SECRET OF CHEAP FOOD.

North Otago Times, 3 December 1910, Page 4 (Supplement)

SECRET OF CHEAP FOOD.

AUSTRALIA'S LIGHT FREIGHT / ' RATES.

British people are often surprised at the low prices at which they can purchase 'Australian beef and mutton and butter and apples. They find it hard to understand why Australian beef and mutton, which comes so many thousands of miles by ship, should be so much cheaper than the home-grown article, and why Australian butter is some pence per lb,,

cheaper than Danish.' ■ This attitude sometimes leads con-'

sumers to the erroneous conclusion that the Colonial product is inferior in quality. As a matter of fact this oversea produce is cheap because the cost of its production and tho cost of Its transport are low.' Australia abounds in lands which in comparison • with those lands which raise Danish butter and British beef and mutton, are remarkably cheap.'Then in Australia the areas under cultivation are large, and the cost of working is relatively very low. But it is when consideration is given to the cost of oversea carriage that this advantage gf the Colonial farmer becomes emphasised.

The Queensland dairy farmer,can to-day place his better in London at a total cost for carriage all the way from Brisbane to the Thames of £d a lb., while meat comes tor slightly more-3-16d. ' The orchardist in Southern Tasmania has' his apples placed in cold storage and delivered in perfect condition in London for less than Id. a lb. Theso figures explain at once the fine profits which now attend Australian farming.

Most Australian farmers are situated fairly close to the coast, and therefore their charges of transport to Europe.are'actually lower than those of other countries which only one long railway journey between and their markets."Leeds Mercury."