THE WORLD'S MEAT FUTURE 21 



Trade and Empire 



There has been issued recently by Messrs. W. Weddel & Co. 

 a valuable " Memorandum on the Imported Meat Trade 

 (frozen and refrigerated) of the United Kingdom, with Sug- 

 gestions for Fostering Production within the Empire.'" This 

 communication fixes very pointedly upon the extent and 

 dangers of foreign penetration. It goes so far as to 

 state that the powerful group of American operators in 

 the British import trade have secured a stronger position, 

 while their British competitors have become relatively less 

 strong, largely owing to the action of the British Government. 

 The following have been the main factors in producing that 

 result, viz. : — 



(a) Placing a large proportion of the orders for army re^ 



quirements in the hands of these American opera- 

 tors ; 



(b) Commandeering and controlling Australian and New 



Zealand supplies, which formed the backbone of the 

 British traders' business ; 



(c) Permitting South American houses, chiefly American, 



to import considerable quantities of frozen meat for 

 civil use, while preventing New Zealand and Aus- 

 tralian houses from doing the same thing ; and 



(d) (thereby) Destroying the productive and distributing 



organisations of British firms, while building up 

 those of their American competitors. 



In 1913 the world's output of frozen and refrigerated meat 

 was 40 per cent British and 60 per cent foreign. In 1916 it 

 was 31 per cent British and 69 per cent foreign. 



Constructive policy is, of course, necessary for the future, 

 and the memorandum devotes some space to recommenda- 

 tions for avoiding the dangers of foreign penetration in this 

 trade, and making the Empire self-supporting. It asks a ques- 

 tion : " Can Australasia, Canada, and South Africa make up 

 the deficiency from their large but not fully developed stocks ?" 



