BEEF! BEEF!! BEEF!!!

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

BEEF! BEEF!! BEEF!!!

To the Editor of the Nevv-Zealander

Sir, —I see the Southern Cross has returned, not to its “ mutton ” (for it appears to be rather unwilling to look a sheep in the face), but to its prophccyings about the great Scarcity—present and future—of great cattle; and a brisk correspondent, rejoicing in the name of “ Aspcr ” has also come to its aid. Between the two they have pummelled you well, and have shown in the most satisfactory manner that wo are eating up all our cows and heifers so quickly that store cattle to stock our paddocks cannot be purchased for seventeen pounds (£l7) a head, so that, if we go on a little longer as we are doing, we shall probably be glad to eat our old shoes; fried in oil, as there will neither bo lard or dripping to fry them in. “An attempt has indeed been made in a certain quarter,” says the Southern Cross, “ to ridicule the idea of there being a scarcity,” hut that unhappy quarter (meaning you, Mr. Editor), “ is not familiar with the facts;” the principal fact being, according to Mr. Asper, that the sheep and cattle returned as being in this province last December “ exist only on paper, for a great number of them have been killed and eaten,” while other facts, not expressed but implied, are, that no such fatality befol our stock in former years, and that this year none have come into the world to supply the place of those killed and eaten. That your contemporary has been grossly deceived by parties from whom ho receives his information on this subject is very evident, lor while ho informs us that he “ knows a gentleman who failed to purchase at Newmarket young beasts to stock his paddocks, although he offered seventeen pounds per head for them,” it is the fact that at Newmarket, on Thursday last, large cattle, three parts fat, were sold as store cattle at from £ll to £l3, and fat cattle were sold at prices not exceeding six pence half-penny per pound, dead weight. In order to thow clearly the true state of the matter, it is necessary to go q littlo into the statistics , with %

, The number of great,settle slaughtered in this proVince in' lß6l was 3948,—average 329 per month; this year the average number per mouth has been 370, shewing a probable excess in this year over the last of nearly 600 heed. ‘ ; . . In ,1861 the number of sheep, slaughtered; was ! 16,488,— average 1374 per month; while this year the average per month lias been 91 more, shewing a probable excess ill this year over the last of 1128 sheep. But, Observe, the increase of stock in this’ province during each of the three preceding years, over and above all the number slaughtered in three years, was s.t the rate of about 1600 head of great cattle, and upwards of 6000 sheep per year, being more than three times as many cattle and five times as many sheep as arc required for our increased consumption; while there is no reason whatever for supposing that the rate of increase has been diminished. This is not all, however, for I am enabled to state, on the very best authority, that over one half of all the cattle slaughtered in this district for sometime back have been imported from Hawke’s Bay and Wanganui, where the increase in the last three years was at the rate of more than 6000 head per year. There is one thing to which I would call the attention of your readers, interested, ns we all are, in the price of butchers’ meat, and that is, that the consumption of beef has increased in a much greater proportion than that of mutton; for had the consumption of mutton increased in the same proportion as beef, between two or three hundred more sheep would have been slaughtered every month. It is impossible for me to see any reason why the public should pay any “ famine price ” for beef when our butchers are buying the carcase at six pence halfpenny per pound, and when there are hundreds [of thousands of sheep to fall back upon should beef be felt to be too dear. The increase of sheep in the northern island alone during the last three years was upwards of 233,000, while in the province of Canterbury the increase was nearly 400,000, so that the flock owners were making preparations for boiling down their surplus wethers and old ewes. The rise in the price of cattle here has come partly from the great addition made to our means of feeding these cattle—nearly 13,000 acres having been laid down in grass during the last three years—but much more from a spirit of speculation, which the Southern Cross has done its best to stimulate. I shall be much surprised if some of our graziers do not find that they have been misled when they bring again for sale the cattle for which they are now giving fancy prices; they may very probably find, as on former occasions, that, after feeding them on their valuable pastures for months, they can get little or no advance on the prices paid for them. If we have a large increase of population at Coromandel there may bo an additional consumption of fresh beef as well as of mutton, and there will bo no difficulty in supplying such additional demand; but whatever addition there may be to tne number of our bush settlers, hardly one bullock the more will be slaughtered on that account, fresh beef being an article rarely tasted by nay bush settler. Eresh pork they have occasionally (and, bv the way, there is a great falling off in the number of pigs slaughtered this year notwithstanding the increase in their number), but the staple articles of consumption in the “ bush” are salt beef and pork. Veritas. To the Editor of the New-Zealander. Sir, —The apathy felt by the people of Auckland in respect to the Lancashire Distress, is a matter, I think, to be deeply regretted; but, lam sure, it is only from a want of knowing who to intrust their subscription to that such apathy doth exist. I would respectfully suggest that subscription lists be immediately opened at the various banks and shops in town and country in order that a good sum may be remitted by the outgoing mail. Hoping you will use your usual kind endeavours to promote so needful an end, I am, Sir, yours, “ Cavendish.”