FROZEN MEAT CONFERENCE.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXXV, Issue 12985, 28 January 1910, Page 2

FROZEN MEAT CONFERENCE.

PRESIDENT’S SPEECH CONTINUED. . ' (Per United Press Association.) WELLINGTON, January 27. Mr D. D. -McFarlane, president of- the colonial conference, of the Fanners' Union, continuing his address on the position of the frozen meat trade, said the remedy was for the Conference to discuss as to whether the assistance of a paternal Government should be invoked or whether the blessed principle of co-opr lion and combination was to be applied. C thrr matters requiring consideration were ..nLi points as the rates of insurance, shipping, freights, storage, methods of sale (both in the Dominion and in London), advices to consumers as to prices, the amount of meat in London, and in transit, the methods of discharging from ships in London, and carriage to cold storage. From a small beginning in 1882 the industry was now the second largest in the Dominion, and during that period the system of farming was quite altered. Speaking for Canterbury, he could safely say that the firms are now in better heart than ever before, but if there was a repetition of last year’s prices farmers would have to put their land to other and more profitable uses. Whilst a farnrr could turn bis land to other uses, ho (the chairman) would be very sorry to see the freezing industry displaced from the present high position. A DEVOLUTION. Mr Sheat (North Canterbury Executive of the Farmers’ Union) moved a remit forwarded by the Scargill branch proposing that farmers co-opcrate and a distributing association be formed to bring the producer and the consumer into closer touch. Mr H. Acton-Adams seconded the motion, and said that shippers really did not know who sold their meat at Home. There was an idea of storing meat in New Zealand as suggested by Air Sheat. At Home there was nothing known as to what meat was coming from New Zealand, and probably they did not want to know. The Argentine people, however, knew what stocks were going forward, and fixed their prices accordingly. He favoured the grading of meat in the same way that butter and cheese are graded.

After discussion it was decided to refer the matter to a committee of inquiry set up by the conference. MESSAGE FROM THE PBEMIEB. A long telegram was read from the Premier expressing the Government’s interest and wiliineness to further the interests of the industry. PALMERS’ TRUST SUGGESTED. The remit from the Nelson Farmers' Union that a Now Zealand Farmers’ Trust be formed to check any foreign combination inimical to the farmers’ interests by controTTing a sufficient number of retail outlets in the Home and Continental markets run by New Zealanders, and ensuring to the consumers demanding Now Zealand produce a reliable and regular supply of the genuine article was referred to a committee of inquiry.

CHRISTCHURCH, January 27. A long discussion took place on the remit from the Canterbury A. and P., Association that a committee be appointed with a view to enquiring into the advisableness of forming an organisation for the purpose of protecting the interests of the producers, and that such committee be elected by ballot on the first day of the conference. The remit was carried.