DEAR FOOD.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 19 November 1924, Page 5

DEAR FOOD.

OUTCRY IN BRITAIN

HARD WINTER AHEAD

BY CABLE—PRES 3 ASSOCIATTON—COPYRIGHT

LONDON, Nov. 17. ./The Daily Mail says there is an urgent need for a businesslike enquiry into the cost of living, which is 80 per cent above 1914, compared with 75 per cent in 1923. ; - v The price of meat again rose to-day. New Zealand ~ lamb 'bold wholesale at 8s 4d to Bs. lOd, and mutton at 5s 4d to 5s 6d, which is 150 per cent above the pre-war rate. Australian sold at 132 per cent above the same rate, and English beef 50 to 80 per cent above. Wholesalers and retailers deny that they are making excessive nrofits. They assert that all the profits go to the producers and the ; shippers. The Daily Mail demands' an explanation of the mysteriously wide, margin between the producers 5 and the consumers’ prices, and why the retail price has advanced more than the wholesale price. Mr Forsyth, British representative of the New Zealand Meat Producers’ Board, denies that prices are being regulated. This is impossible because the board is not engaged in trading, hut merely decides the quantities leavmg New Zealand to ensure constant supplies. Proof that meat is not being held back' is that the stock in New Ze:u land on October 31 comprised only 1445 carcases of lamb and 52,472 carcases of mutton. - The : traders’ report -is quibbling. The boird report emphasises that the regulating, of supplies is an important factor in stabilising prices. Unless drastic action is taken poor housewives will endure a hard winter. ' NEW ZEALAND MEAT. . . - V LONDON. Nov. 17. Arisipg out of the decision of the Premier (Mr Stanley Baldwin) to investigate the high, cost of living, Home papers are calling attention to the dearness of New Zealand and Australian., meat/ Mr Forsyth (manager of the New Zealand Meat Producers’ Board), in a letter to the Morning Post, asserts that there is no undue discrepancy between the .prices on the hoof in * New Zealand and the_ carcase at Smithfield. He states that in the case of mutton the is 6d on the hoof and 7}d at Smithfield. while the respective figures for lamb are and lid. Retailers added charges of 20 to 25 per cent, which were not abnormally excessive.