England's Meat Supply.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6705, 19 November 1889, Page 4

England's Meat Supply.

, «. SOME. TELLING STATISTICS. The London correspondent o£ the Auckland Herald clipß the following : — Some interesting statietics, compiled from, official sources by private persons, • and relating to our foreign meat supply, have just been published. It appears from ■ these figures that the imports of frozen meat into Jour markets are rapidly rising in quantity and value, being at the present ' juncture exactly four times what they were twenty years ago. The total averagn yearly importation for the years 1867, 1868 and 1869, was 116,800 tons. The average in recent years has been about 464,000 tons. The rate ot increase waa pretty steady from 18G7 to 18S0, when the maximum waa reached, the imports in that year amounting to 517>000 tons. In the immediately succeeding years there wa3 a considerable falling off, the average for the years 1882, 18S3 and j 1884 being only 418,000 tons. Of late the gro3S imports nave been larger, though they are Btill considerably under what they were nine years ago. } At the commencement of the twenty years' period the proportion of dead meat to live imports was about 48 per cent, or nearly one-half. It has now risen to over 70 per cent, xhe Home production of meat iv 1867 wa3 1,300,000 tons. At the present time it is about 1,333,000 tons, so that the proportional increase is not comparable to that ot the imports. The average annual consumption of meat per head of the population of this country is eet dov7n at 1091 b, and of this 281 b, or 25-7 per cent, is imported, and 811 b, or 74-3 per cent., is raised at Home. More than half of the meat thus imported consists of pork in come form, the greater part ot which comes from the United States. About 31 percent. of the imports take the form of beef, and the remainder consists of mutton, of which we import about 4'6lb annually per head of the population. Of this 31b arrivo as frozen meat, and the remaining 1-ilb as live sheep. For the eight months ending August 31 last Great Britain received from the United States 181,860 oxen as against 104,645 during the same time last year. Canada sent us 42,109 as against 33,489. During the flame period this year we received from the United States 794,451cwt of fresh beef and mutton as against 499,612cwt in the first eight months of 1888, while other countries, the names of which are not given, sent us 26,001cwfc last year, while this year their importations have risen to 60,208cwt. The receipts o£ mutton for the first eight months of thiß year were 820,389cwt aB against 615,081cwt during the same months of 1888. Of this 'Australasia cent this year 407,823cwt as against 366,500cwt ; the Argentine Eepublic sent 280,010cwt, aB against 212,656cwt ; and other countries 106,423cwt, as against 11,260cwt in the first eight months of last year. The number of sheep in the Argentine Eepublic iB estimated at 105,000,000; in Australasia there are 85,000,000; iv the United Kingdom 29,000,000, of which 3,600,000 are in Ireland. It is Btated in the Times that the clip of wool in the Argentine Eepublic this year will be very large. The number of sheep is twenty per cent greater than was the case two years ago, and the breed ha 3 improved, so that a larger quantity of wool per sheep will be the result. It is expected that thia year the Argentine Eepublic will, for the first time, export, cheep for sheep, aa much wool aB the Australasian Colonies.