OUR FROZEN PRODUCE LETTER.

Press, Volume XLIX, Issue 14782, 27 September 1913, Page 14

OUR FROZEN PRODUCE LETTER.

FOOD POSITION IN U.S.A

AN AFRICAN DEAL.

(rnoM-ocH special GORHEsroynEXT.) LONDON, August 22. There are two or three factors which are serving fo keep frozen meat prices at a low level.just now. August arrivals have been heavy, and, # at Home, tho continued drought has resulted in the forcing of Scotch lambs on to the market. Home-killed mutton has been very cheap during the last fortnight, and large arrivals of Dutch raufcj ton have contributed to the easing of rates. It is not expected that there will bo many Scotch hill lambs available this autumu, so that this may help later prices. There will evidently be no recovery in rates generally until a month hence. Frozen beof has been plentiful both from Australia and South America, but, in spite of a weak marlTet, forwaru business is quite active. ' LONDON IMPORTS. Tho Chief Veterinary Inspoctor of London, in his annual report on frozen moat supplies, calls attention to the very marked difference which there still is between the quality of the majority of beef arriving from Australia and that from Argentina. Ho notes 'the fact that tlie prices paid for the bestf breeds of bulls showed gratifying results by £he class of meat sent from Argentina and placed on the Smith-: field markets Inst Christmas. This is only another, but important, """pointer i that fTie ITotno market demands the j highest quality for top Mr Young, the official above quoted, noints out tint nearly a half of the 067,492 tons oT mont arriving in fhe United Kingdom last year went through the Central markets, nnd almost threequarters of the entiro United Kingdom imports went to London.

J UNITED STATES MEAT IMPORTS. ' "With tlio chance for success of the now United States Tariff Bill .increashi'Z. attention is more and more bring givon in meat circles to the actual state which America finds herself in as regards her cattle population. There is no donbt that the United States hare been for many years fcricusly r.eglecting their -herds and flocks, and it is expert opinion that a decade will not see the full recovery of these, no matter Jiow urgently the re-form is applied. All along the coastal States there is an absolute lack of cattle, and Montana, which is depended on to supply theeo deficiencies, was shipping short, Jast year, and must do so still more thus year. It is estimated that on January Ist last there were only thirty-six million cattle in the States, excluding milch cows, as against thirty-seven and a quarter million the year before; in a word, the beef resources are no hotter with the necessity to feed ninety millions of population than wlioa the

population* was only seventy millions. Last year fifty-nine million animals wore inspected prior to _ slaughter, as compared with lifty-thre© millions the previous year. - Thero is a phase of the imported meat question in tho United States which possibly producers in New Zealand have not taken into account as yet. It has generally been assumed that tho United States will bo content to eat frozen meat if moat import-ie essential, but is this so? Reports are not wanting to show that frozen meat is not going into consumption in tho States with the ease assumed. The only alternative, of course, is chilled meat, and this cannot come from more than a fortnight's journey distance without the application of a preserving process, involving the uso of chemicals. Tho United States import regulations exclude tho use of preservatives, so that this, in a word, cuts off New Zealand and Australia if chilled meat only has to bo sent. What do New Zealanders think of this? Obviously tho sole remedy is to get tho United States import regulations revised.

THE MacMEIKAN PROCESS. The; HacMeikan process of freezing and defrosting meat haa not long boon in the commercial stage It is apparent from the first annual report of tho British and Australasian Freezing and Defrosting Co., Ltd., that this enterprise is now being pushed forward actively. Mr T. C. Nelson, who it will be remembered recently ficcured heavy judgment from Messrs James Nelson and Sons after his deposition from the managing directorship of their company, has taken this process actively in hand, with a view to developing a big trade in meat treated under this process from New Zealand and Australia. At the end of the first year's work Mr Nelson is able to report the completion of a nlant. in Liverpool, where both chilled and frozen meat is now being treated. Queensland and New Zealand are both to share in this enterprise, and I notice that it is now Mr Nelson's intention to form a subsidiary company in London with a capital of a quarter of n million sterling* of which 120.000 fullypaid shares will be allotted to Australian shareholders, Mr Nelson taking 70,000 shares and providing £15.000 working capital. Not much nrtual business: has been done by the British and Anstralirtn company yet. only £G(53 worth of meat having been dealt with. The hnlanoc-shecfc shows the rmrchaso of rights to be stntH at £77,000. plant and machinery £'1?9. md profit and loss debit bnlnnoe £3245.

THE CHICAGO CONGRESS. Before tlieso line* aro in print the third International Congress of Refrigeration at Chicago will have taken place. As far as the British sido is concerned, or rather the British representation at that Congross, this will have been scanty enough, as visitors from Great Britain are extremely few. Anions those who joined the Congress through tho British section are the Christchurch Meat Co., Ltd.. which presentt-i! a paper entitled r 'The Chemistry of Firsh Foods," by Mr AT M. Wright, F.C.S. The Coiomon-

wealth Government of Australia appointed as its official delegate Mr A. W. Pearse, editor of tho "Pastoral Review," who uLo represented a large number of New Zealand and lian freezing works. ( AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT. j With regard to the hope enter--j taincd of South Africa as a future source of meat supply, it is interesting to note that Veste-y liroa., the proprietors of the well-known Union Cold Storage Co.. Ltd., were recently negotiating for tho purchase of a considerable tract of land in tho Ulu district of British Blast Africa. Messrs Vesteys' enterprise is now worldwide, extending from Great Britain to Ku.ssia, Siberia, China, and now to France, where they are building cold stores at Havre, and also to Australia, where they nro interesting, themselves in a live stock undertaking and in proposed meat works.