THE PRICE PAID FOR FOOD

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XXIX, Issue 11126, 11 February 1886, Page 2

THE PRICE PAID FOR FOOD

(From "Mulhall's History of Prices." a Meat represents a greater cost than 3 bread, although it stands for less than , 10 per cent, of the total energy of food. . In the United Kingdom two and a half 9 times as much is spent for meat as for bread, the following being the rates of I expenditure for the chief items of food, ■ viz., Grain, 12 per cent.; meat, 30; • liquor, 21 ; sundries, 37. In the United f states the proportions are, respectively, , 16, 20, 14, and 50 and in France, 18, « I*s, 20, and 33 ; Europe as a whole 1 being 18, 25, 20, and 37. l The consumption of meat has always ■* been considered a guage of the compa a rative wealth of nations, and in this b respect France has made much advance-* i ment in our own days, the annual con* 1 sumption having risen from 431bs per inhabitant in 1840 to 71 lbs in 1880. I There oan be no doubt that similar , progress has taken place all over the 9 .European Continent, and that the conn sumption of meat is one-half more than j it was in 1840-50. This, of coarse, is t partly the result of the rapid increase : of urban,, and relative deoline of rural t population Dwellers in towns consume twice as much meat as those in the . country, either because their work is . more severe or their means are more , efficient. L In the United Kingdom the consump- ) tion of meat haa risen from an average I of 1,034,000 tons (44,000 of which were . imported) per annum in 1851-60, to , 1,642,000 tons (447,000 of which were - imported) in 1881-3; the equivalent - increase per inhabitant being from 811b 3 to 1051b. In 1850 the consumption did not exceed 761b, representing a value of 375 ; f since then the population ha3 risen 33 , per cent., and the consumption per head ; 40 per cent., so that, instead of 18,000 ) tons weekly, nearly 32,000 tons are required, of wbioh 9000 have to be , imported. In 1882 the expenditur , per head for meat was SO., or mor • than twice as much as in 1850. : The continent of Europe . hes ap- » parently reaohed its maximum of meat . production, and will henceforward be compelled either to import largely from , other parts of the world, or send away , 3,000,000 persons as immigrants 5 yearly, un'e's the nations are disE posed to reduce their consumption, which is not likely. The production of ! the continent in 1882 was 7,190,000 f tons, the consumption 7.270,000 tons, • and this deficit of 80,000 tons was ; covered by imported meat from the l United States. The export of meat from the United ■ States rose from 39,000 tons in 1861 to . 510,000 tons in 1881, but declined to 348,000 tons in 1884 ; and, although the surplus at present may be estimated at 400,000 tons per annum, it must by the close of the nineteenth century become ■ comparatively small, Bhould the popula--1 tion of the country continue to increase at its present ratio of one and a -half millions yearly. Australia and the River Plate Republics must soon become the grazing farms from whioh Europe (and especially Great Britain) will have to draw the meat supply, which is now mainly derived from the United States. The actual deficit between England and the Continent is almost 12,000 tons weekly, whioh, before the olose of the century, wiil probably reach 20,000 tons, or one million tons per annum. That is to say, Europe will require one -ninth of her supply, or equal to sis weeks' consumption, from the Southern Hemisphere. The average annual consumption of meat is 601b per inhabitant on the Continent of Europe, 105 in the United Kingdom, and 120 in the United States, that of grain being much higher on the Continent than in this country or with the Americnns.