MEAT IN GREAT BRITAIN.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIII, Issue 1716, 6 January 1920, Page 5

MEAT IN GREAT BRITAIN.

Tllft QUESTION OF CONTROL,

AGITATION FOR PL’S REMOVAL,

0 Messrs M. A. F.liott and Co., of Palmerston North, have received from their e London agents an interesting letter dated :1 November 20th concerning the question of “De-Control of .Moat,” in which the following appears"Throughout the your j most of the newspapers at some time or L . the other have published articles dealing with the above particularly and the food ’ question generally. Like most of these ‘stunts,’ a lot of stuff is written which is ‘ not altogether accurate and only tends to •. cause confusion in the minds of tho people, ’(which gives \vay to irritation. Unfortuna- -! tely, a prominent member of tho Government has joined in by making speeches ) 1 quite recently on an average of at least 1 onco a week, and without their knowing I the actual facts tho effect on' tho minds of ■ tho public must have been that the country was more or less on the verge of starvation. Subsequently tho British Incor- , poratod Society of Meat Importers has considered it advisable to ioin in the campaign and to publicly combat some of the statements made. Quito the reverse of , supplies being short, the difficulty is that the demand is not nearly sufficient to clear the daily pitchings on Smithfield, even Home-killed hanging fire at limes, and today the storage-'position hero is becoming as acute as it was in New Zealand at the early part of tho year. Undoubtedly an error of judgment was made, when the Ministry of Food put up the price of imported meat in October, and it soon had to admit the mistake by again reducing tho price of mutton and lamb to tho level in operation prior to the rise referred to. The position as we saw- it was not to impose further restrictions, but to remove as far as possible those already in- existence. We j accordingly pressed for tho withdrawal of I the registration of customers with parj ticular butchers, and tho removal of the • restrictions limiting the quantity that could, - be purchased by customers. “Meanwhile, the British Incorporated Society of Meat Importers had the matter in hand, and the society called a general meeting of its members on the 17th inst. to discuss the situation. As the outcome a letter has been forwarded to the Food Controller, the- principal part of which reads as follows:—“ The members beg to submit that in their opinion the time has now come for tho removal of control over tho imported moat trade, and that the first stops in de-control should be; '(1) the return to the system in force before control was instituted of selling meat freely through agents in lieu of tho present system; (2) the withdrawal of the regula- ] tion compelling customers to register with ■ a particular retailer; (3) tho removal of all. restrictions ns to quantities purchased by tho public.' So far as (1) is concerned wo do not, think the official mind is made up - and at present the Treasury holds the 1 whip, whilst the British farmer is the ! power that wields it. None tho loss wo j consider that if (2) and (3) can be brought, ; [ into operation a start will have been ' ' made in tho right direction; at the same time it is doubtful whether anything will I bo actually accomplished until the Now f i Year.”

| Included with the letter is an extract from a London newspaper, which states that the meat position is very serious, and that unless some solution is quickly found, bacon scandal will bo completely eclipsed by the waste which will take place in imported meat. “At tho present moment.” continues the article, “there, are over a million carcases of meat —mostly mutton —heading for England. There are also in the Thames, awaiting discharge, ships with over 35,000 tons of meat on board. There is ’ available cold storage space for only 5000 tons, so that it is clear that tho problem which tho Food Ministry has to face is indeed a serious one. In Smithfield it is an open secret that the heads of tho meat section of tho Ministry of Food are at their wits’ end to know how to deal with the situation, and it is not surprising to find that there is to be a reduction of 2d per !h on imported mutton' and lamb. It is • also officially announced that the 2s ration per head is a minimum and not a maximum quantity, and that butchers may serve their registered customers with any quantity of beef or mutton they m?y desire if they have sufficient supplies. To all intents and purposes tho rationing of moat, is for the moment practically suspended, in the hope that the public will save the situation by eating more. The wholesale ■ trade is almost unanimously agreed that control of meat should be abolished at once, and that if this were done there would bo a fall of 6d per lb on the cheaper imported joints and 4d per lb on tho dearer cuts. In tho Port of London alone nearly 30 vessels carrying frozen meat are expected during tho tnonth. It is pointed out that in Australia and New Zealand alone _ there are over ten million carcases awaiting shipment, in addition to largo stocks in Brazil and South Africa, and that while there is a shortage of nearly, a million sheep in Great Britain this is more than balanced by the live cattle, which are above the normal.” The article concludes : “ 'Hie case for decontrol presented by the moat trado is such a strong one, and the present position _ of imported meat is so serious,, that it is high time tho matter was brought before the House of Commons, and tho cards of both sides were laid on tho table. Any' Government which looks after tho interests of_ the consumers will have to face the opposition of'the landlords and farmers, strongly entrenched at tho Board of Agriculture, making enormous profit out of milk and meat, and threatening all sorts of things if their profits aro touched.”