BUTCHERS' MEAT.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 2976, 11 August 1891, Page 2

BUTCHERS' MEAT.

TO THE EDITOR. Silt, —The prodigious rise of fives or ten shillings per head in the price of fat cattle that has lately taken placo has quite justified the butchers of Hamilton—i.e., in their own opinion—of raisins the price to the consumer to tho tnno of -10-i per head, or thereabouts. In discussing the increased tariff which they have adopted they wax quite pathetic on the trials and sufferings they have undergone and experienced under the prices they were charging prior to tho formation of the "ring." Their grief seems so poignant that one would almost believe it to be genuine were appearances not against them. They certainly have not appeared to outsiders as men who were losing money on every beast slaughtered. Being a man of largo sympathies and an independent turn of mind, tho reflection that I had been eating meat purchased at a less cost than the benevolent butcher could supply it at without pecuniary loss to himself, filled mo with shame and remorse. Fearful that our long-suffering butchers had not been heroic enough to increase their prices to a sufficient evtenl. to make up for tho in tho price of fat stock, I went into figures for tho purpose of ascertaining whether my custom was still causing tho bnlcher with whom 1 do il monetary loss. The result was a hugo surprise, and my sympathy for the butcher was at once transferred to myself and brother pigeons—the consumers. If your reader* do not object to ligoio-', I will place them at their disposal. At the last Hamilton sale, tho top price obt.ined for fat bullocks was JL'."> 10c per head. Taking 700lbs as a medium beast, a bulloc!: of this weight gives, approximately : —

Prime cuts 306 Second-cIaRH cuts 184 Clods, lees and shins (JO .Suet and kidney ... ... ... (i Bones and offal fat 72 Shrinkage 12 Total 700 At present prices, this returns : — £ s. d. Prime cuts at-Id per Ib ..520 Second-class cuts at per Ib 1 18 4 Clods, legs and shins 4 3 Suet at 4d 1 S Kidney 0 fi Tail 0 (j Tongue ... t (> Bones and offal fat, at id perlb '... 3 0 Hide 15 0 Total t'S (i S There is thus a profit of £2 10a 8d per head, even when killing the best steer beef in tho market; but when cows are slaughtered, and these arc more often killed than bullocks in this part, the profits are further increased by from £1 to t'2 10s per head, fat cows at the sale referred to above bringing only from £3 per head upwards. The profit on mutton ranges frjin 8? Gd por her head upwards. It will thus be seen that a butcher who averages five or six head of cattle (steers and cows in equal numbers) and fifteen head of sheep per week, besides a pig or two, must have been doing very handsomely oven at the old prices, and the slight rise in stock has not justified a greater increase than a halfpenny per pound on the prime cuts. Under the present tariff, a butcher's shop must be a veritable gold mine. Very strong opinions have been expressed at the action of the butchers' ring, and rumours are already afloat of a new firm starting business in Hamilton. Now is their time.—Yours, etc. H. Bosk.