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Q. Do you mean to say you would charge any butcher in the Market who wanted half a bullock the same price as you woult charge a man who wanted to buy two or three pounds?
A. That would depend upon whether it included the bones or not.
Mr. Osborne. How can the butchers and compradores afford to buy meat from you at the same rate as other people; where is their profit?
A.--The compradores sell at 15 cents,
Q.-So that his price is 14 and the price of the compradore 15 to a private indi- vidual?
A. Yes.
Mr. Maitland.las he got any partners?
A. Yes; I have a partner.
Tim
Q-Does he work in the business with you?
A. We work together.
Q.--How long has he had a partner?
A. For the last 21 years. We started work together and started business together
the same time.
Mr. Fung Wah Chün.-Ask him why if he sells beef at 14 cents a pound and the compradore at 15 cents a pound to a private individual, the latter does not come to him for meat?
A. Because the compradore supplies tinned meat as well. I cannot give an explanation.
The Chairman.-How much cumshaw do you give the boy or the coolie who comes to buy meat from you?
A.-I give them no cumshaw.
Q-Do the compradores?
A.—I do not know; that is for the compradores to tell.
Mr. Osborne. Ask him now if he can explain why it is that the price of beef has gone up 50 per cent. in the last few years. What is his reason?
A.—Well, it is very extraordinary, because we get very little cattle imported into the Colony.
Q.--What does he mean--that there is a scarcity of cattle?
A. Yes.
Q-How many does he send for as a rule?
A. About 120 a month.
Q.-Does he ever have any difficulty in getting supplied with the full number ?
J
A. Yes; there is some difficulty in getting the number I require sometimes. Q-Why, what is the cause
A.---The difficulty is this: you cannot get a large number at one time; you have to keep a man going from one place to another.
Dr. Hartigan.--But he sends for the 120 and he gets them.
A.-Well, in different instalments. Supposing I had to send for 120 at one time I could not get them.
Q. Has be ever tried to get more than 120 a month-has he ever got more than 120 a month ?
A.-No.
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