NEW ZEALAND MEAT.

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 219, 30 November 1916, Page 2

NEW ZEALAND MEAT.

AND THE LONDON MARKET. . PRICES AND SPECULATORS. The method under which New Zealand meat requisitioned by the Imperial Government, and resold to the dealers, is distribtued in London, and the prices obtained, are explained by Mr J. C. Cooper, managing director of the Wellington Farmers’ Meat Company, and manager of file Taranaki Farmers’ Meat Company, who was a passenger by the Athenic from- Great Britain. He pointed out that when he was at Horae lOd per lb was paid by the wholesale dealer to the Government for first-class lamb. The dealer was allowed to charge the retail butcher 10td per lb, and then then trouble really began, as after that there was no apparent check. Mr Cooper said that in many instances 1/3 and 1/4 per lb was quoted to him person-

ally, while consumers had informed him that they had paid as high as 2/- per lb for New Zealand lamb. The trouble is that as the Government is receiving large supplies of beef and mutton from the Argentine mu! other foreign sour-

ces of supply, it fears that if it at--1 tempted to control the market for- mutton and lamb received from American, sources there would be a danger of diverting these supplies to outside markets, thus making the, position Averse. As a matter of fact, at the time the retailers were paying IGld per lb for prime New Zealand lamb the same retailers wore paying 12-1 d per lb for lowgrade Argentine Limb. Uo far a s he could see, there atus a most rigid supervision of the prices charged by th 0 Avholesale meat dealer, and ho Avas convinced that the opinion was incorrect that speculators on Noav Zealand meat arc at work on London markets, Unless th e retailer could be classed as a speculator. “From personal investigation I found that American meat trusts arc handling very little New- Zealand meat, but they are certainly making huge profits from their sale of Argentine and Patagonian meat. For tliis the consumers are made to pay extreme prices.”

The difficulties of the retailors wore then referred to by Mr Cooper, who said that in replying to his criticism of the high prices they w-cre charging for meat, the retailers had stated that they Avore handling such small supplies that the profit made Avas barely sufficient to keep their business machinery going. Many of the small shopkeepers had had to go out of business altogether.