"A Retrograde Step" Criticism Of Meat Board Proposal To Enter The London Meat Trade

Wanganui Chronicle, 21 November 1950, Page 6

"A Retrograde Step"

Criticism Of Meat Board Proposal To Enter The London Meat Trade

Former Dairy Board Chairman Sees Danger Ahead

WELLINGTON, Last Night (PA).—The New Zealand Meat Board's proposal to enter the London meat trade is viewed with alarm by Mr. W. A. lorns, who for eight years was chairman of the New Zealand Dairy Board. Mr. lorns said in an interview today that as a member of the Dairy Board, he had made many trips to England to boost New Zealand produce. He felt he had thus gained an insight into the London meat trade.

The Meat Board’s plans to enter the trade in partnership with five New Zealand freezing companies was a retrograde step.

The Meat Board, it started, had inspired the British meat trade with confidence, as the trade knew that New Zealand meat was always absolutely up to grade. Before the board had come into operation, many importers displayed their meat at Smithfield to allow importers to inspect the quality of their offerings. Because of the confidence in New Zealand grading, much of this haa been done away with, thus lessening the handling costs of New Zealand meat. Mr loans said he would be sorry to see the board go into the trade, as he had had a very bitter experience when Ihe Dairy Board tried to prevent distributing in London by dairy whc>:_salers. and even now, many dairy traders looKed on the Dairy Board’s actions as Government dictation. One firm wn’.«h handled between 300,000 and 400,000 New Zealand lambs a year was so antagonised by the Dairy Board action that, for some years, it cut down greatly on the amount of New Zealand dairy produce it handled. Retaliation of this type could happen if the Meat Board proposals were carried out.

George Towers, Ltd., the firm the Meat Board planned to buy out, had been operating for 30 years as a subsidiary of the New Zealand Refrigerating Co., Ltd., yet it had been unable to distribute the Refrigerating Co. » whole output.

Mr lorns said that Mr G. H. Grigg, chairman of the Meat Board, was not quite consistent when he said that the board’s new venture would help to eliminate the large firms which handled 70 per cent, of New Zealand’s exported meat because the board had just given permission to one of the largest exporting firms to increase its exports by 100 per cent. Mr Grigg had been asked at a meeting of rhe Electoral College of the Meat Board if the board's proposed business would not be short of beef. He had replied that the company would have to build one or more cool stores. Mr lorns said that for the last cool store built in London, £240,000 had been paid for the site alone. '*[ am afraid that with the buying of beef from other countries the building of cool stores and reckless expenditure by the meat board the £30,000,000 meat pool will be seriously depleted,” said Mr lorns. He new saw, he added, why the former Minister of Marketing (Mr Nash) had stipulated that the meat pool money could be spent only with the agreement of the Government and he hoped it would seriously consider the board’s venture before it gave its blessing. He was sorry Mr Grigg ha£ not taken the farmers into his confidence, as many of them knew nothing of the venture until the details were published this month. The meat producers would not have favoured it had they bad an opportunity to discuss it. He regretted that the old catch cry that New Zealand should have its own selling floor still emanated from talkative farmers. They would be better employed straightening up their farms and concentrating on production.