MEAT PRICE ORDER

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25303, 1 October 1947, Page 6

MEAT PRICE ORDER

BUTCHERS DISAPPOINTED “I feel that traders will be disappointed in the new price order. It seems that increased costs, .including wages, have not been taken into account, and I trust our submissions to the Price Tribunal will be further considered,” said the president of the Canterbury Master Butchers’ Association (Mr E. R. Blanchard) to a representative of “The Press” yesterday. The price order is published in the commercial columns of “The Press” this morning. “In the absence of full details, I can only assume that the new order covers the loss of the subsidy and the increase in the meat export schedule,” said Mr Blanchard. “I anticipate an early meeting of the vjhole trade, at which the new schedule will be thoroughly discussed.” f Before the schedule was issued, butchers were reluctant to handle pork and veal, Mr Blanchard said, and the new price order did not encourage them to sell those lines. The increases in veal prices w r ere very small and not what was expected. Only two items in that category had gained a rise of Id, and before butchers were getting a subsidy of about IJd per lb. on the carcase.

From August till the end of November was a difficult period for the trade and the new schedule did not compensate for the high prices butchers were forced to pay at present, Mr Blanchard concluded.