BACON SHORTAGE.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LVIII, Issue 14344, 24 October 1910, Page 4

BACON SHORTAGE.

DECLINE IN THE WORLD'S “PIG POPULATION.” The bacon shortage, of which the first signs appeared at the beginning of 1909, has now reached such a pitch, the Daily Alail says, that one of tlie best authorities states that “tho home industry is in danger of being destroyed.” # The “pig population” of tho world, for some reason, lias suddenly decreased. The shortage began in the United States, which has contained, it is calculated, about half the hogs in the world. They now number over 54,000,000, as compared with 4,000,000 in the United Kingdom. Tho chief cause of the shortage is tho decrease of the export from America, where tho “pig population” has decreased by more than a million; and tho export is further clecreasing owing to increased consumption in America. The price' of bacon, it is argued by ftOiue or the best authorities, may rise as High as 90s a cwt. wholesale. A few years ago it was 60s. It rose at the end of last year to 79s for the host Danish, which fetched the highest price, higher even than Irish. AVo spend, roughly, £20,000,000 each year for pig products from abroad, and yet in Great. Britain tho pigs decreased in 1909 by nearly 15 per cent, as compared with 1908, and reached the very small number of 2,380,000.