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(b).—Country-killed meat has been generally of first class quality. Scotch
beef maintains its pre-eminence as being the very best article of the kind in
the market, and the mutton from the Lothians and border districts has left
nothing to be desired. Scarcely, if at all inferior, are the productions of the
West Country breeders, while splendid carcases of the Suffolk Down breed
from their own and adjacent counties have, from time to time, excited
universal admiration. Lincolnshire and other counties have also sent us some
excellent mutton, though it must be remembered that there is a largelv
increased local consumption, and that here the meat is in competition with that
produced all over the world, this and the habit importers have of swamping
the market create an element of risk which does not attract to London.
(c).—There has been a certain amount of poultry, game, and other small
goods from France, Russia, and Italy, but except these, nearly all the supply
under this head came from Holland, Denmark, and Belgium. Dutch mutton
has mostly been good, and the pork, so far as it was inspected and labelled,
excellent, but a large quantity not labelled, of which the quality and soundness
was just, as it happened, has also been sent, and it is greatly to be regretted that
there should be any delay in enforcing the law as to the compulsoryinspection of
all carcases for export to this country. There has been rather less of mutton,
while the supply of Dutch pork has at no time been excessive, and the prices
have ruled somewhat high, probably the high price of meat in Germany has
something to do with this, and also the fact that so little meat of any
kind has come from Denmark. The imports from Belgium are limited to
pork and rabbits, of the former there is a certain method of inspection wholly
unreliable, and not carried out in accordance with the standard laid down in
the recommendation of the Royal Commission, while the latter for the most
part reach the consumers without coming into the City.
(d).—We now come to a very important branch of this subject, viz., cattle
imported alive and slaughtered at Deptford, Birkenhead and elsewhere, the
two places named furnishing almost the entire supply of this article for
London. A few years ago these were great gaunt animals of any age, "which
means certainly aged," now they are chiefly neat, symmetrical bullocks of 2,
3, or at most 4 years old, carefully brought over and landed with an immunity
from bruises which is nothing short of remarkable, after having been
sufficiently rested from the voyage to fit them for slaughter, they dress into neat
bright carcases of beef greatly resembling the best Scotch, and well calculated
if it were so desired, to deceive buyers into the belief that they were getting
that article; the illusion would, however, probably breakdown under the knife
and fork test.
It scarcely needs demonstration that cattle prepared with so much skill and
cost must realise a fairly high price for the trade in them to be remunerative,
the shortage of 90,000 bullocks is probably the effect of (a) greater requirements
to feed the ever increasing population of the United States, (b) the low