CHAPTER 1. STATISTICAL. 
(i) Supplies.—The annual volume in Great Britain, during the 
ast 15 years of home, as compared with imported, supplies of 
beef, veal, mutton and lamb, taken together, is shown approxi- 
mately in Diagram A (opposite), while Table I, on p. 58, shows 
the position in Great Britain and Ireland, since the beginning of 
the present century, as regards meat supplies of all kinds, 
including pigmeat. Veal supplies in this and other Tables are 
classed with beef, and it is not possible to separate them. As 
far as this country is concerned, however, the quantity of 
imported veal consumed compared with imported beef, mutton 
and lamb, is insignificant. It will be observed that home- 
produced beef furnishes about half of the total quantities of beef 
available for consumption; in the case of mutton and lamb, 
home-produced supplies represent a smaller proportion. It will 
be observed, too, that although the total supplies available for 
sonsumption in Great Britain have increased, slightly though it 
may be over pre-war figures, the quota of home-produced supplies 
nas steadily declined. 
There is considerable difference of opinion as to whether 
consumption per head is increasing in this country. Meat 
traders stated in evidence before the Royal Commission on 
Food Prices that, in their experience, less meat is consumed in 
middle-class households than before the war; the view that 
consumption per family is less than formerly was also supported 
by the evidence of a representative of the consumers’ co-operative 
movement. On the other hand, there is support for the view 
that the per capita consumption of meat among the poorer classes 
has gone up in recent vears. Importers certainly hold the view 
that consumption is increasing, but are influenced, no doubt, in 
this bv the larger quantities of imported meat now passing 
through their hands. The fact remains, however, that while the 
population has increased by roughly 4} per cent. since 1913, 
available supplies of heef, veal, mutton and lamb have increased 
by less than 2 per cent. over the average for the five years prior 
to the war, and if account is taken of the fact, which seems 
to be generally agreed, that there is now more wastage in 
the trade, judged by the quantities of meat sent to the soap 
boiler,* it seems probable that the total consumption of beef, 
veal, mutton and lamb, per head, over the country as a whole, 
has, in fact, declined somewhat since the vears preceding the 
war. 
Regarding the source of imported supplies, Table 1I, p. 59, 
shows the arrivals, month by month, for the year 1924, of frozen 
beef. mutton and lamb from Australia. New Zealand and South 
* Royal Commission on Food Prices. Sir Philip Proctor’s evidence, 
Q. 2397. 
f See also para. 4. “Report of Imperial Economic Committee.” 
‘mcd. 24090 19925