Anglo-Colonial Notes.

Hastings Standard, Issue 433, 23 September 1897, Page 4

Anglo-Colonial Notes.

(Post Correspondent.)

London, August 7. THE DROPPING OF THE PROPOSED MARKS BILL.

The Select Committee of the House of Commons on the Agricultural Produce Marks Bill have delivered themselves of the interim pronouncement : —" Your Committee are of opinion that at this late period of the session it is not possible to complete the evidence which bears upon the Bill referred to them. They consider, therefore, that it is not practicable to proceed further with the same during the present session, and that it be reported to the House without amendment. Your Committee are of opinion that the identification of foreign meat and cheese is desirable, and that there would be no great difficulty in carrying this out in the case of foreign carcases and cheeses. Your Committee are also of opinion that any legislation in the direction of marking meat would be inadequate unless means be taken to distinguish between British of Irish meat on the one hand and (1) that produced in our colonies, and (2) that produced in all other countries and landed here alive to be slaughtered at the port of debarkation, on the other." This is hardly soul-satisfying, but 'tis very much what one expected from the Committee, for during the enquiry its members, including Mr Wingfield Digby, of " cancer and other horrible diseases " notoriety, have never in their examination of witnesses displayed any grasp of their subject or the issues involved. The truth of the matter is that meat-marking cannot be carried out successfully except under conditions which would be unduly harassing to retail traders. If the law were made so that every butcher dealing in imported meat was compelled to signify the fact by a prominent notice-board and be made liable to a thumping penalty for wilful misrepresentation to customers, the needs of the case would, I think, be well met.

CO-OPERATORS BOYCOTTED. The New Zealand co-operative societies will ba keenly interested in the struggle which is now proceeding between the butchers and co-operators. The former object to Collectivism in trade, and are engaged in trying to break up the successful co-operative trading societies which have their head-quarters in Glasgow. Instead of adopting the legitimate methods of trade competition, the butchers are trying that dangerous double-edged weapon, the boycott. Their plan of campaign is simple and drastic. They instruct the cattle salesmen at the markets to decline the co-operators' bids, the loss of their own custom being the penalty of disobedience. The salesmen were loth to adopt such tactics, but they have mostly caved in to the fleshers. The societies then turned to the farmers and bought direct from them, but the Glasgow Fleshers' Trade Protection Association counters them here by threatening to boycott all farmers who do not pledge themselves neither to deal with cooperative stores nor w T ith any of those who deal directly or indirectly with such stores.