THE BREAKFAST TABLE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16321, 10 January 1921, Page 7

THE BREAKFAST TABLE.

FOOD PRICES BEGIN TO FALL.

NEWS FROM THE SHOPS. CHANCES IN MANY LINES. • Tendency decidedly downward,” said a grocer this morning, discussing tho provision trade outlook for 1921. Willi in the past- few days price reductions have been announced in several fairiy important lines, and now hints arc given of further changes. The only drawback is a rise in the price of gas. Though iho country is passing through the greatest warm spell for years, fuel supplies all round threaten to keep However, housewives can derive sufficient comfort from definitely lower rates in the following commodities: — Oatmeal Bacon Legs -Meat Irish Vegetables ” Prices have passed the peak.” said a merchant. ’* Now we can expect a steady drop in many linos until tilings got right back to normal. In fact me fall period lias set in already. duetion is steady and that is a good sign. Housewives will get the benefit and there will be no trade disorganisation followed by unemployment. The alteration is not due to anything special. As far as I can see high prices, like wars and heat waves, come in cycles ” AY hen old stocks have been cleared out, oatmeal in the retail shops will lie reduced to 41d a pound bought loose, 2s 6d for a 71b bug. and 9s for a 2olb bag. This is due *o a decrease of £5 u ion in tho wholesale price, the second drop within a few weeks. Other breakfast food linos will shortly be brought down in sympathy. Best rashers of oacon are being sold Tor Is lOd a pound. Not so long ago Iho price was 2s 3d. Cheap cuts are quoted at from Is 3d. Addington prices for fat pigs afford the clue to this reduction. In. November agents ! nought at from Is to Is 3d a pound; i in December at from lOd to Hid a ; pound ; and in January at from Sid 1 to lid. ' Twopence a dozen has been struck I off the egg quotation, list. The new price is Is lOd, and. supplies are comI ing in freely. Fowl food is more ! abundant than it was. Millers are | putting up a mixture oi wheat, oats { and peas for * retailing at 8s a bushel, i and growers report satisfactory results. Lamb is 2d a pound cheaper in the butchers’ shop, and pork will drop next week. General prices are: - Lamb, 10*1; pork. Is 2d. “There is every likelihood of prices going down still further,” said a butcher. “ Stock is getting cheaper. AVe would be able to make it lower if wages were not ho high and hour? so short ” “ Fish prices have started to go down,” said a fishmonger. “ Blame tlio good weather.” The retail rate lor groper is from 8d io 9d a pound. Flat fish sell at about 9d a pound. Supplies of both are good. Tho whitebait season has closed. Not all vegetable lines have a cheaper tendency. Cauliflower and cabbage, for instance, are scarce and dear: French and butter beans are still 3d or 9d a pound : peas have hardened up to 2s 6d a peck. But new potatoes are moving in the direction of reduction, latest prices being:—Good Hutt A alloy sample, 51b for Is; good Canterbury simple, 31b for Is: Canterbury second grades, Sib a Is. Onions shipped from Melbourne can he bought at 31b for Is, n very reasonable rate. Auckland cucumbers retail at Is 6d each; The fruit season is well on. Tomatoes are cheaper---(3d a lb for cooking sorts and 9d to Is fid for dessert. Peaches and apricots will be ready for jam next week. Raspberries for jam. local samples, arc quoted at 11s Tier bucket containing 121 b. AVaimato supplies will be in shortly.

Sugar is not plentiful enough to make the jam seafion a success, dhe AVanaka brought 320 tons for Canterbury, but that is not nearly enough to catch up with the deficiency. The president ; of the Board of Trade said recently that the Mokoia had carried one-third extra and that the demand position in Canterbury had been exaggerated. Grocers contend that this charge is absolutely u n warranted. “ T will let the Minister stand behind niv counter for a day, and then ho will find out whether we have oxaggerated the demand position,” said a shopkeeper. “ 1 can toll him for. a. start that he will have to put up with, some very sarcastic remarks from the customers when they don’t get the sugar thev want. It’s all very well to say the Mokoia carried one-third extra. Part of that had to make up for past deficiency, but even supposing it was vill for .fain, what’s the good of one- 1 third extra.? The housewife who usually gets 161 b of sugar a month and then decides io make 211 b of raspberry jam asks for her sugar allowance to be doubled. So do all our jam-making customers. An additional one-third is a help certainly bub it does not fill the bill by miles.” Bugar arriving in Christchurch from Java tliis month will probably be sold at £d a. pound above the fixed retail price, for Fiji sugar. Later oil further consignments of Java sugar are expected to come to hand, cheap enough t.i be sold at, say. od a lb, or Id less than present retail prices. Merchants are doubtful only about shipping facilities. Java sugar can come in at a cheaper rate than the Fiji article, but it will probably require Government assistance before shipments are regular enough to suit-nil parties. The Christchurch Gas Company. Ltd., announces a rise of 2d a 1000 cubic feet in the price of gas, to take effect from the next reading of the meters. The rise is reported 1o be due to increases m the cost of coal and labour. NYith the wholesale price of milk raised to Is 6d a gallon, there seems little cliance of the retail rate going below 7d a quart. Speaking at a recent gathering of wholesalers, the chairman said that dairymen had to supply milk for all the year round, and it took two cows to supply the same quantity in the winter as was supplied by one cow in the The only thing to do was to average the cost over tik* whole year, and charge a slightly higher Price in (he summer months than the equivalent butter-fat return. Some months ago the wholesale dairymen had reduced the r>rico in Christchurch from Is 6d to Is 3d a gallon. It was then hoped that retailers would reduce their rates to 6d a quart. Instead of this, retailors had kept their prices a f 7,] a quart, and their gross profit had been increased from lOd to Is Id a gallon, compared with the return of Is 3d secured by the producers. Answering this statement, the Chris-churc-h and Suburban Retail Dairymen’s Association has passed a. resolution to tho effect that the increase -s entirely unjustified at the present time The position will be discussed at a meeting to-morrow evening.