THE MIDDLEMAN. A REPLY TO MR. NELSON.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume VI, Issue 259, 18 October 1916, Page 2

THE MIDDLEMAN. A REPLY TO MR. NELSON.

I [TO TH» BDITOB. | I Sir, —-As to who the middlemen are that make considerable profits I ' am afraid I cannot tell Mr. Nelson •beyond the fact that they are a favoured few who in the past had meat consigned to them. As to their ■; profits I think it is not- difficult to phow that they are more than con[siderable. The New Zealand farmer J gets 4jd to 4d per lb. for -wether and ewe mutton respectively and 51d per lb. for lamb. I have befetre nie the advertisement of Tinling and Co., London, dated August, 1916, in “John Bull” headed “Great ! Reduction in Meat Prices”:—New i Zealand mutton by the carcase lid ■ I per lb, hind quarter mutton 1/OJ, I per lb., New- Zealand lamb carcase ! IJ.i per lb-. New Zealand lamb hind quarter 1/2 per lb. The English consumer pays a little more than double the price that the farmer here obtains and this advertisement makes a great point of the great reduction in price, so evidently the price to the consumer had been higher still. According to Mr. Massey the English Government on July 15th sold our ewe mutton at Bfd and our lamb at 9jd to the selected buyers, making a profit of Ifd and l|d respectively. Does Mr. Nelson consider 2gd per lb. a failprofit to the middeman who buys mutton at Bfd and sells to the consumer at a reduced price at lid per lb.—a difference of 2|d per lb. The whole of our lamb is bought bymiddlemen at 91d, the middlemen ■sell to the consumer at lljd so they- make 2d per lb. Surely those in the meat trade arid others cannot be surprised that the New Zealand farmer feels bitter when instead of Urn British Government or the consumer only- benefiting from the seizure of New Zealand’s crop of meat,. ho knows that foj every lamb be fattens some middleman will make a profit equal to a little less than the half of the price the grower receives. I will add that in my judgment the common sense thing to do is for the farmer here to constantly urge our Premier to encl if possible these selected individuals’ large profits, profits which history tells us the urfscrupulous make out of all wars.: —I am, etc., W. VAN ASCH. Hastings, Oct. 18, 1916.