The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 2, 1909. THE MEAT MARKET.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2517, 2 June 1909, Page 4

The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 2,1909. THE MEAT MARKET.

Wo should think tho records of the frozen meat trade would have to bo searched for a very lengthy period to discover anything approaching tho slump which at present exists in tho Home market. Month by month the continuance of low prices, with a poor demand and a steady downward tendency, has been, most depressing to producers, who have,-however, comforted themselves -with the assurance that prices will soon, improve. Yet the latest report of tho High Commissioner shows that North Island mutton only commands from l|d to 2|d por lb at Smithfiold. Stocks on hand are heavy, and .there is only a- hand-to-mouth demand, although agents are pushing sales as much as possible. The cause of this unsatisfactory state of affairs is not hard to discover. Just at a time when the masses of England are poorer than they have been for years, and consequently less able to buy meat, tho supply of the frozen artio’e has been abnormally large. During tho three months ending. March 31st last, the increase of imports to London, as compared with thoso for the same period of 1908, amounted to 450,000 sheep and 370,000 lambs, or a total expansion in imports at the rate of 3,250,000 per annum. Naturally, the market has been unable to absorb such quantities, with tho result that prices have slumped badly. It might have been thought that tho fall in values would have induced much greater consumption, hut this does not seem to have been the ease, at any rate, not to a marked extent. As a matter of fact, it does not appear that the low rates ruling are greatly benefiting consumers. One reliable authority, writing on this matter recently, declared that in the past the butchers retailing frozen meat in the Old Country have worked on so small a margin that profit has often been absent, and that they are looking upon the present low values as a means to rcoup former losses. Tho argument will sound quite familiar to those who have endeavored at any time to obtain from local butchers a satisfactory explanation for the high prices charged for meat when stock values are low. The most shocking reduction in meat values is shown in New Zealand lamb, which may be quoted all round at 3}d to 4Jd; same time last year 5Jd to s|d. One has to go back to the disastrous jubilee year, 1897, to parallel the present rates; in September in that year New Zealand lambs dropped to 3d. Writing on tho position six weeks ago, a London correspondent of the “Pastoralists’ Review” said: —“The slump now being experienced shows that we wore all wrong in saying that tho New Zealand lamb was a tiling apart, that ,it bad taken such a hold on the markets and the public that whatever happened to mutton and beef, lamb was sure to retain its position. But we must allow for the cold and backward season. When the sun comes out, the demand will improve, though there is no chance of the 1909 season being a fair one.” With such depressing circumstances existent in regard to the meat trade, it is pleasant to bo able to refer to the steady improvement in the wool market; indeed, but for this fact our sheep and lambs would bo of 'little value at the present time. However, it is only a question of time when the heavy stocks in tho Old Country will have been consumed, and afterwards wo may coufidently look for the restoration of former values. With the British marbet so glutted, it seems tantalising that the enormous markets that exist in the United States and also in Germany for frozen meat cannot be opened to our produce, tor in that case wo could easily dispose of evei;y carcase at a reasonable figure.