The Wanganui Chronicle. " Nulla Dies Sine Linea." SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1913. IMPROVEMENT NEEDED.

Wanganui Chronicle, Issue 12857, 1 February 1913, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle. " Nulla Dies Sine Linea." SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1913. IMPROVEMENT NEEDED.

Tho fact that there is a deadlock threatened at this end of the frozen meat trade should not slacken interest in the need for improvement at the other end- The trouble there, as has been pointed out by Mr Lysnar and other interested and careful observers, is m the unsatisfactory handling methods pursued in the handling of the meat at the Port of London. The matter is ono in which the farmers are particularly interested. To them, more than to any other section of the community, it means money. Its importance to the community generally will be realised when it is stated that the value of the frozen meat shipped from New Zealand now amounts to nearly .four million •pounds sterling, of which huge sum by far tho greater amount is drawn from tho United Kwigdom for shipments made direct to London. This frozen meat trade is barely thirty years old, less than 2,000,0001b. having been shipped in 1882, as compared with nearly 300,000,0001b annually during recent years. In this comparatively short time the trade has attained to second place in the export tables of New Zealand produce, wool holding the first place and dairy products Uio third. The frozen meat money comprises nearly I £600,000 for beef, nearly £2,000,00© for lamb, and considerably over £1,000,----for mutton. Valuable as tho trade now is, its profit earning capacity is capable of being increased by improving the conditions under which the meat is landed and distributed in the Mother Country. 'Mr Lysnar seems to think that any hope of improvement so far as the Port. of London is concerned is out of tho question. Hits advice is to transfer the whole of our trade to some other more convenient and betterappointed port, such as Bristol. Tha special advantage of Bristol appears to bo that it not only posesses a thoroughly modern port at Avonmouth, but is so situated that the Smithfield market can be -supplied therefrom as cheaply; and much more satisfactorily than from tho Thames itself. Bristol is

fighting hard to regain its old commercial importance, is offering every possible .assistance to importers, antl is ready to make special arangements <o that New Zealand meat can be handled satisfactorily and conveyed to London unbruiscd and untsoiled. Some change is undoubtedly necessary, for" it has been estimated that the New 'Zealand producers are losing not less than a halfpenny per pound owing to the extraordinary inferiority of tho London methods. As the "New Zealand Herald" points out, the proposal to reach Smithfield by another port than the Port 6F London is' not a rash one, for it .involves no experiment. Canadian meat enters by way of Liverpool and is "forwarded to Smithfield by special trains, arriving in better shape and at. less cost for transport than if it had been shipped to London direct. ' Every_ halfpenny .'per pound increase in the price obtained for New Zealand meat in the United- Kingdom means a,gain of several hundred thousand pounds sterling to our farmers.