56 
this country, and, by narrowing the margin between refrigerated 
and fresh-killed supplies, may afford a new and incalculable 
stimulus to home production. There are signs. too, that the 
East will shortly be a buyer. 
The position is somewhat complicated by the present position 
of mutton. Wool, until recently, has been such a satisfactory 
product that sheep have been fed for their wool and not for 
their meat. Hence the shipments of lamb and mutton have 
been governed more by the limit of feeding than by the question 
of meat; in other words, stock-owners have kept as many sheep 
as their pastures could carry, and have been competitors of 
meat-buyers at stock sales. As a result, the prices of mutton 
and lamb have been high and, on the whole, steady. The world’s 
flocks are not yet up to their pre-war level and it is, at least, 
doubtful if the world’s demand for wool is satisfied. Certainly, 
when demand and supply have, in fact, been equated on the 
wool market, more mutton will be available and this, in turn, 
may react on the price of beef, especially in this country which 
is the world’s great mutton and lamb market. In any event, 
if the recent slump in wool values continues. heavy shipments of 
mutton may be expected. 
Not only is the future obscure from the standpoint of con- 
sumption, but production cannot be forecasted with safety, 
and there seems no reliable measure of probable outputs, 
Indeed, all that can really be said is that Present tendencies 
betoken a firm market for beef for some time to come. Visibility, 
even in beef, is low, and in other meats it is even lower, so 
that the present is a most unsatisfactory moment at which 
to estimate its future in any direction. If, therefore, this 
Report has a leit-motif, it is that of change—changing condi- 
bions in areas of supply, changes in effective meat-exporting 
capacity, changes in the technique of refrigeration and trans- 
portation, changing tastes and demands in areas of consumption, 
and changes in the course which the flow of supplies is taking ; 
such being the case, instructive though it is hoped this brief 
survey may be, it is as well to bear in mind that the conditions 
described may be altogether different at the end of a few vears. 
Markets and Co-operation Branch, 
Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, 
August, 1925.