CHARGES ON FROZEN MEAT

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 84, Issue 68, 21 March 1940, Page 6

CHARGES ON FROZEN MEAT

WANGANUI FARMERS DEMAND SAME COSTS AS THOSE IMPOSED LAST SEASON ASKED FOR CURRENT CHARGES ALONG THIS COAST SAID TO BE UNDULY HIGH

More than 100 farmers attended! a meeting in Wanganui yesterday] and carried a resolution demand- • ing that freezing charges at the Imlay Works, Wanganui, on meat for export, be based, as from the ( beginning of this season, on the actual f.o.u. costs of the company : in the 1938-39 season, as submit ;*!. to the New Zealand Meat Produc-p ers’ Board. A committee was set |< up to see the terms of the motion |< carried into effect. Mr. T. A.d Duncan, chairman of the Meat Producers’ Board, who attended ]< and traced the negotiations be- ( tween the board and the com- J panics with regard to costs, said t that the companies had been found -J to be a very close corporation, j •‘Nothing but public sentiment { will shift them, so far as 1 can p see,” he said. Mr. T. Currie, provincial president i of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union, | Wanganui, was in the chair. The provincial secretary of the Union in Wanganui, Mr. A. R. Donaldson, read a report covering the negotiations which had taken place between a committee set up at a meeting of farmers held in January, and leading to the announcement on Monday last by Mr. W. S. Glenn, a director of the New Zealand Refrigerating Company, that the company had decided not to make the railage charges to the nearest f.o.b. port (New Plymouth or Wellington) on meat shipped at Wanganui, and to maze the ; effect of that decision retrospective. No representative of the company spoke at the meeting and when the question was asked as to whether a representative was present, the chairman said that he could not see anybody. This Coast Affected. Mr. Duncan, explaining what had t been done by the Meat Board since the last meeting in Wanganui, said that representative’s of the freezing companies had been met in Wellington, when the whole question of costs was gone into. There were representatives of nearly all the smaller companies and some of the larger ones present. Freezing costs in the South Island, it was found, had been om’y slightly altered, but there was no alteration in Hawke’s Bay. On the whole of this coast, however, including the Wairarapa, and country right up to Waitara. the costs had increased from .85d on lamb to something like .97d. at the beginning of this season, and were now .96d. "Wanganui is only a small cprner o r that district,’’ Mr. Duncan said, but it is an important corner. If the matter can be settled here it may not be necessary for my board to go any further, but if it is not settled a meeting may have to be called for all the interests represented from Wairarapa to Waitara. I hope 'hat the influences at this meeting wih bring the freezing companies to a more reasonable frame of mind and that the whole difficulty will be settled. ’ Mr. D. Sutherland <Fordell), a member of the committee set up to negotiate with the companies on behalf of Wanganui farmers, moved:— "That this public meeting of farmers of the Wanganui district demands that freezing charges at the Imlay Works, from the beginning of this season’s operations, be based on the actual f.o.b. costs of the company's 1938-39 season, as submitted to the New Zealand Meat Producers’ Board—.Bsd on lamb, ,"25d on mutton and .75d for beef (frozen quarters)—producers to pay the cost of delivery to the works, and the amount overpaid by producers this season be refunded.” Mr. Sutherland said that the motion | went further than the offer of the J company not to make the rail charges I to the nearest f.o.b. port and went right back to a demand for the | charges of last season, which were the basis of the agreement as the farmers understood it. Seconding the motion. Mr. Alex. McNab, another member of the committee, quoted figures, showing that, up to March 4 last, it costs 4s 4d to place a mutton carcase of 561 b. free on board at Wanganui. On the fourth of this month the company agreed not to charge Vie railage to the nearest f.o.b. port (Wellington or New Plymouth), but put 9ld a carcase on for lighterage at Wanganui. The effect of that was to reduce the <ost of placing a 561 b. mutton carcase free on board at Wanganui :rom *ls

14d to 3s Bid. In Hawke’s Bay the. charge for a 56ib. carcase, tree on J board at Napier, was 2s lid, a differ- ; ence of sid, or 16 per cent. He added that the charges for lamb were in proportion to the mutton, 3s 2d in Wanganui free on board as against 2s 6d in Hawke’s Bay. Cost of Lighterage. I Mr. McNab quoted •showing the cost ot lighterage at Watroa, as icompared with Imlay. At Wairoa the I charge was .129 d per lb, on lamb and ■at Imlay .224 d per lb. At Wairoa they 'killed about 160,000 carcases, comparicd with about 450,000 at Imlay. The i company at Imlay, he said, owned ana I operated the lightering plant and tne cnarge for lightering Latter and cheese at Wanganui was, the same as that at Napier, 12s bo. "Yet it costs 42s a hundred to lighter meat at Wanganui as against 24s 2d at Napier ” ne said. ‘As a committee we agreed that reasonable lighterage charges •should be allowed.” ! Mr. W. Peat (Wanganui) upheld the ; resolution. "The freezing companies . agreed to adhere to last year’s I charges,” he said. "Why they have ■ not done that I don’t know.” Mr. A. P. Melville (Fordell) asked whether pork was included in the intended alteration to charges. Mr. Duncan: All classes of meat are going through the works. Mr. R. O. Montgomerie (Kakatahi) said that investigation of this matter brought the farmer face to face with the costs which he has been paying all along without knowing it. Apparently the freezing companies couid charge what they like, and allow the farmer some small residue and he was ' satisfied. This was a matter which needed close watching. Mr. A. Stuart (Marton) asked whether there was a representative of the New Zealand Refrigerating Company present. Mr. Currie: I do not see anybody here. Napier Charges. i Mr. Stuart said he was sorry about that, because he would have,liked to ask a question as to what caused the company to so increase the costs on this coast. He assumed that the waterside workers in Wanganui did as much as the workers in Napier and it was reasonable to ask then why the cost of lighterage here was higher than in Napier. Mr. W. J. B. Tripe (Fordeli): Is the excessive cost on meat at Wanganui because of the lighterage or because of the charge at the works? Mr. McNab: The company puts it down to the lighterage, but that does not cut much ice with the committee, because the lighterage on butter and cheese is tty? same as at Napier. Why should the meat be so much- higher at Wanganui? Replying to Mr. Duncan, Mr. McNab said that the charges on butter and cheese over the past ten years had gone up something like 30 per cent., but on meat they had risen 150 per cent. Mr. McNab said that the costs should be the same as those ruling on September 30 last, and there was no authority for any increase. Mr. Duncan: Doesn’t the Harbour Board at Wanganui control the lighterage? Mr. McNab: The plant is owned and operated by the works. Very Little Refund. ■ Mr. P. A. O’Neill (Wanganui) said ■ that the effect of the company taking ' off the railage charge to the nearest f.o.b. port would not mean anything ' to him in the way of a retrospective i refund. The company had taken it ■off the rail freight and put it on Lo ' the lighterage, which brought it to one and the same thing. He said that Ihe could not understand how the ' Imlay Company had been led into the I making of these charges because to ! have not made them would have j placed them at a great advantage i over other works. What had been I done was to the disadvantage of the i Wanganui district producers. He I I added that there might be a small | refund on mutton, but it would be ■ ivery small. "There is no reason at ! all why the freezing costs should not ' have gone on the same as ’ast year,” Mr. O’Neill said. "This company • would have the advantage of two ’ others (named by the speaker).” Mr. Sutherland’s motion was car- ‘ ried unanimously. The following com- : mittee was set up:—Messrs. T. Currie - (chairman), J. Kennedy, A. Stuart, A. McNab. P. A. O’Neill, L. Hammond, ’ W. Peat, O. Hawkins, R. Campion, H. G. Birch and W. Matthews. The resolution is to be sent to the - .Minister of Marketing (Mr. Nash), - i the Meat Controller, the Meat Pro- - ! ducers’ Board and to freezing com- = ! panies and exporters.