THE PRICE OF MEAT

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2239, 27 August 1914, Page 7

THE PRICE OF MEAT

PREMIER INTERVIEWED

BUTCHERS ANXIOUS

NEW BOARD TO INVESTIGATE

The recent substantial rise in the price'of meat in Wellington was tho subject of representations made by a deputation whidh interviewed the Right Hon. W. F. Massey (Prime Minister) yesterday. Dr. A. K. Newman, M.P., who introduced the deputation, said that it represented all the butchers 'of Wellington and the Master Butchers' Association. ! Mr.' W. 0. Hampton said that in view of the desire expressed by the Government that the cost of living Should not be increased in these .times of stress the butchers of Wellington desired to lay before the Prime Minister their position in regard to the increase in the cost of meat in Wellington. As the public were no, doubt aware the wholesale price of meat had increased during the last three months by 22* pea: cent., the latest rise beinc. one of lOper bent. In addition to this the price, paid to butchers for, waste fat and other materials of the butchery trade bad been reduced. The price of these by-products had been dropped 25 per_ cent. Taking this in conjunction with the inoroase in the wholesale price of meat the cost of running a butchery business in Wellington had been increased by 30 per cent. It was, quite apparent to anybody that no' business could be run at a loss for any length of time. Tho Wellington butchers were very sorry that this rise had taken place, but they were in such a? position that; no other alternative was open to them than that of raising tho price to the public, The. butchers wished to justify the actionfthey had taken/ < Exploitation Suggested., Mr. W. 'Wolland said that ho Teally thought this end of the island was being exploited by the Beef Trust or others. But for the fact that no official notice had been received of t!he hour of ,the deputation it would have been even more representative. He had telegraphed to Auckland and Dunedin for ruling quotations, but unfortunj tvtely the replies had hot arrived. TakJ ing the quotations in the newspapers, however, it .would be, seen that the prioes were/lower in Auckland and Dunedin than here and the butchers in Auckland and Dunedin maintained that there was no necessity for any increase'in the cost of living. The prices oharged here and the quotations supplied here showed that there must be a' trust of some sort operating at this end of the island. Otherwise he failed to see-why prices should be increased here.if there was no excitement in the trade in Auckland, Chrißtchurch, or Dunedin. Prices on the Addington' market were a long way below Wellington prioes at the present moment, a, thing hitherto unknown in the history of New Zealand, for Addington was looked upon as an open market representative of the whole land. At Palmerston North that day prime ox beef,was boing sold, delivered to shops, at 265. 64,. P er 1001b.; .in Wellington the'pHce, was, 31sf "The, MHz ago' on, of eight' bullocks from Palmerston to Wellington was £2 os. Bd.,and he failed to see why Wellington butchers should be treated in' this manner-. ..Butchers could "go to 'the paddock" and buy for themselves 0 only if they had an introduction from some leading firm here.. No small, butcher rould buy "in the paddock.!' The limited companies at this end of tho island said that there was 'no necessity to raise the retail prices in Wellington, but this was absurd, in new,;of the prices quoted. These high prices seemed to obtain in Wellington only, .and the'explanation must be something in connection with the large firms—they were either starting a meat trust or manipulating' the market in some. way. Then the price paid for fat had-been reduced by £4; per ton within a month. No reasonable man would argue that, it would cost £3 a ton to store a ton of tallow even for twelve months There must be an exportation off -the market, and the Wellington butchers and the public bad to suffer. He hoped that the Government would'see its way to set up a committee to investigate these matters. There was no reason, he contended, why butchers should not have some concession during the present crisis. Concessions had been granted to farmers, but there was no concession regarding stock. Mr. ; Wolland declared that the butchers had to pay charges amounting to from 20 to 25 per cent, at; the City Abattoir. The butoher himself was blamed wholly.and solely for the riso in the price of meat, but as a matter of fact during the last twelve months butehcrs had been having a very serious time owing to the operations of a trust of some sort. It would not be very long before the retail butoher would have to pay his money "over the block" on taking delivery from the wholesale suppliers. Retailers could not long continue to pay tho present wholesale prices, even at the present retail 'profit. The time was not very far distant when there would be. a calamity among the retail butchers of this city.

PRIME MINISTER IN REPLY.

AN INQUIRY PROMISED. ' The .Prime Minister said lie understood from what they had told him that the .Wellington retail butchers had been having a pretty hard time, prices being raised for them at one end and reduced at theiother (on by-products). He'had been looking into the matter, and the position as far as he understood it was lhat a fortnight ago, at about the timo of the declaration or war, a number of the large meat firms received orders through their agents in London for large quantities of .beef at almost any price. Stock had been purchased accordingly, in some cases at extreme rates. The orders had now been filled, and matters woro getting back to normal, "except, apparently, in Wellington! Ho had that morning spoken with an Auckland grazier, who informed liim that in Auckland beef was more plentiful than had been the case for many months past. He could not speak" so positively about other parts of New Zealand, but so far as Auckland was concerned, hra informant knew what he was talking about, and was thoroughly The Prime Minister went on to explain that a board was now beinc set Up under the provisions of the Regulation of Trade and Commerce Act passed, a week or two ago. He had thought that tho passing of the Act would be sufficient, but saw now that it would be necessary to go further. He did not fixpect to 1 have the board set up for a dav or two, because there wero little delays, but as.soon as the board had been constituted he. would refer to it for report on the question of tho rise in the price of meat at Wellington, along with other questions. If thV.re was a ring or trust, then it was as well .that the public should know it. hnd if there was anything of the sort tho Government would deal with it. "\Vo. know our duty," said the Prime Minister, ''and are going to do it." iDr, Newman said that the butchers Jflsired th>t their case should be ou»

of tho first dealt with by tho now board. Mr. Massey: As soon as the board is 6et up.

THE OTHER SIDE,

■EQSITION OF THE WHOLESALE COMPANIES.

When th.e principal contentions advanced by the master butchers were submitted yesterday to Mr. W. G. Foster (managing director of the Welling. I ton Meat Export Company) ho said that tho most complete answer was that the market m which the companies bought was open to the butchers individually W icollectively, and they had' publio abattoirs at which they could slaughter their stock. "If they can do it any •cheaper than the price at which we are offering," continued Mi-. Foster, "well, wo don't expect to do the trade. That 13 a complete answer, and it covers the ground exhaustively. As to the reason for the rise, it is shortly this—we can't buy to sell at any profit nt all, besides which the quantity of beef on the hoof this year as compared with last year more than accounts for the increase which we have'been compelled to put on. The price for sheep is five or six shilling® a head higher than it was last •year, and beef has risen correspondingly. 'We have no hold over tho butchers," added Mr. Foster; "we do a cash business with them, and if they are not satisfied with the price we don't seo them again—wo simply don't get the business." • Regarding prices in other parts of the Dominion, Mr. Foster said that the local oompanies did not trouble themselves about Auckland or Dunedin. Nothing appeared to nave been said about conditions in the other provinces. They probably had a season that gave them an extra supply of beef, sufficient for all the trade demands. Ono obvious point was that if prices in other districts had really any bearing upon prices in Wellington, it should be possible to import supplies from those districts. Mr. Foster suggested that it would be worth, whilo to work out tho cost of importing stock from north or south. He made a- similar observation about tho prioes obtaining at Palmerston North. If the Wellington prices compared so unfavourably, he said, why did not the butchers buy at Palmerston?