AMERICAN BEEF IN ENGLAND.

Samoa Times and South Sea Gazette, Issue 41, 13 July 1878, Page 3

AMERICAN BEEF IN ENGLAND.

It is not much over fifteen months since the- first experiment of shipping fresh beef from New York to London was tried and with l.ut faint hopes of success, It has already taken the proportions of an immense Business, with the prospect ■of revolutionising ttie Loudon meat markets. The , jftnandal, Opinion, of May'-oth states that the shipments of American beef and mutton received in London during the week ending May 3rd amounted to 0973 quarters of beet' and 1905 mutton. Besides this beef and mutton, there were received 033 head of iive oattle and 059 sheep on foot. In the tame paper we find that the supply of meat in the Metropolitan Market on Monday, May 6th, was: English, 2930: foreign, 1170; and that the highest prices were: forEuglish beef, 12 cents, or sixpeace per pound; for for foreign, 10} oents. On the 2nd of May there were 200 American beeves in the same market, and on the 6th the reporter says: " 420 Amerioau cattle [live} have arrived in excellent condition." But it is in the item of killed cattle that the heavy business is doing. The present and future volume of this trade may bo surmised from an estimate of the fresh American meat received in London and the market price it commanded duriug the week ending May 9th. The quantity—6973 quarters— gives 1743 beeves. Rating them at the low average of 100 pounds each, we have 1,743,000 pounds fur the week, which,. at only 9 cento per pound (the average was nearly 10 cents and the highest rate 10J), #vcs a London value of° & 150,870 for American beef for one week. If the shipm.nts could be kept up at that rate for the entire year, the , sales would amount to ! This is exclusive of live importations and of mutton. The question is, will these i heavy shipments be maintained I The j best reply to it is found by a comparison | of the shipments this month and the corresponding month of last year. They have.increased more than three hundred fold, and are constantly imjreasin;' from mouth to month. lu sh>irt»tbe Amerioan beef, which was at first unpopular and selling at hardly moro than half the price of English beef, is now but 10 to 12 psr cent lower than the very best of the market. The traio may be regarded as established, and with tilt future prospects beyoud ouv power of reckoning, since both the demand and supply are almost unlimited. It will have an cqual- ; ising effect on the two oouuUiw. it.

will certainly cheapen beef in England and raise the price of beef cattle in the United States.