THE MIDDLEMAN IN AGRICULTURE. 87 



by the consumer. That the margin, however, is very 

 wide in many cases there is no doubt. Take the case of 

 milk, which is a simple one. It will be admitted by all 

 who know anything of the trade, and might be proved, 

 if need were, from many contracts, that an average of 

 from 7<f. to 8d. per imperial gallon is as much as the 

 ordinary dairy farmer obtains for his milk, taking the 

 year through. The retail price in the towns is, as a rule, 

 is. 4^. per imperial gallon. In some cases it may be 

 is. and in a few others is. 8d., but is. <\d. is probably the 

 most usual price. Assuming that the price paid to the 

 farmer is Bd. t and the price paid by the consumer is 

 is. 4^., it will be seen that the " margin " for cost of 

 distribution is 100 per cent. No doubt milk is an 

 exceptionally expensive commodity to " handle " and 

 deliver in small quantities, but it must be confessed that 

 an addition of 100 per cent, to its price seems primd facie 

 rather a large allowance for the " middle profit." 



Vegetables and fruit frequently supply remarkable 

 instances of an almost ridiculous discrepancy between 

 the prices paid to the grower and those current to retail 

 purchasers. Cases have often occurred where the produce 

 has been left on the land to rot, because it would not 

 bear the charges of distribution, while at the same time 

 probably in some not far distant town similar produce was 

 making a fair price. 



With regard to meat, the difficulty of arriving at 

 accurate figures is considerable, and it is practically 

 impossible to say what share the dealer and butcher 

 obtain, but this brings up a question which has a very 

 direct bearing on the subject of the middleman's share 

 in the meat trade. There were last year (1892) 51,630 

 tons or 2,140,000 carcases of frozen and fresh mutton 

 imported into this country, almost all of it coming from 

 New Zealand and Australia. Now this was sold at the 

 London wholesale market at from 40 to 50 per cent, 

 below the price of British meat. What it would be 



