The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. WEDNESDAY, MAY 19, 1909. THE PRICE OF MEAT.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2505, 19 May 1909, Page 4

The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. WEDNESDAY, MAY 19, 1909. THE PRICE OF MEAT.

Ihe figures which were supplied by Dr Collins to the Borough Council last night in regard to tho conditions of the butchering trade will be eagerly devoured by those housekeepers who have long held the opinion that tho price of meat in Gisborne is excessive. Dr Collins has evidently gone to a deal of trouble in the matter and, after taking tho average cost of mutton and beef to the butcher he compares the figures with the prices that are charged to the public. He then mentions what might reasonab 1 - be considered a fair amount for the expenses of running a business, including an allowance for book debts and puts down the residue as the butchers’ profits. Taking tho actual turnover of tho nine local butchers he is able to show approximately the amount of profit which each one is, or should be, making. A glance at the tables which are published in this connection discloses a most cheerful state of affairs, that is from tho butchers’ standpoint, for if tho facts as set forth are correct, then each and all of them are on tho high road to fortune. Even a tradesman in a comparatively small way of business is represented as making a clear profit of £IOOO a year, whilst several are a’.loted more than £3OOO per annum. Obviously there is a miscalculation somewhere, and it remains for the butchers to indicate where the published figures are inaccurate. There must be a mistake in the statement, otherwise our butchers would all be able to retire on a large income after a few years in trade, whereas we know as a matter of fact that they lead a particularly strenuous life, and only in rare instances are able to retire in old age from active participation in the business which has been their lifelong occupation. We have no doubt that the butchers will be able to successfully challenge the Doctor's figures iu several directions, but when all has been said that can be adduced against tire position he has taken up, there still remains abundant cause for dissatisfaction on the part of the consumer. It is no satisfaction to the thrifty housewife' that her butcher is far from She finds that legs of mutton are costing her fivopence per pound and chops—that invariably seem niisefrably attenuated by the time they f emerge from the frying pan—are down on her bill at sixpence, whilst her husband, perusing the High Commissioner’s report over the breakfast table, casually remarks that New Zealand mutton is selling in London for 2Ad per lb. Naturally she wonders Low it is that our mutton can be shipped 12,000 miles and. after bearing all the expenses of freezing, freight, etc., can be sold at 50 per cent, less money than in Gisborne. There can be only one answer to tho query which inevitably follows, and it is that the butchering business is carried on under a system which is both faulty and wasteful. It is simply ridiculous that in a country like ours the price of meat to the retailer should be as high as it is. This is not merely a matter affecting Gisborne alone, for the last issue to band of the Labor Department's report shows that iu other towns of similar standing to our* own tiic charges a.s a whole are higher than they are here. Either in bad debts, distribution, slaughtering or in some way, there is a very great waste of energy and money, with the result that the business is a most expensive one to run, and the' consumer has to pay for the waste every time ho buys a leg of mutton or a pound of steak. Dr. Collins is deserving of praise for drawing attention to this matter, and it is one that we should like to oeo fullv ventilated. •