The Scrag End
Mr. Lloyd-George would not seem to have been particularly resourceful—or, for that matter, faithful to his Party's profes- sions—in his remedy for the temporary glut of butcher's meat. One must accept his statement that imports will not be suffi- cient, after the peak of the home kill, to justify taking meat off the ration altogether. And it is nice to know that he hopes derationing " may be possible next year." But is that any reason for not dealing with the present problem in a more radical way ? The truth of the matter is that the housewife, who is becoming wonderfully more discriminating, no longer wants the scrag end of mutton at the price which, under the present range of controlled prices, the butchers are compelled to charge. Surely it would have been better for the consumers, and in the long run for the producers too, to have attempted to find a realistic price for unattractive meat than to tell the butchers to get rid of it, at the same price, off the ration. Since the ration is determined by price not quantity, cheaper meat would mean more meat per ration, so the effect would have been the same in terms of meat available to consumers. There is something slightly unpalatable, even anachronistic, about the suggestion that people will buy anything " under the counter " even though the counter has been legitimised.
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