BRITISH MEAT RATIONING

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27010, 9 April 1953, Page 6

BRITISH MEAT RATIONING

CONTROL MAY END THIS YEAR POSSIBLE ANNOUNCEMENT IN BUDGET (Special Correspondent N.Z.P.A.) LONDON, April 7. The possibility that the end of rationing of meat and sugar may be in sight is being discussed. The “Daily Mirror” reports that butchers believe that the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr R. A. Butler) in his Budget on April 14, may reveal the Government’s first clear move towards the derationing of meat later in the year. They expect him to reduce or abolish altogether the meat subsidy, which now totals more than £25,000,000 a year. The “Daily Mirror” continues: “Derationing will then be made possible because meat will go up in price. Many people will be forced to buy less, and there will thus be no shortage for those who can afford it.”

“To cut the subsidy out altogether would mean a general increase of at least 4d per lb in the retail price of meat. The trade thinks that this* increase—with a further possible rise due to the high prices agreed to be paid for Argentine meat—might close the present gap between the demand and supply, which is the great obstacle to derationing. The gap is already fairly small. “This year’s supplies, the best since the war, are expected to be 1,800,000 tons, compared with 2,000,000 tons before the war. A small shrinking of the demand could bridge the gap. This is what the price rise is likely to achieve. “Even now butchers know that some customers cannot afford their full ration. At the higher price these customers would buy less. “The cutting or abolition of the subsidy would inevitably lead to an outcry from the Labour Opposition. The move would be condemned at once as ‘rationing by price.’ Butchers looking ahead to decontrol forecast that while first quality meat might be dearer, other grades would be cheaper.” Improved Sugar Supplies

It is believed by Mr lan Lyle, head of the major British sugar refining company, that sugar will be taken off the ration very early in 1954 “at the worst.” Mr Lyle told a convention of soft drink manufacturers that he based his hope on the improved sugar crops, especially in South Africa and Australia. He said that an extra 500,000 tons of sugar a year would be needed to end sugar rationing. The current British consumption is about 2,000,000 tons a year.