MEAT PRICES DOWN

Auckland Star, Volume LI, Issue 122, 22 May 1920, Page 7

MEAT PRICES DOWN

FROM MONDAY.

MUTTON ONLY EXCEPTION.

TWOPENCE REDUCTION ON PORK.

The thrifty housekeeper will welcome the news that from Monday next her meat account will not ne quite so hard to meet as formerly, the reason being a reduction in the retail prices of meat and pork as from that day. This decision, agreed upon by the Auckland Master Butchers' Association, will introduce the first decline in the price of beef and pork for some years. In the case of the former the' reduction will average from a halfpenny to a i penny per lb, and in the latter twopence in every instance. Mutton prices will remain unchanged. The change is attributed to the recent ceclmo on the wholesale market, brought about chiefly through a good deal of fat stock, particularly beef, finding its way into the yards through the freezers being full, and graziers, without turnip crops on which to finish off their stock, finding it necessary to dispose of their stock. The freezing works of the Auckland Farmers' Freezing Company have been closed down for several weeks, the Southdown works since May 4, and the Horotiu since May 11. .The company Intend re-opening the former on the 25th inst., and the latter on June 7.

Practically the same conditions apply at the Westfield Freezing Co.'s works, a small quantity only being dealt with for preserving purposes. It is therefore quite evident that the proposed changes in the retail prices have to a very large extent been brought about through the inability of the freezing companies to deal with the stock offering. The present prices of beef and mutton were fixed by the Board of Trade a year or two ago, in accordance with the prices paid for export. The proposed reduction in the price of pork will bring the rates down to about the level of those prevailing before last year's increase.