MEAT PRICES.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XII, Issue 79, 13 March 1922, Page 6

MEAT PRICES.

THE POSITION IN, BRITAIN.

SOME INTERESTING COMMENT.

Some interesting comments on meat prices and prospects are Contained in a letter received by a Wellington business nftn from a friend in Scotland. “1 have received your letter dated December 14th with a copy of Mr Massey’s letter to the New Zealand Farmers’ Union,” he writes. 4 ‘Mr Massey’s letter is the finest thing I have read for many a day—a noble produc tion. It must have inspired many a wavering mind and brought men hard up to a sense of their duty. “Mr (a Perthshire farmer) has been selling some excellent fat * sheep. The top price he got was 97s per head for a waggon load of 30, and these same sheep killed on an average at 971 b dead weight. That mbans Is per lb dead' weight to the /farmer. He has sold some other lots* less weight, and a sweeter carcass, dead weight, about 601 b, and the price received was 725., that is, Is Id per pound. The price in Kirkcaldy for best homefed mutton is 20d per lb. If you buy one pound of selected mutton chops, the price is 22d per lb. “I have read reports in English .papers of* strong opposition to tho proposal to pool Now Zealand meat, and the Smithfield dealers, as well as the large Distributors, are up against Mr Massey’s scheme. I cannot speak with certainly for one side or the other, but J thought at first and think still that tho proposal to pool will be against the interests of the New Zealand shippers. New Zealand lamb and mutton are far too dear in our retail shops, hut how to got tho price reduced - or how to increase the consumption I cannot suggest. This one point may be mentioned: Since the pool question caip.e up, home fat sheep have improved by 10s per head or more.”