NEW DEVELOPMENT

Evening Star, Issue 25994, 8 January 1947, Page 5

NEW DEVELOPMENT

SYDNEY'S MEAT STRIKE PROSECUTION OF BUTCHERS EXCESSIVE PRICES LEAD TO BLACK MARKETING (Rec. 11.35 a.m.) SYDNEY, Jan. 8. About 400 meat retailers are at present listed for prosecution in a drive against excessive prices in the industry, according to the Commonwealth Prices Commissioner, Mr M. E. McCarthy. This action, he said, was the result of the extension to the retail trade of a drive which had been carried out with increasing vigour in the last few months against the wholesale butchers. Yesterday only about 50 of Sydney’s 1,250 butchers’ shops remained open. Mr McCarthy blamed the butchers themselves for the high carcase prices, which have led to the strike. The pace had been set, he said, by certain wholesalers, who had been selling on the black market to retailers, who, in turn, had been over-charging the public. These operators had pushed up the prices of livestock to the disadvantage of the honest trader. NEWCASTLE UNIONS’ DEMANDS. The Newcastle unions are preparing to take strong action if the Government does not act to end the meat famine. They oppose any rise in meat prices and demand a fixed price for meat on the hoof.