BUTCHERS’ MEAT.

New Zealander, Volume XVIII, Issue 1718, 27 August 1862, Page 4

BUTCHERS’ MEAT.

To the Editor of the New-Zkalandek,

Sir, —I perceive that your horae-thrust at the motives of a certain *• daily sheet ” in crying up the alleged scarcity of cattle, in order to advance the value of meat at a time when such contracts arc out, has touched some of the parties who form this combination, rather sharply on the raw. The thanks of the community are deservedly duo to you in defeating the object of a few interested persons in raising unduly, for their own filthy lucre, the price of an article of the people’s food. It is true, however, that our population may shortly become so much increased as to cause a considerable and rapid diminution in the number of cattle fit for the butcher, and I cannot hut observe that the method taken to supply the market is far from being cither suitable for the occasion, or profitable to the persons engaged in the trade. Why import fat cattle at all? Ask any butcher and he will (ell you that few of them, even with a favourable voyage, are in a fit condition for him; and very frequently the shipper could tell you that, deducting lor those that die on the voyage, and for the loss of value in those which live, that the cattle on their arrival arc not of greater value than they were when first shipped. I know that in one instance where fat cattle were shipped from Wellington lately, the shipper was offered a few shillings per head more for them before leaving Wellington than he actually realized for them on their arrival in Auckland. Now, if lean or store cattle were imported in the place of fat ones, the result would be more profitable to the shipper, and the market would, after a few months, bo more regularly supplied with fat stock. It i§ a fact, that at the present moment some of the large grass paddocks near town arc understocked for want of this description of cattle. Where two fat beasts are stowed in a vessel, three leans one would find ample room, would be more able to bear the hardships of a voyage, and in rough weather, if a fat beast gets down, he can hardly rise again, while a lean one is up and on his pins again in no time. A constant supply of store cuttle would keep our paddocks stocked, and a constant supply of fat stock would of necessity follow. Our cattle importers have only to follow this plan, and the Editor of the paper alluded to need not fear that he will run short of fat cattle; though if he, and such correspondents as “ Aspor,” cat less fat, they would be troubled with less bile.

Yours, &c., A Queen-street Butcher,

Queen-street, August 23. T. S.—Believe me, Mr. Editor, it is not the butchers who want to raise the price of meat; a cheap price makes a brisk trade, and a larger sale of meat on a smaller capital. You have put the saddle on the right horse this time, and it pinches him smartly.