FAT STOCK AUCTIONS

Evening Star, Issue 24918, 16 July 1943, Page 2

FAT STOCK AUCTIONS

POSSIBLE ABOLITION STATE INTERFERED RESENTED " The supply situation makes it imperative that the Government arrange a wholesale price order for meat. ... It would seem that the enforcement of a wholesale price order would necessitate the operation of "some scheme abolishing the auction." The foregoing, extracts from a telegram received in Dunedin from the Government, have caused consternation in meat-pro-duction circles in Otago. Possibly, with the butchers selling over the counter at a fixed price, it is felt that there should be some definite ceiling wholesale price, but if.the Government is aware of the retailers costs it does not possess an intimate knowledge of the farmers' production costs, especially in Otago; and fat stock producers are' more than concerned with the new moves the authorities are making. Further possible interference is resented by them. livery winter there is trouble over the wholesale price of meat as sold at Burnside, and it now appears that the matter is comiug to a head. However, if there is Government control on the wholesale side, it appears inevitable 'that a number of producers, failing the requisite inducement, simply will not produce for the winter markot. The suggestion is made that fat stock will be yarded as in the past, that somo committee will inspect and grade and allocate to the various butchers the quantities and qualities they have been in the habit of selecting. Stock would then be drafted to the abattoirs and debited to the purchaser at so much per lb on the hooks. Not only would this arrangement apply to fat beef, but to' mutton and pork. With the competitive market gone, it seems inevitable that the public will have to be content with a lower grade of meat in winter time, in the south, at all events; for.producers seem quite definite in the view that the returns to them will not compensate for the additional cost of producing winter forage. A meeting of producers and others has been called for Tuesday next, when the whole position will bo thoroughly investigated and ideas and views crytallised into definite proposals to be placed before Government representatives who will arrive in Dunedin on Wednesday next.