FROZEN PRODUCE LETTER.

Press, Volume LII, Issue 15776, 18 December 1916, Page 3

FROZEN PRODUCE LETTER.

THE CUEBE>~T MEAT MARKET. THE AMERICANS" PROBLEM. (FS.OII OC£ SPECIAL COEBESrOSDENT.) LONDON, November <. Although freer arrivals of New Zealand meat in October reduccd the year s shortage in comparison with previous periods, the Erst ten months of this year shov." altogether a net dccrcaso of 6,822,-179 freight carcases on the frozen and chilled meat imports on tho corresponding period of 101-5. Although the trado ia confident that the New Zealand supplies to hand will, with careful husbanding, last till the new season's arrivals, it is felt, that the present policy of the Board of Trade in "withholding any larger releases at the present time tho correct one. At this timo of the year there is generally a rcduced demand for mutton, but these times aro so abnormal that the market is governed by different factors. The main thing is that, at the moment there is plenty of Scotch and English meat in tho market, and the frozen trade is, therefore, at a minimum. The fact that the present colonial supplic s are being put out at a minimum profit to wholesalers, namely, from \d to lid per stone, indicates that the main demand is not for frozen meat just now. MEAT TRUST OPERATIONS. The New Zealand frozen meat trade is probably expecting that 3lr Massey, when ho returns to New Zealand, will have in his possession full details as to the carrying on of the industry at its importing end, and doubtless "producers -will not bo disappointed in this respect. "What it will he valuable to know i« whether ]\Lr Massey, when he returns, -will be able to furnish New ZeaJandcrs with any information as to what the Imperial Government is capable of doing to protect the British frozen meat trade at Home and in the Dominions against American octopus operations. New Zealandcrs will lately have become avaro by tho various items of Heirs of recent American Trust deals, that tho Trust is gradually fastening it,, tentacles into the trade in Australasia. REFRIGERATED TRANSPORT. Lloyd's Register of Shipping, 1 in its annual report, states that the number of vessels holding the Society's certificate in respect of refrigerating machinery is now 171, with a total insulated cargo-carrying capacity of about 37.1 million cubic feet. It is added that during the past, year tho Society's r,urveyors have held 1017 surveys at loading and discharging ports on these vessels. In this connexion I might mention that the total carrying capacity j of all our refrigerated fleets is about 20 million carcases, a.nd it is to be noted ] that although the war has lasted for j two nixd a quarter years, only twelve •vessels out of that huge list have been suuk by the enemy. These casualties liavo resulted in ;l diminution of tho flects' capacity by less than a million careaso6, or a loss of less than 5 per cent. So that on this ground alone not much decrease in efficiency in war timo can he argued. It is the diversions, more or less inevitable, which have caused the shortage in refrigerated freight. NEW I'ItOCESSES. Refrigeration, as applied to food industries is, of course, always productive of new features and systems, as becomes any progressive industry. .1 am,reminded of this fact, by seeing tho revival of a ■well-tested freezing defrosting process by the Hall bank Freezing Defrosting Company Proprietary, Ltd., which in exploiting a. process i'nvcuted by Mr Russell Ray.son, of Melbourne. Its is claimed for this process that, far fewer of the tissues of meat carcases are broken by the refrigeration io which they are (subjected under thit> system, aud there is also le;-s lnfs in weight. Another refrigerating improvement. I have licsrd of lately from" Liverpool is a new system of ice-making, by -which twelve-inch five-ton blocks of 'ice. can I bo turned out in twenty-four hours, or from two to threo times as quickly as by existing processes. The name of this system is tho Thorno-Laurenson system of ice-making, and 1 may be able t 0 give further details of this later. Another new process is the. Kapadia system of preservation in conjunction ■with refrigeration, details of -which I have already recorded in this column.

MAN".POWER AND FOOD INDUSTRIES. A problem which is weighing very severely on. tie frozen produce industry in this country is tho serious inroads being made upon the. trade by t.he call for men for tho Army -under tho Military Service, Acts. The food industries, {.Ithough they are vital to tho country, are having little respect paid them by all the local tribunals throughout the Kingdom, and unless some, comprehensive man-power scheme of which so much has been said, is forthcoming, imported food commerce will find itself dangerously hampered in a few months' time. ' About -0 per cent v of frozen meat shops in the United Kingdom have already closed owing to this, and other difficulties, but this is only a fraction of the harm done by taking men away from necessary posts Mid leaving others in positions unnecessary to the nation's •welfare.