THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. SATURDAY, JULY 3, 1915. THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXV, Issue 10713, 3 July 1915, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. SATURDAY, JULY 3, 1915. THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE.

Suggestions were made in the House of Commons a few weeks back that the rise in the price of frozen meat had been to a large extent due to the operations of a commercial ring in Australia and New Zealand. The High Commissioner for New Zealand (Hon. T. Mackenzie) found it neces--sary to write to the Home papers, pointing out the fallacy of this suggestion. Australia and New Zealand, he pointed out, had responded to the needs of the Empire with magnificent patriotism, and the sole concern of the people had been to enable the Government to use its resources to the fullest extent. It is as necessary, in the interests of New Zealand consumers, as in those of the consumers of the Old' Country, that the position in regard to the frozen meat trade" should be explicitly stated. As the High Commissioner well says, it is easy for the unsophisticated to jump to the conclusion that the market has been manipulated and prices deliberately inflated, hut a little investigation shows that this is not the case. • The increased cost has been a perfectly natural outcome of the abnormal conditions created by the war, and has certainly not been out of proportion to the rise in the price of foodstuffs generally. One of the chief causes of the dearer meat in England has been thp increa.se in shipping

freights consequent upon tho Government having taken over for transport purposes several vessels usually engaged in the trade. There was also a scarcity of labour at the London dock> for unloading the ships. The demand for frozen meat has been exceptionally Heavy since the outbreak of the war, owing to the requirements of the troops. Then a large consignment was purchased by the French Government for military purposes, and something like a quarter of a million carcases were lost in tho destruction of the four ships which were either torpedoed or struck mines. All of these factors have contributed to diminishing the supply for the British market. The High Commissioner re-m-v'ks that "The Government has done a great stroke of business in the interests of the consumer by eliminating any chance of speculation by middlemen." Tljis appears to be the crux of the whole question. In every community there .are to be found mercenary individuals who strive to ga ; n advantages from the misfortunes of others. Tho British Government has shown that, both in regard to foodstuffs and munitions of war, it is determined to prevent huge profits being made at the expense of the general community. The example it has set might well be followed by the overseas dominions. The pressure of the war is every month becoming more acute. Tho struggle, for individual as well as national existence threatens to be desperate. Every loyal British subject, every patriotic citizen, every man possessing the instincts of humanity will strive during the coming months to render assistance to those who are in distress, whether they be wounded soldiers or sufferms: families. Our Empire has illimitable -.resources, and these must be employed to bring to a successful issue tho life-and-death struggle in which we are engaged.