MUTTON AT 6D?

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 15212, 10 May 1920, Page 4

MUTTON AT 6D?

♦«..... ■ . ,_ A .'MMnS OP RJJDTICING, THE GLUT. The London. Times states;-— The, reduction m the wholesale price of imported mutton to 9d a . lb comes into operation on March 15. On tho same date the prjcce.of imported lamb will bo raised to Is Id; a lb. It is stated that the lamb; will find a ready .sale, m spite . of the advance, but that fcny slight increase there raay.be, m tho consumption of mutton will makey but, the smallest impression on. the enormous' glut which : is now congesting ohr^flold: storage accommodation and ho«uug up shipping. S r s :Qpiiiion.in the meat trade is thatsooner or*iater the Government .must face.-.a loss ; oil'' their mutton contracts- with .the ,Dominions. The deficiency, it is contended, , should be treated as a. war loss. "Nobody criticises .the .Government for having made this provision of -meat during the war period," a representative of a well-known rfinj. said yesterday,- "but m trying now to sell Ihqir purchases at a profit the Government .have got into a hopeless muddle. Hi importers working on private account fcecaine over-stocked' they would have to cub' their losses, and the ' Government will find that they must create a sale for frozen miitfcon by throwing it on the market at about 6d a lb. Unless this is done the meat, will deteriorate, and it will then be. still, more difficult; to dispose of it. The present, .Contract with the Dominions goes on -until June 30 this year, and, with,consumption at anything like present level, the. earliest date at ; which the Government meat could be\ got out of the way, would be tho middle of. 1921." , . ' It is estimated that the loss that would be- incurred by the Board of Trade if existing holdings of mutton .were .sold at 6d,- a' lb -would , be from £7^000,000 to £ld v o<so,out>. ;■•'.-' :•" *■• A good deal nf- the -imported -mutton now being distributed, particularly -m London, is two yc^ars old, and" the public will not buy -it rt' 'retail prices running; up to Is 4d and-li'Sd a lb. The rcduc- ) . tion *m cost, it is: 'urged, has got to be ; sufficiently drastic tp create, a demand for j tho meat. j