MEAT UP!

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1821, 6 August 1913, Page 7

MEAT UP!

PUBLIC TO PAY NEXT WEEK;

CAUSE OF THE RISE.

THE LAND GOING TO DAIRYING.

Is it true that tho price of meat litis geno up again? was' the question askwl Sir. A. Cheo3ellla.ll, secretary of tlio ■■ Master Butchers' Association, yesterday. "Yes," said ho, "tho wholesale price vent up from yesterday (August i)." What does it inea.u? "It means that wo liave to pay }d. per lb. -all round (on tlio carta®) for our mutton, and Jd. on our beef." Who to—tluj fanner? "No; few butchers trouble to buy now. on the hoof and slaughter themselves. Tlio meat is bought from tlio Wellington Meat Export Company, Mr. Alec. Mooro, or Mr. Sykes—tlioso three are the cliiol sources of supply to tho Wellington butchers." And what does tlio latest rise, brinp tlio prion of beef and mutton to, as fat ', as you aro concerned? "About Jd. per lb. for the whole carcas.'T for mutton, and 3»d. for beef, but .vol must understand that the.ro is much in ik carcass of beef that we do not realise lq per lb. on—siill that is the average w>p" havo to pay for l!i:> entrro carcass." It sounds very high! / "It is very high-it- is tho highest price butchers havo paid for meat in \\ oiling ton tor fifteen years, bo my knowlcdgo I think it is a record in the trade, u hat makes it a, very serious matter is that tho price 'of butchers' stock has been steadily advancing for lully six years past. The price advances ami recede,®, but it never recedes to what 1 before—the od+aiico is steady;"- - What is tho cause of it all? "Oil, there's only the one thing—dairyJiff- Jt t>ays ..so .well, that everyone has-, been cutting up their estates into dairy farms, and consequently, there is less un'd less fattening done, and less land to do ' it 011. And that is not so much the caso in the lower half of the North Island asit is in other parte of Now Zealand. That is tho trouble—there is a good-deal of fattening don» in the district,' with' 'tliA ' result that. at. present the whole of the Dominion is drawing on this half of tho North Island for fat stock. Tho Auck- ■ land buyers aro operating in tho Wanganui and l'cjxtoli districts, and thislwcek are working over l'ahiatua way. South Island buyers aro always activo in tho district at this time of t lio year." Then it is quite a serious problem? "I should think it was. Only the other day a, buyer was talking nbout'tlio change which had oomo about in certain districts. In one. place ho, a' few years ago, could always rely ■ upon getting 1000 head of buUceks in a was on —now. be cannot get one. It is all cut up into dairy farms, and instead of prime, fat bullocks, tlio, country is dotted.' with Holsteins and' Jtirssys—which are no good to the. butcher. Only tho other-day half a dozoil bullocks were fold at yards hot far from AVellington, and they brought ;£2O a head. Tho average price "ill normal times for such beasts would bo about .£lO. Auckland buyers were offering .€ls for fat bullocks, and it costs thom anothor 255. to land them by train in Auckland. Five or six weeks ago a local butcher was offered a line of fat bullocks at .£l3, but thought tho price rather high, eo tha owner railed them to Auckland, where they were sold at .£ls a head." Farmers are making money? ' ' "Yes, but even with prices for stook s? high they aro not making such gooi .-' money as daily farmers, so wo oan cx( pect fat stock 'to grow less and less oaci. year." - And tho price to the public to go upP "Of course— how. can it be otherwise?. Believe me, tho butchers don't like to sco the price going.up. You c(i.n always make nforo profit'out of ; a "cheap article than a dear one, but what aro they to do ? The butchers have to pay cash for their meat, but they do'not get cash from tho public always. Many a butcher has sleepless nights worrying as to how lie is going to pay for his week's jneat, which ho wouldn't need to do ■if tho public paid up promptly. There's not much in it, anyway, and less .when the meat is dear than-when it's cheap." • j, • ••• When does t'he' price go up to tho' public? ~ , "Thafs not settled yet-there wil be a meeting next week to arrange something;