DEARER RASHERS

Marlborough Express, Volume XLVII, Issue 144, 20 June 1913, Page 6

DEARER RASHERS

HIGH PRICE OF BACON

SOME CONTRIBUTORY CAUSES

The. frugal housewife doesn't need to be told that the price of bacon has gone up—and has kept up—for. a considerable time (says the Wellington Post). Moreover, if those in the business know anything, it is likely to stop up. The position of to-day may be understood by a comparison of the wholesale average price per pound of pork (at country statidns) and of bacon by the side with the prices of last year: — 1913 M 2 per lb. per lb. -Price of bacon ... lid 9*d

Pork si-d s^d 4d Hams are to-day Is per pound wholesale, as compared with 9|d to lOd this time last year. It now looks as if the breakfast rasher is destined to beoome a di& as aristocratic as pate de fois gras* or truffles. When prices for commodities in general reach a very high level, consumption is automatically reduced—sometimes so much so as to cause the supply to exceed the demand, or at least to give an impetus to the manufacture and use of substitutes. Sperm whale fishing is an instance of an industry killed by substitute lubricants, and margarine is an example of the use and improvement of other fats than that of cow's milk, seriously competing with butter, and becoming its more than formidable rival. In fact, the margarine era would seem to be but beginning, that is, of course, in those countries where it is nssd as a substitute for butter. But bacon seems, for the time being, to have defied an economic law which has operated invariably in one way with other commodities. Its price does not come down, and there is no substitute f<H? it in sight. Things have come to a rather serious pass in New Zealand with respect to bacon from various causes, to which reference is made below: —

But New Zealand is not alone in bewailing the dear and ever dearer rasher. In the United Kingdom a bacon crisis is confronting the nation. America, which was such, a large contributor, has now, comparatively speaking, ceased to export; Canadian supplies are shrinking; China has had to be called upon for pork for bacon •purposes; and other contributing countries have reduced their exports to Britain. The following figures for the first three months of 1913, compared with the corresponding quarters of the previous two years, plainly tell how acute the position of bacon has become in the Old Country: —

Imports 1913 1912 1911 from cwts. • cwts. ewts. Denmark 520,080 604,450 488,211 U. States 478.438 494,828 393,88S Canada 72,190 109,411 146,959 Other Countries 72,845 52,074 89,615

1,143,553 1,260,763 1,118,673

Value £3,914,094 3,406,863 3,491,393 It will be seen then that the imported British rasher" was smaller in the first quarter of 1913, but cost more. In fact, the supply was 117,210 oyrfe. less, but it cost over half a million sterling; more than for the •corresponding quarter of 1912.

NO SUBSTITUTE

At the Birmingham and Midland Counties Grocers" Association Management Committee meeting held last April, special reference was made to the bacon supply of the United Kingdom ; it was pointed out that if the United States opened its ports to free food Canadian and New Zealand produce would be directed from the United Kingdom. It was urged that farmers of the British. Isles should be encouraged by Government subsidy if need be, to increase the food supply; it being held that England could produce 15 million pigs per annum. The Government was to be requested to face the situation at once, and especially with a view to lifting some of the harassing restrictions on pig breeders. One speaker refmarked: "The poor working classes have got used to bacon, and no substitute . can be found to adequately take its place." Of New Zealand the same to ay be said. In the lesser hotels and boarding houses it is true the eternal chops, steaks, and sausages are the variants of the rasher, but the latter holds its own, price notwithstanding.

WORLD-AVIDE SHORTAGE

And New Zealand is not behind, larger countries in having a diminishing pork supply. The precise figures are not available, nothing at the moment later than 1911 when there were 348,754 pigs- in the Dominion, ap against 245,000,. in 1908; but it is understood that there has been a very serious falling off in the number of pigs for 1913 as compared with 1911 and 1912. For this shortage several things are accountable. One is tho Condemnation of pigs affected with tuberculosis, a factor in reducing the supply of meat for bacon; next, farmers are rather fickle in their affection for the pig—if the pork market is high, then there is a rush

to breed, ending in a glut of the market, but if prices are low then the pig shares, with poultry, the illdeserved reproach, of being a nonpayable proposition, Our pigs are fed for the most part upon skimmilk, considered as a dairy byproduct: but if cheese-making displaces butter-making then there is less skim-milk for the pigs, consequently fewer pigs; then an impetus to calf-rearing trenches still further in the pig-milk; casein, too, is responsible in a minor degree for the same shortage of the supply formerly fed to the pig. Pork is now imported from Australia, notwithstanding a duty of per pound for turning it into New Zealand bacon. It is estimated that a loss of over £4500 was made by three New Zealand factories alone last year through inability to secure sufficient New Zealand pork.

THE SCIENCE OF CUTTING

Anpther factor making bacon dear and dearer is the want of knowledge on the part of the man who cuts up the side. An authority, who was questioned on this point, said there was a great art, and certainly a science. In cutting up a side of bacon. It meant all the difference between profit and loss. . Englishmen, with a special knowledge of the cheesemonger's trade, were to be preferred to the New Zealander (the speaker was a New Zealander), because the trade was thoroughly mastered at jjome—men specialised in it. .The cutting-up of a side of bacon, if it were to be made to pay, required more brains than handing a pat of butter or a packet of tea over the counter. In short, unskilful cutting up of sides of bacon was a swift way into the bankruptcy court for any retailer. This fact of possible wastage was generally recognised, hence provision was made for it by fixing such retail prices as would allow for the risk as well as for a reasonable profit in any case.

FROM PIG TO BACON

Tho wide range between the price for the dead pig and the retailed breakfast rashor, 5d to Is 2d, is very hard for those ignorant of the trade to understand—so far as the baconcurer is concerned it can bo readily understood that after the various processes through which the pig and then the meat goes there must necessarily be a heavy loss of AveigHt be 7 tween the killing and the smoking. When the pig is bought a deduction of 27£ per cent, is made, so as to bring the animal out as dead weight with the.head on and the lard in. Added to that deduction which the live pig carries is the railway freight, which the buyer pays, as well as the 5-Jd or ssd per Ib. for the meat. The meat further loses in dead weight after it is cured—depending on. the handling and manufacture —of from 25 to 30 per cent. With regard to

the retailed selling price, it should be mentioned that the bacon generally passes through the merchant (although some retailers buy.direct), and so has to bear another profit, if not a large one. Again, during the past few years, bacon has had to bear the burden in common with other manufactures of the increased cost of labor, advanced freights, and higher prices for materials, such as bags, oases, salt, and saltpetre. The standard of inspection compared with that of three or four years ago would appear to have been raised —and a very" good thing too, in the interests of public health; but it is a factor in the making of bacon dearer.

A VALUABLE SUPPLY

The New Zealand farmer's ideas of values, too, have risen, for he was formerly well content with 3£d per Ib. for bacon pork, but now he will hardly look at anything below 4|d, and 5Jd to ssd does not stimulate him to such further production as will ease the present stringency of the pork situation. Feed, too, is much dearer than it was, so there is that much, if no-ty more, to be said for the farmer. ; So far as could be ascertained the New Zealand farmers generally breed a very fair pig for bacon purposes, but there does not appear to be any systematic breeding for the maintenance of the supply, which has been, is at present, and seems likely to be, much below the local New Zealand - demand. i Importation from-Australia, to;say \ nothing of the duty of 2d per lb. on ! the pork meat, which the consumer, of course, has to pay, should not be necessary. It may be that, as already iin the case of strawberry pulp and '• cuaumbors for pickling, New Zealand 1 will be forced to go to foreign coun- '. tries for pork for the breakfast rasher ' —and that will not make it any , cheaper.