THE WORLD'S MEAT FUTURE 9 



the requirements for meat, it is well to remember this important 

 factor and those countries can be put on one side, as their food 

 supply will come out of the ground. Again there are many 

 nations whose people are meat eaters who are not so fastidious 

 as we are and use horse flesh, whale flesh, and other meats 

 which the average Britisher or American refuses to touch. 



The world's export output of frozen and chilled beef, mutton 

 and lamb in 1917 was estimated at 965,000 tons, as against 

 915,380 tons in 1916, 881,075 tons in 1915, and 800,375 tons in 

 1914 — a steady rate of expansion which was very satisfactory, 

 under war conditions. From these yearly totals, about 386,000 

 tons, 381,569 tons, 218,150 tons, and 105,948 tons respectively 

 were diverted to markets other than the United Kingdom. 



The nations which are mainly beef, mutton, and pork eaters 

 are the British Empire, United States, Germany, France, and 

 a few other smaller countries in Europe ; also most of the South 

 American Republics. These are the countries whose supply and 

 demand must be looked at when investigating the condition and 

 prospects of the meat trade of the world, and I propose to take 

 them in order of their importance. 



Many of the countries I shall describe have been visited by 

 myself during the last thirty years with the particular object 

 of studying their pastoral capabilities for the information of 

 the graziers of Australia and New Zealand. Therefore this mat- 

 ter of stock and meat supplies comes in very opportunely. Rus- 

 sian requirements can be left out of the question. When they 

 settle down again, introduce law and discipline, and have shot 

 the men who have brought the country to its present i)itiable 

 condition, they will be able to draw what meat they will tem- 

 porarily require from the vast plains of Siberia, ]Manchiiria. and 

 China, where there are great herds of cattle available. Hard 

 times for a year or two will be the fate of several of the Balkan 

 States, but grain and potatoes are their principal foods as I 

 have stated before. Argentina, Uruguay, Australia, and New 

 Zealand, by the end of the war, should have a very large beef 

 reserve, as at the present time none of these countries are 

 shipping all their surplus. It is gratifying to see that 



Sir Henry Rew, the well-known food statistician, agrees with 

 my viev.'. In a recent address before the Royal Statistical 

 Society, he said : "It appears that during the war a very sub- 

 stantial stimulus has been given to overseas trade in meat, and 

 that sources of supply hitherto almost untapped have been 



