Nelson Evening Male FRIDAY, MARCH 10, 1911. BRITAIN'S MEAT CONSUMPTION. INCREASED AUSTRALASIAN IMPORTS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLVI, Issue XLVI, 10 March 1911, Page 4

Nelson Evening Male FRIDAY, MARCH 10, 1911. BRITAIN'S MEAT CONSUMPTION. INCREASED AUSTRALASIAN IMPORTS.

iAS the future of Nelson is bound up ill the apple- and mutton export trade it should {give heart, at least to breeders, to know that the Australasian meat trad© with the Mother Country is on the up grade. Last year Australia and New Zealand played an increasingily prominent part in furnishing the meat supply of the United Kingi dom. Both beef and nrutfcon imports I into Great Britain reached record dimen- | sions, and for these hgures the two I countries named were largely responsible. A review of the returns, which &re- available, from market reports and | official statistics, should provo of inj terest. i In the first place ht may be pointed out that the number of live cattle imported into the United Kingdom has been steadily on the decrease. Last year the total was 219,561, a fall 41.67 per cent, compared with 1909. As a matter of faet, there has been a, con*. tinuous reduction for five years. Thequantity of beef imported during 1910 amounted to 7,577,374cwt., or 14.76 per cent, more than during the previous year, and it was the largest quantity* ever imported during aperiod of. 12 months. The decrease in the supply of Jive cattle has invariably meant an Increased supply of beef. Even allowing for the diminished supply of liv-e cattle reducing the beef supply by an estimated quantity of 636,597cwt., never. before has the United Kingdom received so large a quantity of beef, a supply that has risen from 2,881-,723cwt. in tie year 1895. Tinned meat improved jtp position after the scare, and the quantity' imported last year was 454,240 cwt., or nearly three times as much as in 1907 TSiere was a reduction in the beef sup plies from the United o.at-e*. Imports from Australasia- were re sponsible for a substantial proportion of the increase during- the year. The total weight was 876,469cwt., or 114.57 per cent, more than in 1909, when there was an increase in the supply of no less than 265.57 per cent The climbing into the up grade practically began then, and it has continued. With regard to New Zealand, the quantity sent Home during the past five years has shown a re? markable increase. In 1906 New Zea r land supplied 236,587wt., and in 532.830cwt. The Argentine supplied during 1910 4,898,869cwt., or 16,41 per cent, more than in the year 1909. In 1900 the quantity sent was 412,262cwtl In 1895 the total value of Cattle and beef imports was £12,900,590, in 1898 £516,605,982, in 1901 £18,284,262, and in 19C4 £19,615,674. The following shows the yearly value of the imports ■ during the last six years:—l9os, £20,570.412; 1906. £20,847,492; 1907, £19.597,901; 1908, £18,227,i0); 1909, £17,408.252; and 1910, £17,434,119.

As in beef, so it has been, with mutton, in .wlikh we are directly interested. The imports of mutton into the United Kingdom last year readhed a .quantity greatly in excess of that ever taken in

previcusly, the total amounting to 5.556,318 cwt., equalling- at least 10.371,759 live sheep. The aggregate supply o-f imported mutton for the year, after making allowance for the smaller supply (427 head) received in the shape of live sheep, was 665,130cwt. more than in the previous year. As showing the enormous rate at which this supply has increased, it is worth noting that in 1895 it was 2.811.906cwt., in 1900 3,457,212cwt., in 1904, 3,841 ; 030cwt., and in 1910 5,556,318cwt.. the latter quantity being 13.69 Tier cent, more than in ISO 9.

The records demonstrate that since the beginning of the present century there has been an enormous increase in the quantity of mutton shipped to Great Britain from Australia and New Zealand, the Australian quantity 'being 1,525,399cwt. in 1910, or 61.63 in excess of the supply in 1903 : and that of New Zealand being the "record" cf cwt.. or 6.37 per cent. more than in the previous year. Of the other countries supplying Britain with mutton. Uruguay last year took a jump forward, with 90,485 cwt.. or 38.39 ncr cent, more than in 1909; but Argentine supplies were 1.23 per cent, less, and (Holland is a.l£o gradually decreasing her contributions, the figures for 1910 showing 27.74 per cent, less than in 1909. Finally, it may be mentioned as a comparison that while in 1895 the value of imported sheep and mutton in the United Kingdom was £6,712,289; in 1897 it declined to £5,908',252; in 1899 it went to £6,538,212; in 1901, to £7,248,832; in 1903, to £8,478,498. Thereafter, with a lull in 1904, the progress has been steady, though the 1903 level was not passed till 1907, as the appended totals will! s'how :—1904, £7..542, 224 ; 1905', £7,693,345; ISO 6, £7,938.444; 1907, £8,905.920; 1908, £8,426,401; 1909, £10,162,706. It is a fair assumption that the imports basis of £9,000,000, or even £9,500,000, may be regarded as permanent, with a possible maintenance of the 1910 level, for the year has hardly been the best rheat-cating 12 months from the British workers' point of view. Hence the outlook is bright, and the prospects of Nelson sharing in the profits from th e increased British consumption of mutton arc as good as these of other exporting centres.