A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 371, 14 April 1876, Page 3

A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION.

(To the Editor of the Me J •;; Ida Curcmeijtt.) Sir, —It is wi/h feelings of .pleasure tluit J, on behalf of my fellow" "miners, crave a corner in your i.ssue.of next Friday. > v elat.ive 10 the bold', our plucky townsman 'Mr. W, J. Millar lias taken lobiinglhe price of meat 'wi'!hin the reach of all classes. There is no question but that the butchers (or.l might say ike buicber) who liarc filled i.he prices for the last few years, must nave reaped a golden. harvest. I assure you, Mr. Editor, thai the prices have been felt by all classes. Yon must be awn re, sir. that diggers have not been making' the wages .hey formerly did, although the price of every commodity is about the same as when miners wereearning from £5 to £6 per week. There are other articles of provisions which I shall trouble, you with op some future occasion. [.Send them in afciouce; they can foe-utilised. — Ed. ?>f .I.C.] The meat' is the one which I iuiend to deal with at present. I would' ask howicanithe gentleman who rules the meat market account f<» such exorbitant prices, since before last January't is welf known that the runholders hare been selling .some of I heir- shc-p to the £Tnseby butchers for N. 6d. a head; and yet inJanuary they were charging- 4§d. per lb. for fee quarters, and s§d. for hind quarters ; and last month they were .charging 6d. per lb. for hind legs. It is a mailer for congratulation lhat Iheir extortionate wch has been spun out,' and I may say they ran it to the last thread. I sincovely hope that Mr. Millar will not be nlaying at butchering ; but now lhat be has put his hand to the slaughtering knife that he will give it a fair and honest tiial before he jumps at some other branch of industry. He may rest assured Unit he will get support. I would urge on my fellow miners to make a determined si and on the present occasion,-and. give Mr. Millar ■their undivided support. Let them not bo the least delicate about Icariiig those t.iey are dealing with on account of (as the storekeepers call it) posted in the ledger, t would just ask them to ponder over in their memoir, and Iry and recall if ever they noticed any delicacy on the chubby eouuieuances of the knights of Ihe cleaver and block, when, with benignant smiles, they were charging famine prices for their one-and-sixpeimy scmbbeisp My friend Old Boots, has informed me that the i-ing have decided to make a further reduction next Saturday. A forced reduction is never to be.telied on.—l am, &c, Rob llor. April 12, 1876.