Butcher's Lament (1947)
I'm an ex-Master Butcher from Barting,My business is busted and broke:
What with Prices Control, cost of carting,
Meat. Coupons, and such it's no joke. For steers, sheep and pigs I pay prices
No Black Marketeer would dare ask;
Those bloke's could teach Ned Kelly vices
And they don't even have to wear masks. And then all my client's accuse me
Of making exorbitant gains,
And some of them frankly abuse me
And say that I should be in chains. And now they're refusing to juggle
Their parcels of meat as of yore;
They've joined this bloke Knight in the struggle-
To have it set down at their door. But how can I hope to deliver;
There isn't a horse to be found;
There's nothing much left of the flivver
And only the Klaxon goes round ! I'm fined if I hang up a carcass
Not bearing a tag with the weight ;
Inspectors are well paid to mark us-
They're harder to hoodwink than Fate. The boy, to take coupons omitted ;
He's fined thirty quid which I pay,
And because of this breach: I "permitted"
I'm once again fined the-same day ! My business is busted and broken,
I haven't the heart to go on:
In sorrow--not wrath-- have I spoken,
And, now Au Revoir, I'll be gone. I've a job with the Prices Commission,
It's easy and quite a good screw ;
From here on in life I've a Mission;
I warn all you Butchers, it's YOU ! --J. L. McCracken. Notes From the NSW Newspaper The Lithgow Mercury 13 Aug 1947 p. 2.