536 



PRICES OF LIVE STOCK AS RETURNED UNDER 

 THE WEIGHING OF CATTLE ACT. 



The complete returns of prices obtained under the Markets 

 and Fairs (Weighing of Cattle) Act, 1891, are now available 

 for the year 1898. Besides the customary statements for 

 the last quarter of the year, a summary of the returns received 

 from each of the twenty-one scheduled places during the 

 whole twelve months is given on page 544. 



So far as the statistics for the last quarter of 1898 compare 

 with those for the corresponding period of 1897, a larger 

 number of stock is shown as entering the markets, beyond 

 the increase occasioned by the inclusion of the two markets 

 of Carlisle and Falkirk, which were added on January ist, 

 1898., The relative number of cattle weighed, and of those 

 weighed and priced, also showed an appreciable increase in 

 the last quarter of 1898 when compared with that of 1897. At 

 the twelve places from which sufficient data as to prices were 

 available for comparison the average price of first quality 

 beef ranged from 31s. 4d. per cwt. at Liverpool to 36s. 6d. 

 per cwt. in London. At each of these twelve markets, with 

 one exception, the price both of first and second quality cattle 

 in the "Christmas quarter" was lower in 1898 than in the 

 same months of 1897. The quotations for third quality 

 beasts, as usuiil, present more irregular comparisons. 



Turning to the figures for the whole year 1898, it is of 

 interest to compare them with those relating to the five pre- 

 ceding years for which similar statistics have now been 



