The West Londoners are getting at last a full hearing
for their
pet and very real grievance, the excessive prices charged by retail dealers. Nothing which rises goes down again. The cattle plrigne is over and sheep are exceptionally .elieny, but the butchers charge nearly famine prices for beef and mutton. The retail price of fish is more than double the wholesale, poulterers charge accord- ing to their own caprice, and milk is perpetually going up in price or down in quality. Nobody has said much yet about fruit and vegetables, but their retail price is utterly preposterous. One victim proposes to buy direct of the producer, another recom- mends a co-operative stere,"a third cries for more comPetition, and a fourth recommends abstinence. Gradually, we dare say, they- will force down markets a little, but nothing effective will be done till a strong pressure can be put upon three or four men, the Dukes of Portland and Bedford, the Marquis of Westminster, and other great landlords. West London wants great markets, holies under strict regulation, and it cannot get them without these landlords consent. There ought to be twenty meat markets, at least, west of Temple Bar. Suppose we consider markets as important as railways.
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