BACK PAGES:THE PRICE of meat – and whether the farmer or the butcher profited most from it – was a much discussed issue from time to time in the past.
So much so in 1948 that the butchers set out in graphic fashion to prove their point, as witnessed by the Irishman’s Diary of the day.
One of the most controversial topics of conversation in Dublin at present is the price of meat. Half of the people think that the butchers are making a fortune, and that meat must continue to be controlled at the present prices, if not drastically reduced. The others feel that possibly the butchers have genuinely got a raw deal, and that the Government should at least re-examine the position.
This week, in an effort to prove the point which they have been trying to make for months, the Dublin Master Victuallers’ Association announced that they were going to take a test case, and allow all interested parties to follow up the whole process, from the purchase of a live animal in the market, to the weighing out of the cut meat in a butcher’s shop.
The animal was bought in the Dublin Cattle Markets on Wednesday morning.
It was bought comparatively late in the day (around 9am): and, if anything, the association should have gained on this, because cattle are normally bought by weight and frequently lose as much as half a cwt. between the time the market opens and 9 o’clock.
The price paid for the beast was 93s. a cwt. This was by no means high: the average at present is around about 97s. a cwt., and a few months ago prime cattle were fetching up to 117s. a cwt., although the fixed price of meat was the same then as it is now.
Thus the association can claim that they did not buy the most expensive beast available.
The animal they chose weighed 8¾cwt., and the price paid was £40 13s 9d.
Next the test heifer was taken to the city abattoir, where it was slaughtered under supervision.
Head and tongue were condemned, and the hide, offal, loose fat, heart, lung and liver were disposed of for a total return of £3 1s. 11d.
The carcase was then taken to Meehan’s of Rathmines, the scene chosen for the final stage of the exhibition . . .
First the carcase was weighed just as it had returned from the abattoir. It was discovered that the total weight was just 550lb.
The difference between 550lb. and 8¾ cwt. is presumably accounted for by the weight of the head, horns, hooves, hide and offal . . .
. . . when the whole side had been cut up and carefully weighed, a specially-appointed auditor got to work and calculated the total receipts.
After some deliberation he announced that the value, at today’s prices, of the meat on the heifer, plus the money received for offal, hide and other parts, amounted to £47 18s 3d.
Deducting from this the price paid for the animal, plus the normal wastage figure allowed at 5 per cent, plus a selling cost allowed at 3d. per lb., which is reckoned to cover wages and overheads, the net result worked out at a loss of £1 18s. 3 d . . .
Frankly, I refuse to believe that the butchers are losing money, but in all fairness to them, I must mention that some weeks ago, when I visited the cattle markets, I watched an auctioneer (and an auctioneer would, you would think, be the last to fight the buyers’ battle) take a cheque for a beast.
He showed it to me. “That fellow is a butcher,” he said, “and he’s paid me £45 for a heifer. I could show you figures which would prove that he must lose money on it. He’s only buying to keep his shop open.”
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