Matawatu Standard (PUBLISHED DAILY.) The Oldest Daily Newspaper on the West Coast. MONDAY, APRIL 21, 1884.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IV, Issue 124, 21 April 1884, Page 2

Matawatu Standard (PUBLISHED DAILY.) The Oldest Daily Newspaper on the West Coast. MONDAY, APRIL 21, 1884.

It would almost seem that New Zealand f*oken> meat i l- c 'Jis Jjpming ifilßb better estimation m the. Home market. In one of the last numbers of tbe Illustrated News; J&r Sala, iii his " Echoes of the Week," says — fe" We Cannot getr&h^gK% frozen tfpfcat. ; from America or from the Antipodes; while, as regards the Co&jinent, the, exclusion of live meat is tantamount to the cessation of the importation of the dead commodity." And m another place tho same writer' J»Hysj*r*V.Tb>Fto has been read a second time m the House of Lords a bill, promoted by the Duke of Kicn'mond and Gordon, which, if it hecbnifts law, will eiiforce a : total prohibition of. .the importation of foreign cattle, and (he effect of which | will be to make butcher's meat twentyfim per cent dearer than it now is?' And then ho asks housekeepers how Mi «y would like to pay one and threepunoe a pound for mutton, one and four pence a pound for loanting 1 beef, and ono and .-eight-pence a pound for rump-steak. And Mr Saw predicts tjiat those prices will rule if the importation of foreign animals be prohibited.

It will be remembered that m a recnt letter to this journal Dr Curl pointed out the marked discrepancy between the prices obtained 'for New Zealand trozeu meat wholesale m the London market, viz. from 5d to 6d per lb, and the retail prices — more than double those quoted, u-hich were asked by the butchers. The rapier Telegraph also obsenes that: — "With tlie prices of ra^at before us that are asked m Lon--don, it certainly uiubl appear to the colonial reader a most ridiculous wtatemeul!'thai. a cargo of>»nutton m excellent condition should bo sold for fivepence per lb on account of the market being overstocked. In a private letter that was received by the last Englwli mail was enclosed the following little poster that was being extensively circulated m Birmingham aud other large centres of population : — '• Important public notice. The great New Zealand Frozen Mutton Company (limited) will open at 4, Market Square, on. Saturday next, February 16th,1884, with 150 frozen sheep !! m grand condition. They arrived m London on Monday, February 11th, 1884, m the company's grand ship Ment--111 ore. The sheep are far superior to English m evory respect, -both m appearance, umdefness, richness of flavour and small ness of bone, and 3d per pound cheaper. The large- quantity that .are now being sold, by .Lhe Coin-, pahy w«-ekly is a proof of tbie ojuality of the moat. Tli»s being the only genuine Company direct from New Zealand, they wish to inform the public that their object m coming to this country and opening shops m all the leading (owns m England is to establish a trade to the satisfaction of the senders abroad and so reduce meat to be within the : reach of all classes . Auyoue catigh t using the Company's name ia any way' whatever, copying their bills arid posters, or saying they sell the same mutton as the Company, will be prosecuted according to law; No connection with any American depot or English butcher m this country. Branches :—Birmingham^ Wolverhampton, Worcester,, Sfnfford, and Kidderminster. Prices, s£d to B^d. Note the address---4, Market Square, the Large Flag." As our Napier . contemporary remarks, ** The above looks like. a genuine attempt to l>usjh th'e meat aiiiongst the poorer classes of the manufac^uririg cities, and. we have no doubt that before long the trade will be perfectly independent of those influences which sometimes are perhaps exerted to make an overstocked market." -