CHEAP MEAT.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume II, Issue 398, 20 May 1915, Page 10

CHEAP MEAT.

CONSUMERS BENEFIT.

BUT WILL PAY LATER. Within the past nine months the purchasing power of money, as it concerns the housewife, has sadly depreciated. Increases, mostly on staple articles of food, have mounted up until tho sovereign to-day is properly only worth from .15/- to 16/- in comparison w.ith 12 months ago. The most striking feature of the increase is that almost the .whole of it is upon food grown within the Dominion. The average grocery price list does not show any exorbitant or even any very serious appreciation in the price of the ,ordinary imported grocery lines, but when the New Zealand grown food prices" are reviewed, iu comparison with those ruling -a year ago, the result is most striking. Certainly there are a few lines, such as baking powder, that have advanced on account of the direct causes of the wai', but New Zealand grown products cost the consumer anything up to. 25 per cent, more than was the case 12 months ago. The advance in-the price of flour is nearer 50 per cent. Bread, butter, cheese, and oatmeal are only a few of the lines that have shown big advances in value, due more to local causes than oversea markets. .-. WHAT THE BUTCHER PAYS. Meat is down, and the price is lower for mutton and lamb than it has been for years. This state of affairs is' due entirely to the shipping shortage. Were it not for the dislocation of shipping prices would be above last year's, as tho prices the Government is now paying are much above the rates ruling in the saleyards. The prices of mutton on the hoof now, as compared with values a year ago, are demonstrated by the following figures, taking yesterday's prices as a basis for this, year: 1914. 1915. Extra priiao wethers 29/6 25/- \ Prima wethers.. 22/- to 24/6 19/6 to 22/2 Inferior wethers 18/6 to 21/- 14/8 to 19/Extra prime ewes 24/8 22/3 Prime ewes . . 18/6 to 22/6 15/6 to 19/6 Medium ewes . . 16/- to 18/- 12/6 to 15/Inferior ewes .. 12/6 to 15/6 7/8 to 12/It will be noted from the above figures that the greater depreciation is upon the cheaper grades of meat. Prices for lamb show even a greater depreciation. Mutton is fully Id per lb cheaper in the shops than a year ago. The above figures do not altogether accurately give -the disparity between the prices, as butchers are now ■ receiving better prices for skins than a year ago. - - A well-known city butcher's price list now is given- below. It is about an average of- prices for'shops where the ordinary qualities of meat are stocke'd. There areother butchers who stock, only superior qualities, and their price lists are naturally a little higher. Half sheep, 4/- to 5/-. Prime forequarter .mutton, lb. Loins (whole), 2£d lb. Leg mutton, 4£d lb. Chops, 3d and 4d lb.

Forequarter lamb, 2/6. Ilindquarter lamb, a/6. Sausages, 3d. Probably this is a record in taa way