PRICE OF MEAT.

Taranaki Daily News, 28 October 1916, Page 7

PRICE OF MEAT.

LOCAL BUTCHERS AFFECTED. RETRENCHMENT SUGGESTED. T!i<? increasing; price of stock is causing tlio butchers of New Plymouth much concern, and the question of abandoning the house to house delivery and demanding ensh on the counter lins b«cn seriously contemplated. Inquiries made of retailers by a News reporter yesterday elicited interesting information regarding the position. Mr. A. Allan, president of the New Plymouth Master Butchers' Association, said he paid £l9 per head for stock at Hawora on Thursday which he could have purchased a year ago for £l4 los. Sheep at present cost from £2 to £2 2s, viiereas a year ago they could be had for £) 10s. Lambs were e.vccedingly difficult to procure owing to their scarcity. The increased cost of stock, said Mr. Allen, was due in a large measure to the demand for export and to local competition. Three-year steers were difficult to procure owing to the fact that last year a large number of two-year beasts were killed. The scarcity and high cost of labor presented difficulties which butchers found to be very embarrassing in carrying on their business. Incidental expenses such as horse-feed, shoeing, paper, and twine had also increased. "There is nothing in the business for us," remarked the manager of another butchering establishment. "Expenses ill e going up, and Ave cannot increase the price of meat," he added. The consensus of opinion was that the margin of profit in the butchery business had been reduced to a very small minimum owing to the various causes affecting the trade, and that the immediate prospects were not bright.