BULL AND BEEF.

NZ Truth, Issue 352, 23 March 1912, Page 4

BULL AND BEEF.

Has it Got the Worms?

Another Slander on Australasia.

(From " Truth's " London Rep.)

Horatio Bottomley, M-.P., has, m the leisure left him by his bankruptcy and legal troubles, been at his old game again of -slandering Australasia m the columns of that wretched rag, "John Bull." Some time ago, Bottomley asserted that Australasian frozen beef had the worms, and he has been advising the readers of this paper against' purchasing it. Local Government Board, investigated the matter, and issued voluminous reports, which indicated that Bottomley had discovered a mare's (or bullock's) nest. # A SMALL PARASITE had appai;ently been discovered m a portion or one or two shipments, but since the matter had been brought- under the notice of Australasian shippers',) the most scrupulous care had'beenataken to remove any portion of meat that may possibly become .; affected, and the English meat inspectors readily • pass the frozen carcases. But Bottomley, instead of-v-'being? satisfied, wants to know what becomes of the removed parts?' "This is a -question of vital importance to the 'health of the community, and we hope the Colonial Secretary will look into it," says "John Bull." What a singularly ILLOGICAL ATTITUDE . to take up ; it's like wanting to eat your cake and have it, too. What does Bottomley want— -the bullocks or the worms ? - - A **' * . Bottomley suggests that the removed parts are made into canhed or corned beef for Cockney consumption, when he knows perfectly— or should know, if he is anything of a journalist — that Australasian tinned or corned beef is practically unknown m London. I inquired at more than a dozen grocers and butchers, and not one of them had ever heard of either. But if the meat were canned or corned it would be wholesome food/ for expert opJmiion has declared! that the beef parasite is quite harmless to the human system ; m fact, one expert was of the opinion that it . WAS RATHER BENEFICIAL. As a matter of fact, the whole matter is just one of the stupid journalistic fakes typical of "John. Bull," which strives to be thought a lighting paper, but hasn't got the courage to hit anything that can pftnch back. A "sensation" about Australasian beef is good, safe "copy," that goes down with the Cockney readers of the rag. They hold up their hands over their penny beer, and exclaim, "My word, but 'John Bull's' a game 'un ! It's havin' a go , at Australasian frozen beef now!" Thus are* journalistic reputations made — m London. • • ■. " - Australasian frozen beef and mutton comes into the London market m a primer and fatter, and infinitely cleaner condition than the Argentine frozen meat. But the Londoner haa an UNACCOUNTABLE PREJUDICE against Australasians-meat; for some inscrutable reason. It is making its way, neyertheless, and there As an ever.-increasing market for it. The market will last just as long as there are hotels and restaurants m London. They purchase it m large; quantities, and their customers willingly eat it — under the belief that it is the '"best „ Scotch," or "prime 1 Welsh," as the case may be. And ; they wouldn't know the difference if they were told. It's prejudicestupid, conservative, English prejudice, which is tbe most pig-headed, stubborn quality ih the world— a. kind of ridiculous insularity which supports a herd of foreign vermin m London. The foreign hotel-keeper or restaurant-keeper charges "English meat prices for the . Englishman's dinner, provides him. with the cheaper, yet wholesome and appetising, Australasian beef or mutton, pockets an- extortionate profit thereby, waxes rich at the Englishman's expense, and laughs at him m his sleeve for a fool. . " V « • # ■.-■ Further, the LOWER-CLASS COCKNEY, on whose behalf "John Bull. is ostensibly speaking, would be all the better for an occasional meal df Australasian beef, with or without the worms. It would make more of a man of him. But he is too sweated and underpaid ( to afford even the cheapest and coarsest portions. 'The Cockney lives oh nauseous cheap abominations m the way of food, that would revolt the . stomach of the Australasian. He eats periwinkles, and welks, and "scallops," and similar shellfish, horrors m ha'porths, and rises tb the dignity of a penny bloater for. Sundays. Occasionally. he varies- the menu with a penn'orth of putrid chopped horseflesh called German sausage. Even the better class worker, who averages a weekly wage of 30s to 35s> lives on a diet which may be frankly and vulgarly expressed as , . GUTS AND GREENSTUFF. I saw a purveyor's cart serving one of these working suburbs the other day. The stock-in-trade consisted of a. few withered bunches of celery at *d each, a few withered turnips and parsnips (i-d) ; rows of "penny 'aiddocks," a pair of 'frozen rabbits sufficiently dead to need disinfectants, and some semi-putrid bananas. At the back of the cart, placed on the tail-board, which was let down to serve as a counter, were a few penny pilchards and the head half of a very dead codfish, which the purveyor 'was selling as a choice delicacy, at "tuppence a 'arf pound." From the fish's dark interior a blood-stain-ed bowel dangled into the mouth, of A SNIFFING CAT, who twice got the fish down into the horse droppings on the road, while the vendor wasn't looking. And, to complete the pretty picture, the burly Coster vendor., negligently scratched himself. in various portions of his anatomy while waiting for a customer to decide between a " 'addock" and a " 'arf o' cod," and his wife retailed vegetables and suckled an unclean infant at the same time. The -eniiell of that perambulating fish shop is mmy nostrils yet. Phew 1. '