THE PRICE OF MEAT.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 203, 1 October 1914, Page 6

THE PRICE OF MEAT.

ANOTHER RECORD AT ADDINGTON. HOUSEHOLDERS MUST PAY MORE. [By the Agricultural Editor of THE SUN.] "In all the years I have been in business in Christchurch} ''said one of -the.; oldest leading butchers of the city to the writer at Addington ■have never rseen meat sell- at these .fig- .1 ures. I .have known fat sheep to rise 6/-; per head in a day, but it has never < gone to these figures before." '' When my client gets the account sales for these he will take a fit; he never expected this,'' remarked an auctioneer as he knocked down half a race full of medium quality fat ewes in the vicinity of 30/- per head, much oyer 5d per lb. "God help the butcher and the public," he added. Anyone who states that the opening of the freezing works recently in order to send meat Home to the Motherland was a mistake would run the risk of being called unpatriotic, v Not that the Exporters wereobsessed with any excess of patriotic "fervour or a desire to do all possible in the interests of the Empire by sending home food supplies. With them it was purely a matter of £ s. d. Viewed in the light of recent events it would seem that the local consumer will have to pay through the nose for his meat in the next 1 couple of months in' consequence. To- the householder this is important. The bread bill of the average household is 'usually less than half the meat,bill. A penny per lb upon meat is of very much more importance than a similar amount upon the price.of bread. , Skimming the Country. . When the war broke out meat on the London market went to panicky prices despite large stocks at home. Though the freezing works had not been,slaughtering stock for weeks the management was presesd into reopening so that exporters would be able to take advantage of the enhanced prices the: Lon : don market offered. When the* works] closed at the ordinary time experts agreed that there was about sufficient fat stock available for normal requirements throughout the slack season. The; opening of the works was not bargained for. It was expected that prices would rule high in any case, but the operations of "exporters have, driven values of meat to record prices, and they cleaned out the countryside of meat. Yesterday at the Metropolitan Yards fat stock went to inordinately high rates. Probably higher than ever before. Butchers competed for supplies like a starved crowd at a soup kitchen. Mutton sold at from ;*>£d to 6-1 d per lb, beef at 4 5/- per 1001b. These figures mean dear meat to the consumer unless the butchers choose to be philanthropists. And if your butcher poses as a philanthropist 'ask him '' Why?'' A Shortage of Feed. The situation so far as Canterbury is concerned is that the prolonged spell of dry. weather has left the farmers remarkably short of feed and it may bo assumed that this is general throughout the Dominion. The dry weather will have the effect of keeping stock back from the-market that in an ordinary year would coine to relieve the natural shortage in October and November. The price of beef all over the Dominion has been remarkably high of late, due in a large measure to the heavy export and the effect of the dairying industry. Then fair quantities of cattle have been frozen of late which has further accentuated the position. The London demand for beef is bound 1o continue, if not to strengthen, so that, dear beef may be expected as long as the war lasts. Poorer Quality. The'exeesslve prices have brought to the local market cattle that would not have been allowed to-be sold as "fats" a year or two ago, and, as butchers had to" kill, necessity compelled them to slaughter cattle that they would not have thought of -purchasing at any o-lhen -seawou of'the year. During .the -spring North Island farmers usually send dowji big supplies of beef of very •high qua lit}' to. Addington, but this year the number.from'thi»-quarter foil very doy. Each year, in fact, lias .a falling off aiid -apparently -it will -con-, tiuue. Store cattle suited to beef production are becoming very scarce, due in a large- measure to the, use of the Jersey and other light breeds of cattle in the dairying industry, and consequently the non-rearing of the male .animals. , ;\ ■ What has contributed toiiie shortage of mutton*, as much as the lieavj r export was the phenomenal price paid for the store ewes in the autumn. Sheep that in, the ordinary course of events would .have been fattened up were bred from, again. A Butcher's Story. "1 didn't buy many sheep yesterday but everyone 1 got cost me 6M per lb, so we cannot keep going long on that I basis with our prices to the consumer as they are," said a leading butcher this morning when asked for his views upon the present state of the market. "None of us can afford to keep open with meat at the price we are charging. When 1 get the meat 1 bought yesterday in from the abattoirs I will have it weighed *up and will have to charge customers accordingly. On the rates ruling for sheep yesterday we should charge Sd per lb for chops, 7d for legs, 0d for shoulders, and ."id for forequarters. The war has affected the market for by-products considerably. Skins are weaker and tallow is very slack. Tiiis makes a considerable difference to us. Meat certainly miist go up." Freezing Works Reticent. It is difficult to ascertain the. number of sheep frozen when the works were open lately, but one "man with his finger upon the.pulse of the local market estimates it at from twenty twenty-five thousand^— a consideration at this time of year.' The freezing works officials are naturally reticent upon the subject. The; question is one that is essentially within the scope of the Price of Food Commission, and they have their clients' interests to protect. As yet the meat purchased will hardly have left the freezing chamber or the major portion of it will still.be within our, shores, and the memory of drastic action in regard to ihe price of wheat; and flour must' still be quite fresh in the memory of all who have a 'tendency" to speculate in the food: It is a short step":from bread to meat. ,