TUESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1881.

Press, Volume XXXVI, Issue 5081, 20 December 1881, Page 2

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1881.

Considering the interests involved, it 1 is to be hoped that there will be a large i meeting on Wednesday of gentlemen in- i terested in the formation of a refrigerat- j ing company for this part of the colony. I A meeting, it will be remembered, was c held a month ago in the rooms of the ] Agricultural and Pastoral Association, at which very sufficient reasons were given for endeavoring to form snch a company. A resolution was passed " That having in view the large quantities of beef, mutton, , butter, cheese, &c, that is produced in s the district of Canterbury, for which no ' market can be found, and the enormons £ extent to which the quantity could be j raised, were facilities offered for export,., ' this meeting is of opinion that it is 1 desirable to form a company to undertake the freezing, exporting, and selling in , England, of beef, mutton, butter, cheese, \ &c." A committee was appointed for the 1 purpose of eliciting further information, J and their report appeared in our yesterday's issue. The committee naturally directed their i attention first of all to the question —Is there a sufficient quantity of sheep, cattle and dairy produce raised in the district to justify a number of capitalists putting their money into such a venture ? The figures quoted in the report before us ought to leave no doubt whatever on the point. According to the latest returns there were 3,487,220 sheep in Canterbury, being an increase on the preceding year of no less than 317,129. But it was quite unnecessary to go into elaborate statistics of the increase in the number of cattle, sheep, &c., from year to year. When it is remembered that in the colony there are probably over 13,000,000 sheep, over 500,000 head of cattle, and that in Can terbury alone the former nnmber nearly 3,500,000, it will be easily seen that all that is needed is a regular and steady demand for such products to induce a rapid and certain increase in the supply. The present production is regulated by ! the existing demand. The squatter and the farmer do not go in extensively for fattening sheep and cattle simply for the pleasure of the thing. They may make a mistake one year and miscalculate the demand, but the error will cause them to be more cautious next time. For instance, at the meeting held a month ago the Hon. Mr. M. Holmes stated to those present that last year he had to keep some fat sheep on his hands, and the consequence "was that he had refrained from going in so extensively on tiie present occasion. : It is simply, as we have already said, a question of supply and demand. If remunerative prices can be got for stock it will not take long to increase the supply up to 1 the fresh standard of demand. We have a large quantity of stock to begin with; we have a climate acknowledged on all hands to be ''unequalled for the production of the very best, beef and mutton. And if it is once found that there is a remunerative and steady market in Eng-~ land for whatever surplus we can produce, there is not the slightest doubt whatever' that a large surplus will be forthcoming. . The question is, can a remunerative market be depended on? In spite of one or two comparative failures, it ia pretty evident that Australian frozen meat is quietly obtaining a firm hold in tba publio estimation in England. And when this is once the case, there will be an end to all uncertainty. Experience has already taught us what is the probable cost of shipping and placing the frozen meat on the English market. That is stated at 2td per lb. But it may be safely assumed that the figure just quoted is the very maximum, being based on the trial shipment by the Protos. Before long we may expect to find not only all the steamships visiting the Australian waters fitted with the necessary machinery, for carrying frozen cargoes, but the sailing vessels also. Already a beginning -has been made. The Albion Shipping Company have fitted up one of their best ships, the Dunedin, and the New Zealand Shipping Company are having a refrigerator placed onboard the Mataura, now about leaving London for Lyttelton. These facts point to the conclusion that shipowners anticipate that Jbefere long frozen meat will form a regular part of the cargo of every homeward bound -vessel. Not only is this the case, we learn from the report -before us that arrangements have already been made in London for the proper storage of the meat on its arrival. If these are of a sufficiently extensive character there need I be no apprehension of the home market I bsing periodically glutted, and so of - enabling the wholesale butchers and others \ to. control the price to their own advantage. What is wanted to make the trade a complete and pronounced success is to have cheap and reliable means of transit, and proper appliances in London and elseL where in the United Kingdom for storing - and distributing the meat when it reaches a port. If these are secured there need not be the slightest apprehension that tbe supply in the colony will not be forthcoming. But it is not merely as a means of gaining an outlet for our surplus beef and I mutton that we anticipate great things to the colony through the introduction of the refrigerating process. New Zealand is, above all the other Australian colonies, j specially fitted for the raising of dairy products. Hitherto the industry has not - prospered as it should. Many people engaged in it who had no real knowledge of the business at all; and the result, of course, was a very inferior article in many instances. But the price which good butter and cheese always * commands in England would alter all this. Proper factories would spring up in all directions, managed by skilled and producing a good article of a uniform quality. Speaking on this subject at the meeting held ia November, the gentleman whose remarks we have already quoted stated that he would not lie surprised if the export of dairy produce from New Zealand were to become in the future second only to that of wool. These considerations, it appeals to us,

should be quite sufficient to ensure the successful floating jof the proposed com* pany. It is not intended to embark * large capital in the enterprise. £20,000 is all that is needed, and of that only £10.000 will be called up. There is every probability of the affair paying a reasonable per centage from the commencement. But if it" should prove otherwise, the indirect advantages are not easily over-estimated. Not only would a stability and impetus be given to agricultural enterprise, but the value of real property would be fixed, and anything which tends to strengthen and establish the agricultural and pastoral interests of the colony cannot but be beneficial, not only to those who are more directly interested, but to the entire community. This is a matter in which there can be co clashing of provincial interests, If the frozen meat trade is to become the great success we all hope for, we shall have not one but several companies in operation in each of the great centres of population.