ENGLAND'S MEAT TRADE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXXIII, Issue 15922, 7 May 1912, Page 11

ENGLAND'S MEAT TRADE.

. ;,-, ;j ■;■■ .- / . ■■ ;,.-•■ , ("Buenos Ayres Herald.") • - Now that England'relies upon foreign countries for its .meat supplies, the Brijiisi: agriculturists are at, last rocogfcKing the wisdom of stamping out tuberculosis from their herds .and appealing to the Government to lend them aid in this direction. In the past, however, the Government has persistently declined to agree to the principle of compensation, and so it is not at all likely that anything will be done now by way of compensating agriculturists for the losses'they may sustain by weeding out the tuberculosis beasts from the herds. The proportion of diseased animals in the herds in this country is very high. Even the prize .beasts are not and it is related how once the late Queen Victoria' seoured a first . prize for a royal beast- at the. annual Smithfield Show, and that, when cut up for the butchers, it was found to be eaten up ■ with tuberculosis. No news of these was made public. \ The fact that there is suoh an amount of disease in the English, cattle is indicated by the persistency which the different medical . officers of health advocate the establishment of public abattoirs where all meat can be inspected. The City Corporation has just opened another slaughterhouse at the Islington cattle market, but throughput the metropolis the butchers still retain their private slaughterhouses. In most cases, however, these places 'are not used, their object now being merely to let the public think -that the'meat is "killed in our own slaughterhouses," as used to be the invariable practice many years ago before chilled and frozen meat was thought of. In the country districts, of course/ much English,meat is still sold, but in the great City of London, comprising:, with the outer suburbs, a population of nearly seven millions, very little Home meat is consumed. , London, therefore, may be declared to rely,'-upon Argentina for Jts ; rood. The extent- of i. the trade is indicated by the-fact that the City Corporation has just let a,site by the market to the Port of London Authority for a new'cold store. ■•-; This will accommodate 84,000 carcases, and is in addition to the huge storage accommodation in-the vicinity of the *«*»■;,« is interesting to mention that when the meat market was built at Smithfield some fifty years ago cold storage was unknown,- with the result, that beneath the marketii was constructed an undereround station .bo that the meat could be brought nsht into the market by the railways Now, of : course,-that underground station is al- ' most ■'a--white elephant and if it did not exist the Corporation would be able to use that valuable area for cold storage accpmmodation. In connection ■with the 'new-cold store about to bo built it is of interest to state that the. land' for the. site has actually been created by the Corporation, which has built over a disused railway cutting. This work cost £20,000 but. a* the ground rent to be charged is £2OOO per annum!, it will be seen that the expenditure will yield a good return. The city makes a great deal of profit out of the meat trade. Every year it gets n profit of £40.000 from Smithfield, chough/since the embargo on-live cattie from Argentine has been enforced It has, been losing on the Deptford market.,, , ■-■■ ■ All the butchers here agree that the. price of' meat is goine up this ycnr. If other countries decide to admit foreign, meat the, demand 'will be greater ifxoiirse ahd'i with an increased;-'de-mand j-more. : money may be.demanded In these circumstances they hail with : delight' the hews, just cabled over,, of a possible development of the trade in | Brazil! But whether this scheme will mature remains to be seen. Neverthe-. less, the fact is that the world requires all the meat that can be produced and even if it comes to get some from Bra jdl, it will not injure tho trade of Ar jentina.; ■ ! • There? has been another change at lambs "were of good quality, but they our Office of Agriculture. Mr "Walter Runciman, who was the President of the Board of Education., has been ap- - pointed President of the Board of Agriculture.!: We have a way of doing things like this here. However, the fact that there is a'new man at the Board of Agriculture, has been.the oc-, casion of giving yet another fillip to the old movement for securing the removal/" of the restrictions upon the importation- of live cattle from the • Argentine. A deputation - has_ accordingly, -been to the .new Agricultural Minister, who promised every consideration;:;as such people always do. But there iis no likelihood of any change and the people of Argentina need not worry on this score. Their cattle will "have >io' continue to come here dead: instead I, of alive. ,-In connection with the original cause . for which the embargo was placed upon jof Argentine cattle, iti !: is very ironic to have to mention that almost over since we have been getting periodical outbreaks of foot And mouth disease. There have been quite a series of outbreaks during the last two years, and now a Parliamentary Committee has been appointed to make investigations. Inquiries are to be made in the Indian Empire, where ■ the .disease is particularly. prevalent. Evqry accommodation is .being providediat the docks for the foreign meat trade:" The annual report of the Port, Authority mentions that last year great progress was made in the frozen trade, the qaantity having increased from 138,000 tons to 215,000 tons during the ■year;..-, This increase was due mainly to importations from the .River Plate, which fis sending chilled beef by a new line, for which accommodation has been ipecially provided! at the Albert Docks. Much interesting information is given in a report just published by a Departmental Copmittee which has been inquiring into the British export trade in live stock with the colonies and other countries. This is essentially a highclass trade, and it pays breeders to maintain the quality of'their animals because of the great outlet whioh there is for well-bred stock. The export of inferior animals was reported to have caused considerable inJ'ury to the. trade at various periods, t was stated that where an opening occurs in a' new country, where only good specimens should be sent, there is I a tendency amongst certain breeders to gend out ( inferior animals as well, at half the price" Though'"the committee took much evidence, it is unable to say whether the export trade is increasing or decreasing. Much evidence was taken on a proposal for thfe establishment! of a. Government station for the purpose of-testing live stock prior to exportation! "It was urged that such an establishment should:exist especially in' order to meet the serious difficulties connected with the requirements of the . Argentine Republic as regards the tuberculin test. Overwhelming evidence was received as' regards the serious aspect of the matter, as it affects the British breeder, so much so. that there was practically complete unanimity in favour of ithe project. w m .