7. 
of immediate control. The trade being there, chances of 
ready sale are greater and a shipment coming to London has first 
the opportunities, without additional expense, of that market, 
and, failing a good market, can be conveniently railed to any 
other centre. Moreover, it is nearly always possible to obtain 
London freight in the producing-centre, whereas goods may have 
to wait some time for a steamer that is calling at other ports. 
Again, many importing firms are not represented in the outports 
and are therefore reluctant to ship to any other port than London 
anless they are able to sell their goods c.i.f., or unless there 
appears to be good prospect of a sale before the goods arrive, 
for when the goods are once landed, it is difficult for such firms 
to arrange the ordinary ex-store selling without incurring the 
expense of appointing an agent for the purpose. 
Reference has already been made to the fact that the fluidity 
of distribution of meat supplies in this country is such that 
supply and demand can be rapidly equated and prices main- 
tained at a fairly uniform level. Whilst this is so, it is frequently 
alleged that, since all the importers on a provincial market have 
asually the same price for similar goods, these are fixed for the 
whole country by consultation among importers in London. It 
is evident, however, from the structure of the trade, and apart 
from any understandings, that the tendency to uniformity of 
prices follows naturally from concentration of control in one 
centre. Though Smithfield is not an ordinary produce exchange, 
yet, by the continuous movement of buyers and sellers, prices 
soon become level in that market; each firm with provincial 
oranches is in continual touch by telephone with them and, 
except for such movements as are purely local and transitory, 
country prices must tend to be stabilised somewhere around 
Smithfield prices. Moreover, the provincial managers look to 
London for their information and guidance, and both will be 
given under the influence of Smithfield. Since meat is a highly 
perishable article, there are, of course, limits to control from 
the centre, and a reasonable degree of initiative must be left to 
local managers who have to adapt their selling to the peculiar 
circumstances of their own locality, but this merely means that 
control is resilient and not that it is unreal and ineffective. 
(d) Cold Storage—Cold stores are the reservoirs of imported 
meat; they form an integral part of the distributive system 
and enable supplies to be roughly equated to demand. Never- 
theless, large quantities of imported meat reach the consumer 
without passing through a cold store at all, for practically all 
the chilled and much of the frozen passes direct ex-ship to 
market-stalls, depots, and even retailers’ shops.* Distribution 
ex-ship is the ideal, for not only are the charges and extra 
handling avoided which are incidental to storage. but the meat 
* Less than one-third of the meat which comes into London is cold- 
stored. (* Revort of Roval Commission on Food Prices.’ paracravh 263. )