FOOD IN BRITAIN

Waipa Post, Volume 49, Issue 3505, 14 August 1934, Page 3

FOOD IN BRITAIN

A VISITOR'S IMPRESSIONS. • ,r —^ ADVICE TO NEW ZEALAND. INTERESTING VIEWPOINTS. (By R. J. Terry.) Yesterday I was looking at some exhibits in Australia House and I overheard a conversation. “Beef :4s per lb. What’s Joe Lyons r doing about it?” “I paid Is 6d for a small helping of mutton,” remarked the other. There was much more talk in a - similar strain, but it was only the two quotations that really interested me, so I said, “Pardon me, I am from New Zealand. Where are they selling the beef at 4s per lb?” “Oh,” replied the Queenslander, “I mean cooked meat in any of the restaurants of the City.” Now I want to point out to my readers in New Zealand that these wild statements of tourists and visitors cause a great deal of discontent, and mislead the New Zealand producer. As an illustration. It is impossible for the average person visiting London to say whether they are eating . New Zealand butter or not simply by. the taste. Any well-known factory butter which has journeyed 14,000 miles and been in cool store would taste similar. I have decided 4 to give the position as it really is. It is a fact that cold roast beef is being retailed at 4s per lb., ham at 3s 6d, other meats in proportion. If you buy them at leading hotels it would probably work out at double \ this price. You will naturally say, “Then, why is it that we do hot receive a higher price for our beef, mutton and pork exported from New Zealand?” The Prime Cuts. First, it has to be remembered that these cuts are the prime portion of the animals, that it loses weight in cooking, and last, but far from least, it is sold at these prices in shops where rent and expenses are very high. Unfortunately, in addition to these things the caterihg and handling of foodstuffs, is rapidly becoming a monopoly in London and spreading to other centres. Personally knowing some of the merchants connected with Smithfield I am in the inside ruhning to some extent re the handling of foodstuffs, but no good purpose will be served by my discussing it here and now. It is really England’s trouble and it may have to get rather more pronounced before the public awaken and break up ! the clique. What really interests us is the price that the British farmer obtains for his beef. At the present time really prime beef is worth from 26s to 28s per 1 cwt.‘, that is live weight. In other words, 3d or rather under per lb. The English farmer is probably losing £3 or £4 on each prime beast. He' is l living in hopes of improvement in the future, which politicians promise him from time to time. It is only reasonable, therefore, to suppose that the British farmer will endeavour' to bring pressure to "bear on the Government to check importations of beef and other meats. Forty years ago when I knew the trade! the British farmer supplied about three-quarters of the beef consumed. To-day he probably does not supply more than one-third, but the serious aspect is that the consumption of beef, and to a lesser extent other meats, is declining per head of population. This is due to a very large percentage of people eating more fancy foods, or made-up dishes, having more meals out at restaurants. Let mie give one illustration. I visited

a district in the West End of London, where prior to the war thousands of houses kept at least six servants, with the result that every day a large joint of either beef or mutton would be consumed. To-day the position is completely changed. Park Lane, St. James, Cornwall Road, Mayfair, in fact the West End generally is either empty with notices of sale or to let, or the houses are let in single rooms, so called flats with gas rings, and there is no longer the facility for the cooking of the joints, even if the residents could afford it. The owners of these houses retain one room, so that they may have a fashionable postal address, but they live chiefly in the country. Finding Diversions. Further, the bulk of the money seems to be expended on finding diversions, in new food dishes and entertainments. Therefore, many meals are taken in restaurants, hotels, cafes, etc., and so as in the case of purchasing a suit of clothes one does not pay for the stuff used (wool) but for the trimmings. The large catering firms would seem to be out to break up the old.idea of.good honest meat and vegetables which the housewife could cook for herself and family and naturally check up expense. Menus are given in so called French or other foreign languages and dishes greatly disguised. One catering firm showed a profit last year of £1,003,000 and yet their expenses must be tremendous. The food is high in price when compared with prices obtained by the producer. Expensive buildings, music, waiters in dress clothes, overseers and other officials all raise the price to the consumer without any benefit to the producer. The cheaper caterers of plain food (one time a prominent feature of London) have either been pushed into bankruptcy or absorbed. It is a state of affairs that we in New Zealand cannot help to alter at the present moment. It is possible the pendulum will 'have to be pushed a little bit further, and then it will swing to the other extreme.

Some say they can read the writing on the wall. I am not over-stating the case when I say that a great deal of the prosperity that is talked of is just inflated prices. Much of th,e meat is sold at double the price that it was prior to the war. Fish is two or three times as dear. It gives a good idea of the manipulation of cliques. Prior to the war skate, plaice (plaice is like a large flounder), cod, eel, haddock, were sold at from 3d to 4d per lb. To-day they are double and treble the price. Herrings would be sold on the barrows four and six a penny and their bright red gills denoted their freshness. To-day they are 6d per lb. and have often lost the brightness. Fruit and green stuff is dearer. Even beer and spirits is double hr more the price. * Now what I am coming at is this: On this line of reasoning butter Lhould be higher than pre-war, but it is the only foodstuff that I can see in Common use which is not higher in price. To be consistent in this “manipulated” rise in price, butter should be at least Is 8d per lb., whereas it is selling at 9d or lOd. Now, how can we legitimately alter things? What New Zealand Must Do. Even in a manipulated market there is always one class of produce which can dictate to some extent to the buyers, that is your article of superfine quality. Therefore our butter must be superfine as regards imported butter. It is folly to suppose that we can equal Danish butted during their periods of grass, which would hot be more than five months in the year, but we should be able to beat all other countries; but only if there is true co-operation between the farmer feeding his cows, the milker and the butter factory manager. We must aim at the eradication of objectionable odours in the cream, whether due to the feeding of the cows or dirty milking, then it will not be necessary

for the factory manager to overpasteurise because when this is done you have a tasteless neutral fat. Even the wharf labourers should co-operate that the boxes of butler are not left ir. the sun longer than necessary. More attention must be paid to the quality of cheese. A well-made cheese when cut should show a smooth, even, slightly fat surface. When holes or cracks appear either the farmer or the factory manager is at fault. We can make some good cheese but to get higher prices for New Zealand cheese the whole of it must be good. If necessary the dirty farmers must be prevented from sending milk to the factory and a slovenly manager get the sack. We should pay more attention to opening markets, especially in some portions of the East and Japan for dried milk and by-products. We should make up our minds, and quickly, whether we will combine with Australia in fighting the “margarine sales” in Great Britain. Personally, 1 think it would be best to combine with them as Australia and New Zealand are the only two countries that have any real effect on the British market as regards cold store butter. I will give an illustration of why we should combine. Last week-end I was visiting a small village in Lincolnshire. Practically every house is over a hundred years old and there are no up-to-date stores, yet in this sleepy village was a placard asking the people to eat Empire food. The word Empire was in quite small letters, but underneath the quite large letters were “Australian butter.” There was no mention of New Zealand. We cannot grumble if Australia is finding the placards.