GOVERNMENT MEAT SHOPS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVIII, Issue 35, 9 February 1917, Page 7

GOVERNMENT MEAT SHOPS.

}. \ "'.■ ■'. ■ ' (To the Editor.) ■ ' . - ' v-'.Sifs-—H , anything were required to . show-the utter inability of the Govern A ; - Snent. to ,grapple with the high cost "of living it is provided in the Government ;A»eat -shops. I see the Carpenters' ■~ M^ on ."Passed a resolution supporting •?**-. tins.move. I am a member of the Car-..-'penters' Union,.antl .if I had known the matter- was coming' up I wou,ld. have " Tr ; been there to at. least protest against -?: ibis -fiddling with effects instead of get- ? : *J»g ; at the cause. The Board of Trade ;? admitted that... there had been no ex- I A .ploitatioh, and that the small butchers ? v '. e 9* t Sd scarcely make a iiving. Then, why "■:' .take, away their living for the sake of ? .'jAAxing. a few pence for ait best about # one-tenth of the people, of the city, it • would require at least a dozen 6hops in the suburbs.to reach the whole of the j -'" people, and even then it would not be ";•?' thing to take over one man's shop, '---give him a fat billet as manager, and ruiri the other man a few yards up the "-.: street. If-these ventures don't pay, tiie -whole of-the people are taxed for the • , benefit of vue few-.'in the vicinity of the - * Shops, and at the present price of. stock *.- it is doubtful if meat can be sold cheaper •than it-is. Obviously the proper course is to take .drastic measures to reduce the ■price of stock for local consumption. If the State really mean to run the -food :.A, shops, then they should take over the lot, and deliver the goods as letters are ;•■-, instead of having Half a dozen r■ 1' carts chasing each other up the Bame . -.. street- Unless this, is done the State ..•—n do no -better than the private inAdividuaL Indeed, very often it has been ... proved that a manager whose interest A is direct is better than the man whogets ■ his salary anyhow. One thing is certain, --"•and; that is, that while the intentions c are good the methods adopted in this . .. oise aire practically useless. I know of ...... one lady -who paid a ttvopenny tram fare A- both ways and got her joint, out -while \ ■ she was there she thought she would get A ". a; big one, and about half of it went 'bad before she could use it, which goes to '"_prove that the. suburbs can get little or •' no benefit. But if the shops bring down the price of stock, then it must be adj... mitted that they will have done some . A good.—l am, etc., WORKER. A?-/ . (To the Editor.) "', Sir—"Worker" says that my conten- , tion that the high price' of meat 13 due - 'to the demand being greater than the enpply is "all rot," and that my contention does not represent the feeling of ._e public. I understand that the | '{Workers now-have an educational in6tis j tute set up with a view to imparting I A. sound-, economic knowledge to the -"., workers. It is a pity that they do not ;.:'- -- get some one to enlighten them regarding the inexorahleness of the law of supply and demand, and its effect ou ■prices; so that they would realise that . it is impossible .for prices to rise abovethe normal, when and where .the supply r 'Jj_ e, fUal to, or in excess of the demand. A""" Then they would realise that what I have stated is an incontrovertible truth, - :/.'"- ue h in the nature of things cannot be -. altered by any means whatever. Unfortunately the mass of mankind are prone to believe only that which they, want to believe, and too often, the bigger the lie the more easily it can be *-■;-*. rammed down their throats, by an' ~ A]|? < - , "* a ""'t, 'but fluent speaker or writer. Worker" asks, "What of the thousands! of tons meat exported every year?" : fc+ ea^B ' " evia now the freezing space * ~- ed *o its utmost with beef waiting ■ ■**o..be exported." "Worker" quite over;- -- looks the fact that all the meat annually 1 A--- exported from this Dominion can be con- 1 >.--: sumed in London in a few months, and ■'-;* y * now -y in S in the over-! *''*'* «?* freezing chambers here, for "/ nt of transports, will be, :i ; eaten i n a f ew we eks by' *• ; rwr soldiers at the front, when we can.

A?T A "

get it-to'-them: -And-it should be remembered that meat cannot' be produced at the will of butchens Or of the Government, .-i It requires three, to four .years to grow a bullock nt for beef, and several years to produce a fat sheep. And hence, even as Arctic explorers Aday. by day exercise the most-rigid economy-in regard to the food they consume, although their sledges may be well loaded, "so should every true patriot, while the war is. on, exercise the most rigid economy in the' consumption '; of meat, at least until the price. falls, whiph.it is not likely to do until some time after .the war is overT "Charity begins .at home," they will say, but is that being patriotic? Is it right for all "who desire it, in thie Dominion, to have meat two or'three times a day, while there are millions of people "in other parts of the Empire who never taste meat from one year's end to the other, and others who are prepared to pay top i price : for all they do consume? Does not the fairest way seem to he to allow producers to send v their goods wherever they yean get the best price, and let those who are "prepared to pay the highest price get - the goods'? If by this plan there are some who "make great profits, then I say let those -people who make a profit by the war pay the expenses of the war, and if they cannot be made to disgorge all their .profits -while theyj-Jive, let the Government take the best part of the property they leave at their death, until the expenses of the war and other public debts have been wiped out.—l am; etc., C. P. W. LONGDILL.