LIMIT SET

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26556, 3 September 1947, Page 4

LIMIT SET

STOCK MARKET BUTCHERS’ AGREEMENT EFFECT ON SUPPLY It is understood that Dunedin retail butchers will not compete against each other at the Burnside stock market to-day, having reached an agreement on the limit prices beyond which they will not go. The limits were fixed at a special meeting of the butchers on Monday night and it is believed that they arc considerably lower than the prices for sheep and cattle paid at Burnside recently. It remains to be seen whether ail butchers will abide by this decision io-day but. if they do. it is likely that they will have difficulty in obtaining (heir full requirements. The president of the Dunedin Master Butchers’ Association, Mr J. E. Bartlett, has denied that the butchers intend closing their shops. There is a distinct possibility . that during the coming week butchers’ shops in Dunedin- will have little or nothing to offer the public. Keen competition -at auction has. in the past, forced butchers to pay exceptionally high prices while the retail prices have remained fixed. It is contended that the auction prices paid have been almost double the wholesale rates upon which the retail charges are based. One of the many interesting aspects of the situation is that the master butchers are preparing an application to the Price Tribunal for a new scale of retail prices while the Meat Producers’ Board is preparing an increased scale of prices to be paid for fat stock. It is certain that the public will have to pay more for meat in future but before the increased prices are sanctioned it is likely that the public will have to go short.