CORRESPONDENCE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VIII, Issue 2259, 1 April 1886, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE.

CHEAP ME-VT AND THE BUTCHERS.

(To the Editor.) Sir,-The article you published in your paper induces me to send you the following extract from the Weekly Times which touches upon the same subject in the Old Country :—" Is there no sharp man of business about with brains enough to bring the producer and the consumer of meat together, and to save them the 40 per cent, of which the middlemen and the butchers are receiving 1 Months ago we tried an experiment for the benefit of our readers with one of the sheep imported from the River Pluto, and selling at that time at about a sovereign per carcase, or about 5£ per lb. The same class of meat, which we found excellent, is now selling at 18s a carcase, or 4fd per lb. New Zealand mutton of prime qualityjuicy, and of fair size, is selling in London at 6£d per lb,, and yet the butcherewho in many cases, and wo defy them to disprove it, sell the same meat as English mutton—are charging from 9d to Is per pound for legs, and the preposterous price of Is 4d and Is 6d per pound for chops. A paper read on Monday before the Farmer's Club is conclusive as to the shameful manner in which the farmers and the public are defrauded by the middle man, The writer of that 'paper showed that on the 4th. of ijanVvy, a livo sheep was quoted in' Shefield market as worth from Gd to B|d per lb, according to quality, sinking the offal. A dead carcase fetched from 7d to 7Ad. The suburban butchor retailed it at lid por lb for legs, 9d to lid per lb for loins, 9d to 9J per lb for shoulder, and Is 2d per lb for chops, while the West-end butcher got Is a pound for legs, loins, or shoulders, and Is 4d per' lb for chops, The farmer is screwed down to the lowest point for his produce, the public arc cheated, and no one benefited but the middleman, who does nothing to raije the food he sells, and who often enhances his already bloated profit by s)jo'rt weight! A'shrewd, energotjc'm'an, with a command of cap,ita(—a " universal provider," like Mr Whiteley, for. instance-might, we are confident, make a fortune, and confer I'astin? benefit on the farmers and the London public by organising a schemo fpr, the economical and. rapid distribution and disposal iif farm produce, especially moat and poultry, He \ifijj have opposition to, contjsnd, vlith. at (jrat, b\it the public wqujd soo,n rally to, his support. Or a company might be organised, of which the farmers, might be small shareholders., working in heh.ajfpf their path and the public benefit, and sharing the legitimate profit, The alw, in either oase, should bo to open as many shops aa possible in the Metropolis and the suburbs, and to sell at the lowest remunerative figure, Contributions of all kinds should be invited from the farmors, sold out as rapidly as possible, and tho prico at once remitted to the producers, less tho cost of carriage, and the lowest possiblo commission." ' I am, &c, Householder. RABBIT INSPECTORS, [To the Editor,] Sir,—The preseiiysys'tem adopted by |he rabbit'inspectors is far from being just. 'Here and there they pick upon some unfortunate settler'and Bummons him for neglecting to destroy]lis 'rabbits',' and this man may be doing, his boat' tpt put down the pest by poisoning, which ia in my opinion the onjy w.ay to kcop them down j\t all, Tho mistake made by tho inspectors is this, that tljey do not compel everyone to begin, to poison at the same time, Supposing that I lay poison on my land and my neighbor does not do to for some time after, the result is that if I am successful in checking them on my land ■ I will be overrun from my neighbours in a few days. It is a well-known fact that wherever the rabbits are moßt numerous . is wherever the land is dry and sandy suit- • able for burrowing. Supposing that my land is of that description, nothing is 1 more natural than to expect that the rabbits will make for there directly the feed springs up. I say that everyone ought to be compelled to poison at the same time, whether the rabbits bo many or few. I do not mean to ffty, thajfit would be just jjp, make a man that has o.nly a. few'r.#itn lay as much poison m 1 those that have many, but make them lay it in proportion to the oase. Another injustice the settlers suffer from is tho i system that is adopted by the department i in relation to Crown Lands. It is only after the Inspector is reminded of it by the settlers thatanythingiadonein the way of poisoning, and this jg usually only dqne once, and for the rest of the yoar it 1 is loft for a breeding ground. Wo never '. BeerabbitOTS put on'the Crown Lands i during the summer no matter how thick ' the rabbits may be. But if it is a settler and your rabbits are getting numerous, the Inspector immediately tells you that you must put on a rabbiter although it ' maybe from the Crown Lands that yo|{ i ate overrun'. ' The' Inspector' can easily see theni An a settler's land because as n rule a great part or perhaps all his land , is clear, and the reverse is the case with Crown Lands. No doubt tho Inspector wlil say he cannot see any or very' few because they are hidden from his sight 1 by the scrub or forn, I am Ac, Sether.