MEAT FOR AUSTRIA.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 13909, 7 December 1910, Page 7

MEAT FOR AUSTRIA.

PROSPECTS AETER THE CONFER- - ,jence;'.-;.';,r:'.v.-.

(FROM OTTRroWN. CORRESPONDENT.) ' LONDON, October 28.

Those who have some knowledge of Austria, asnd particularly those who were present at the recent , refrigeration congress in Vienna, are still somewhat sceptical as toth'e probable result of the efforts' which are beirio; made to gain admission ,for,ourV,ihoat into; Austria-Hungary; ..- . -

Sir William Haij-flon.es. is, .of 1 , course, making his report to the Government, and meanwhile prefers'"..noli to. make any definite statements on!the matter. He tells mc, however, that the fact that the conference was' held iin Vienna must have been aconsiderable factor iri .inducing the Government;to sanction the importation of 700 tons of Argentine meat on, trial. l# permission, is! restrictedi absolutely-to the-quantity' which the' permjt is asked. Anything further must be the subject of a later application. The Minister of Commerce., with, whom" Sir,,. William ; Jones had; an interview; said that as far as he was concerned New, Zealand ought to get. at- least as favourable treatment in respect to the; admission of, meat as.other-countries! :<

; There-were some exciting ' scenes ' in, •Vienna last when the public had its first opportunity of ' judging r of foreign meat in a practical manner. Eighteen, tons of * Argentine meat Had reached thecity, and a strong force of police was on duty at the markets early m themorning, lest there should be any hostile .demonstration, engineered by the' agrarian "interest,, to ruiu the experiment. When the doors were opened a vast mob surged, in; and within a few minutes the whole, of tlie meat was pdsed of. The crowd still continued 8 to clamour for meat, and after vainly posting notices to the effect that no more was to be had, the police had eventually to clear the, markets. De-: spite the frenzied demand, the f.ozen meat did not fetch more than Is 4d per pound, Tvhile the ordinary current price of beef was Is lOd. By Saturday evening all the restaurants were serving "goulash" from. Argentine meat as a delicacy. ~: '■ At. all the cookery schools experiments were made with the new delicacy. '....'

Commenting on the incident, :the "Arbeiter ,'.'. Zeitung'.' • says: — '?The Viennese have been able to convince themselves that Argentine, meat is to their taste, and that frozen meat is something entirely, different from preserved. ' < The time of experiments is now passed. Now we want to .see some active steps taken. Our first demand is now the unlimited importation of Argentine meat, and the repeal of the meat taxes. No further excuses will be. tolerated."

A* New. Zealand gentleman connected with the frozen meat trade.. who attended the Congress at Vienna, thinks it will be a long time before New Zealand is likely to have a direct opening in Austria-Hungary. The agrarian influence there is very powerful, but, at the some time, if the popular demand for cheaper meat were sufficiently strong, the Government might then have to give way. He thinks that the first attempt of the frozen meat trade to enter Austria will have to be throufth sunplies of Argentine boe*. Indirectly this will benefit New Zealand, hecatiso it means an improved market here. Mont is uncommonly dear in Vienna. This may not be particularly noticpable to travellers and tourists, but the price of meat there is such that jt is practically beyond the reach of the poor.