although some of the Government meat i had remained in store for two years. ; CONFUSION IN LONDON ' Touching on the factors affecting ; the prjee ot meat on tlie Lon—- | clou market, AI, D. J. Shea, scc- ■ rotary .»f the Cantcrliijry Frozen Aleut, Company, stated that great difficulty was caused in getting the meat distributed by tho multiplicity of marks and marking. He had had a letter, dated July 2b, from London, stating th-qt the meat from the Raraaiga, one of the first boats of the season, dispatched in March, had not then all left the ship The shipowner* maintained that owing to the multiplicity of marks, it was almost impossible at times to deliver tlie meat to the lightful owners. This meant, that instead of going on the market, the moai was going into stoics in Loudon. The drought in England had forced meal on the market, as it was never frozer at Home. Mr Shea remarked thai , growers in New Zealand often wonder ed why their meat was not sold in one i lot. forgetting that all the meat waL graded, and that this entailed turthei ! confusion between the already numer- > ous mark s (Pin Press Association A AVELLINGTON, September 13. Regarding the sensational meat holduji cablegram, a Pressman was inform cd that it was utterly absurd to say that soTor&l hundroil thousand sbeej: and lanih were lying rot (big in a J Christchurch storehouse. AH meal ! was held in freezing works in different parts of the Dominion in goo<J order j Tho statement wan an indication ol -jl ow inaccurate was ihe whole thing * The statement was not in keeping wit! * fact. No doubt the Government hac ■ held up meat in New Zealand only I pending satisfactory arrangements be ing arrived at.