NO INCREASE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27387, 12 May 1950, Page 3

NO INCREASE

LOCAL MEAT PRICES STOCK FROM OUTSIDE DISTRICTS The removal of price control on meat, as announced last Monday, has not so far affected the price of meat in Oamaru. This statement was made by Mr J. Meikle, president of the Oamaru Master Butchers 1 Association, to the Daily Times yesterday. There had been no rise in the meantime, he said, and the price of meat would depend on the prices paid at the live stock markets. At the present time butchers were railing sheep and cattle from Southland to Oamaru to meet local demands, and they would have to continue to do this, as there was not enough stock in North Otago to keep consumers supplied, Mr Meikle said. Not so many sheep were being railed to Oamaru, but a large number of the cattle being killed at the local abattoirs were coming from Southland, and present indications were that this would continue until next spring. So long as the hide and stock markets remained as at present the price of meat would not go up, Mr Meikle said. In the earlier part of this year many thousands of head of sheep were railed out of the district because of feed shortages, and this has resulted in limited numbers of sheep being available for local consumption. To relieve the shortage, butchers have had to import sheep. The view is held in some quarters that the shortage of cattle has been brought about by the increased killing off, over recent years, of bobby calves and young stock.