MEAT SUPPLIES OF THE UNITED KINGDOM

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2945, 4 December 1916, Page 10

MEAT SUPPLIES OF THE UNITED KINGDOM

■ AN ..'INTERESTING REVIEW. ,; Many'interesting facts showing the trend in • live ' stock- matters in the" ■ United Kingdom are given in the report' on the-nieat situation-just issued by .•-. the United States Department of Agriculture (says the "Live Stock Journal" .of October 6). Information on the .': changes shown" in some forty meat-pro-ducing countries was collected by the American commercial agents in the various countries, and, as far is possible, those shown between IS9O end ■ 1914 aro certainly of great u;Jue in connection with the prosent r:osition of • supplies'and prices. ' So far as numbers of cattle are con- .. cerned, it is .stated that- and reasonably accurate record shows a .'< gain of only 1,147,000 cattle in Great .Britain and Ireland from 1890 to 1913, in which'latter year the cattle, num....bexed 11,937,000; The cows arid heifers of this latter year numbered 4,318,000, , and the other .cattlo 7,619,000. Sub•stantialljv the same rate of increase is found in cows and heifers as in otlifir cattle. It will be remembered, the re- - .l>ort points out, .."that England' is. a great breeding ground for'the supplv of pure-bred, cattle to the United States, Canada, the Argentine, Uruguay, Aus- ...- iralia, New Zealand, and other countries." .The United' Kingdom is also ; described: as "a: country of remarkable r .uniformity in its relation of, cattle to population, although in the long period of years, extending from 1890 to 1913 a slight decline, is observable. In tho earlier years of the period the ratio was ./about 0.H9,- or 0.30 of the/animal per .... : capita, and this gradually fell to 0.26 "'. of the-animal in recent years." .So.far as sheep aro "Bri- . tain has - been for many years the world's principal breeding ground for pure bred-sheep, and their number has '-.'.• been pretty well maintained for twenty; two years until 1912 at about 29,000,000 to 33,000,000. From 1912 to 1913 a. decline from, • 28,967,000^t0 27,629,000 • .-.;'' sheep is reported, so that in 1913 the United Kingdom had less sheep than in 'any year.as far.back as 1890. Indeed, :■...'a decline in; number of 'sheep is observable since 1909, when the number .".. was 31,840,000!" The relation of sheep -■• .to-.population, is," foiv the United Kingdom, a record of.decline since lc9o, with ail occasional fluctuation. In that . year there 'was 0.84 of one ihe'ep per capita, and in. 1913.'the ratio.had fallen. : to 0.6 of one-sheep. ' Although pigs in the United Ki:>?dom rapidly decreased from 4,250,000 in 1911 ■ to 3,306,000 in 1913, the number was about stationary on the whole from 1890 to 1911, although there were considerable fluctuations. In the United Kingdom, it is pointed wit, "swine have -always heen regarded as providing important articles of food" So far as ■the-number per-head of the population is .concerned, the general trend has .been downward from .1890 t0,1913, with ,0.12 of one anima'J per capita in the - former years and 0107 of: one animal in . the latter. There were, lowever, many intermediate fluctuations. ■:" Very good records were obtainable of the, consumption of meat per head of the.population in the United Kingdom for-eighteen years—from 1891,t0 ~1908. Reduced to five-year averages, with a three-year 'average for tho later years, . thr per capita consumptiau remained'

lat about 1201b. of beef, mutton, and [pork for. .many years, . or extending back to 1896Y . For the- five years pre-' ceding that year the consumption averaged 1121b. The range, of ucef consumption/including veal, for the four periods into which the ''eighteen years are divided was ; from 551b. to 601b. per head per annum; of mutton,, consumption,- including lanib, from 251b. to 271b.; and of pork, consumption from 311b. to 381b. The per capita consumption of homo-produced meat during the eighteen years declined from 741b. to 641b.., whilst the similar consumption of imported meat increased from SSlb.to 551b. per head. Bight up. to the time of' the outbreak of war the trend of. prices was upward. In 1905 the mean price of r fat cattle, first quality, was OJd. per lb., followed b.v' yearly increases ,to Bd.'per lb. for 1913. The •price of ..'fat sheep, first quality, declined from B<d- in 1905 to 7jd. per lb. in 1909, followed by an increase to 9}d. for. 1913. Pig prices changed irregularly, and were as low as 53d: per lb. for 1908, and as high as 7U. for 1913. Fr0'm.,1905 to 1913 the mean wholesale price of English beef throughout England and Wales increased from 5Jd. per lb. to 6}d. per lb.; of Argentine chilled hindquarters from 4Jd.'to qjd: per lb.; and of Argentine frozen hindquarters from 3}d. to iid. per lb. From 1905 to 1913. the mean wholesale price of English.mutton increased from 7}d. to a ' fraction, over Bd. per lb.; .'and for New Zealand mutton from 4Jd. per lb. in 1906 to 43d. in 1913. Dunn* tho samo years the averaged price of English pork has increased from b'id. '>er lb. for 1905 to B*d. per lb? for 1913. During the same period the wholesale price of imported pork rose from an average of 6d. per lb. to one of 7jd. per lb. All these figures are based, it should be noted, on the yearly averages. ...

Ihis grouping of facts relating to the trend of matters relating to live stock and meat supply is of special interest at a -moment" when prices are attracting so much attention, and when a committee at Home haX.also issued a report bearing 'on special measures that might be taken. The American report indicates that meat shortage—' m comparison to . population—is a world-wido problem, which has been growing iiy importance from the commencement of the' twentieth century, and it is well to realise that.'this fact must be recognised if any 'remedies are to ho effective now or in after-war daya.y ■.-