ENGLISH MEAT MARKET

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LII, Issue 17158, 7 October 1926, Page 7

ENGLISH MEAT MARKET

ALL SECTIONS QUIET BREAKING THE STRIKE Reference to the quiet state of the meat market at Home is contained in a letter received by the Meat Producers' Board from their London manager. The letter states:—"Since writing to you on-August 11. the lamb market, has remained quite steady and, although the prices are a little better than they were a few weeks ago, I am pleased to state that the demand has also slightly improved on Smithfield and, as far as August is concerned, the consumption through Smithfield looks as if it will be as good, or slightly better than .last August. I am afraid, however, that the country trade, apart from Smithfield, is not nearly so good as it was a year ago, due entirely to the coal strike. . ; _~_l7 EFFECT OF STRIKE "In reply to your enquiry regard. ing the prospects of the coal strike, I cabled you that last week-end several thousand miners had signed on. and the strike looked like breaking, but during the week-end, the miners' leaders made a great effort with the assistance of 'peaceful' picketing to stop the rush of the men back to work. They were partially successful in this, although several thousand did return to work this week, but only half the number that had signed on the previous week-end. From present appearances, I expect that the men will gradually drift back to work, and the strike will end by this means, but it will probably take several weeks before the strike is definitely broken. It is very unfortunate that this strike occurred during the best months of our lamb season, and there is no doubt this has been a great factor in reducing our consumption which, prior to the' strike, had been thoroughly satisfactory. In some of the coal mining centres, I understand the butchers' shops are closed all the week, opening only on Saturdays, owing to the curtailment of the' buying power of the people. HOME-KILLED MUTTON "The quantities of home-killed mutton and lamb coming forward are, so far, not so heavy as was anticipated. The reason given is, that at the present time,"farmcrs in Scotland and in the North of England are busy with the harvest, and have no time to attend to the despatch of their lambs. Another reason is that they are disappointed with the present prices and, having plenty of feed, are not anxious to sell. In spite of this, it is possible to buv even to-day good English lambs "at Is OM on Smithfield, and last week, Scotch hill lambs were sold as low down as 9d per lb towards the end of the day when there was an over-supply. "As is usual in the hot weather months, the consumption of mutton is not particularly heavy at the present time, but there is quite a steadv tone on the market. BEEF MARKET "The market this week has been ; over-supplied by Argentine chilled, and last week, Argentine chilled fores Were down to 3d, and hinds s|d, which gives an average of 4|d for sides. Under these circumstances, there was no sale for frozen beef, but no doubt, Argentine prices will improve before long, and allow the sale of frozen to be resumed. - "The stocks of New Zealand pork are prnetieallv exhausted now, and, from what *I can see, there is verv little to come forward trom your end, so that we can say the season is practically finished. CHILLED PORK "I replied to vour cable that the shipment of South African chilled pork was not a satisfactory test, .as it was frozen during the voyage instead of being chilled, and for the purpose of experiment, it was practically useless. There is, however,, a large shipment of chilled South African pork arriving this week, and I shall send you a full report as soon asl have 'an opportunity of inspecting it. I have also arranaged with one of the staff of the low temperature station for research at Cambridge to see this shipment landed, and to give me a report on it. As I previous y advised, he. is making a special study of New Zealand frozen pork, to see if ho can auffirest any improvements in tne curving of'same to enable it to meet the requirements of the bacon eurers in a more satisfactory manner.