MEA T EXPORT TRA DE. 2 1 i 



profit lie must make. Again, tlic way commission is paid to Ralcsmon 

 must militate against the exporter obtaining the liighest ])nft' avail- 

 abl", for salesmen are not paid connnission on values realised hut are 

 paid on the weight of meat sold irrespective of value. Jt is of no con- 

 sequence to them whether the meat fetches 2d. or W\., thcv get tlieir 

 commission just the same. 



We are apt to lay a great deal of stress on English prejudice ; hut 

 if there be prejudice, it is better that it should be res])ected, and that 

 endeavours should be made to remove it. This has not been tlu- course 

 pursued ; but on the conti^ary, quantities of unsuitable and inferior meat 

 is exported both from New Zealand and Australia. It has bei-n well 

 said that " It is only by carefully catering to the tastes and by respect- 

 ing even the prejudices of foreign consumers that the export trade can 

 be built uj-)." 



Reduction of Cost of Production. 



Since the establishment of meat export companies by sheepowuer.*;, 

 the consolidated charges for putting meat on the Home market have 

 been reduced from 10 to 25 per cent. That means a reduction of al>out 

 ^d. a lb., which, on a SG-lb. sheep, amounts to no less than 2s. 4d. When 

 it is remembered that Id. a Ih. net return is more than the avei-ago 

 received by growers, it will be seen that a reduction of ^d. a lb. in the 

 charges means an advance of 50 per cent, in the net return to the 

 grazier. The reduced charges enable Australian meat to be now sold 

 in England at 2|d. a lb., and still yield a moderate profit, and this 

 figure is sufficiently low to displace the other foods such as currant.s, 

 edible tallow, and hog products if a supply of good meat can be main- 

 tained. The cost of production must be brought to the lowest possible 

 point, and as we cannot grow our meat for any less, it follows that we 

 have been moving in the right direction by endeavouring to reduce 

 the factory charges, freight, and other costs. It is in reduction of cf>st . 

 rather than in the advance of values that the efforts of Australian 

 graziers must be directed. In this connection, it may be mentioned 

 that during the month of January, 1894, the United Kingdom took 

 from the United States no less than 35,200,000 lb. of bacon, equal to 

 700,000 50-lb. sheep. Bacon is worth in England wholesale about 

 b^d. a lb. Now, here is a food which should easily be displaced by 

 good mutton. Before frozen sheep were put on the Home market, 

 hog products were the cheapest meats going into consum]>tion, but 

 frozen meats have been sold at such a low price as already to displace 

 large quantities of this food, a fact which is admitted by the Secretary 

 for Agriculture for the United States. 



Irregularitij (f Supj'^les. 

 Nothing so much retards the expansion of the demand for Australian 

 meat as the irregularity of shipment. It is almost always a case of 

 either a glut or a famine. Sometimes two months elapse without an 

 arrival in England of frozen meat, and then two or three immense 

 cargoes arrive together. One week the market is in short suj^plv, the 

 next it is over-stocked. And this is not altogether due to the inter- 

 raittance in available freight, but to a great extent to the irregularity 

 of the supply of tonnage. AVith seventy-six vessels in the Australian 



