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121
MEAT SUPPLIES IN 1908.*
It is unpleasant when contemplating the deliveries of meat to the Central
Market again to have to deal with a falling-of, still more so when comparing
1908 with previous years to find that some eight years of more or less steady
progress have been obliterated, and that we are now in about the same place
as we were in 1900. This question of decreasing market deliveries has been
the subject of comment in these reports on previous occasions, and it has
been pointed out that the establishment of dep6ts at different centres in the
outer suburbs of London must inevitably detract from the amount of trade
here; the worst feature of it is that these dep6ts are worked by firms who,
though they cannot be said to constitute a ring or trust, have working
arrangements which are quite as effectual as any organisation of the kind
could be.
We propose classifying the supplies in the manner adopted last year.
1. English Town-Killed.—This consists largely of beef from the
Metropolitan Cattle Market, Islington, pigs consigned to or purchased by
different slaughterers, and after dressing marketed at Smithfield ; sheep,
lambs and calves purchased at various markets, and, when dressed, sent
here to be sold. The opening months of the year were favourable to the
cattle trade, supplies from abroad were light, and the fact that no United
States cattle would be sent unless they realised a price at which the English
grazier could also produce beef, was made the most of for a time, the sums
obtained must have been satisfactory to the sellers ; but the weather became
treacherous, half fat cattle were pushed out, and when once the all-important
factor of quality was neglected the inevitable slump came, because the home
productions were no longer competing with United States bullocks of prime
quality, but with the low-priced refrigerated meat of Argentina. This
condition of things lasted nearly to Christmas, then foot-and-mouth disease
broke out in several States of America, and some of the principal ports for the
shipment of cattle were closed. With the Americans competing less keenly
prices again rose, consequently cattle good enough for the Christmas trade
realised sums which have not been heard of for a long time. Of sheep there
is almost every Monday a good show at Islington, and for the first half of the
year they sold well, but later, when it appeared likely that the turnip crop in
the middle and southern portions of England would be very light, if not an
utter failure, a large number of half-meated sheep and lambs came on the
market, and a little later plenty of excellent Dutch mutton, for which the
owners were willing to accept very low prices, was sent, the result being that
the later months of the year have seen a level of prices most unsatisfactory to
the British sheep farmer.
It would be improper to close our remarks on this section without some
reference to the improved conditions under which slaughtering is now carried
on at the Islington Cattle Market. A long range of slaughterhouses has been
built, lined with sanitary bricks, and provided with the necessary appliances
* i am indebted to Mr. G. P. Terrett for the remarks on pp. 121-125.