FAMINE PRICES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 30 August 1939, Page 6

FAMINE PRICES

PAID FOR FAT SHEEP AT ADDINGTON ON ABNORMALLY SMALL ENTRY. RESULTS OF PROVINCIAL SHORTAGE. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) CHRISTCHURCH, This Day. With a rise of 10s. to 12s a head all round, famine prices ruled for fat sheep at the Addington market today. A yarding of between 2500 and 3000 head brought a quick response from butchers, who competed frantically for their require- . ments from the start of the sale. The reason for the shortage was not the war scare, but heavy killings in the summer and autumn, which depleted the province’s flocks. Weather losses during the winter accentuated the position. Today’s yarding was the smallest on record for a regular sale at Addington. Only once before have fewer sheep been offered and that was at a sale many years ago, held between Christ mas and the New Year instead of the usual double market and which proved a fiasco. Last Wednesday’s yarding was only 4000 head, producing a rise of 2s a head. Today’s rates saw wether mutton at a full 8d per pound, double what it was three months ago. Few pens of wethers sold at under 30s and most of the ewes, regardless of condition, went at over 255. Besides the entry being the smallest, prices were among the best in living memory.