FROZEN PRODUCE LETTER.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20428, 24 December 1931, Page 10

FROZEN PRODUCE LETTER.

GLUTTED MEAT MARKET. REFRIGERATION CONGRESS. il'dou Our Special Corkespondest.) LONDON, November. 12. The autumnal flood of meat on the English market is responsible at the moment for depressed prices, but importers, nevertheless, are fairly confident as to the early future. The Lon ; don Central markets, at this time of th 3 year, are the receptacle for meat, apparently, from all over the world. This year, even Cuba is a consigner, and it h to be noted that Irish lambs have frequently sold for less money than {rood New Zealand. As a matter of l'act, really good New Zealand lamb has been rather scarce ou Smithfield just lately, and the demand for poorer rarcaws has flagged considerably. Best \ortli Island primes, 2's and B's, have made from 7d to Bd, as have also Canterbury. There lias been a strong move in some quarters to make quick Hearance of Australian lambs, rather irrespective of price, on the report that an early season will result in an advancement of the first consignments from New Zealand. The beef trade has been better recently, and enquiries for' frozen „ beef have improved thai market. Despite the heavier marketings of home pork, frozen pork has I,'tely come in for a much better share <>f th<" trade, the necessity for cheap meat largely aiding this movement. The market here is recognising that New Zealand breeders arc paying closer nttenticn to English market requirements, and this is bound to react in favour of the New Zealand section of this business. Next Refrigeration Congress. The Sb th International Congress of Refrigeration will be held in Buenos Ayres from August 27th to September luth, 193", and refrigerationists in all ouarters aro looking forward to this event, which always focuses world progress in the science and application of artificial cold. Food, of course, is the i-hief field of the operations of the cold storage engineer, but many other industries, from steel manufacture to artificial silk making, are aided at some point or other in their processes by mechanical cooling power. The first • ongrcM of this kind was held in Paris in 1908, followed in order by similar Assemblies at Vienna (1910), Chicago (1913), London (1924), and Rome (.1928). As the biggest meat exporter in the world, Argentina, as the host of the congress, should have much of interest 1o show in that direction, but her interest in dairy produce and fruit refrigeration is also growing, and should be reflected in the congress proceedings. The Argentine Government has appointed a National Committee to foster the local organisation of this assembly, and visitors from all countries will probably be assured of good facilities for seeing much of refrigerating interest in the South American Republic. The T resident of the congress is to be Mr Pcderico L. Martinez do Hoz, and the great meat packing companies, British and American, are represented on the committee which has the arrangements ia hand. Great Britain's interest in the Buenos Ayres Congress, so far as industry is concerned; is a reciprocal we, as she is desirous of selling more refrigerating machinery and apparatus to Argentina in return for taking so much south American meat. Last year's imports of Argentine meat into Great Britain were 400,000 tons of chilled beef, 35,000 tons of frozen beef, and 75,000 tons of mutton and lamb. Although food import taxes in Great Britain are feared, because of the danger of the rise in price of food for the great working class, it is quite pos*ibl« that the new National Government may decide to impose a moderate tariff on foreign meat, in which case Argentina could hardly escape, although some people hold that she should be treated on a special basis in view of her being virtually a "commercial and financial colony" of Britain: • The British Association of Befrigeration has appointed a Congress Committee to organise British arrangements for the Buenos Ayres event, and it is expected that New Zealand will contribute scientific and engineering papers to the proceedings of next year's Congress. Dry Ice Progress. The new refrigerant, which is called ' dry ice, of which so much has been ' heard of late, is making progress a3 a practical cooling force in Great Britain. The substance in question is solidified carbon-dioxide gas, and although it is about eight times as expensive as waterice to manufacture, its non-dripping and freight saving properties are rendering it attractive to a number of trades that k require an easily handled cooling power for such commodities as ice-cream, and other highly perishabjc products, through transport. Dry ice cools at a very low temperature, namely, —llOdeg. t'ah., hence the extreme cooling power has to be controlled, but the refrigerating engineer has already devised special forms of refrigerator in which thia solidified carbon-dioxide can be substituted for the ordinary block of ice which was formerly the only alternative to mechanical cooling power. Large dry ice producing plants have been established at two or three centres by some *nch well-known commercial, combines as the Imperial Chemical Industries, Ltd., and Turner and Newalls,! Ltd. London at present possesses two large dry ice producing plants, while two are nituatcd at and near Hull. It is not thought likely that dry ice will invade the whole of the field hitherto served by water-ice, on account of its comparatively high cost, but there are certain lines of industry to which watericc could not be applied that will cer- : tainly benefit from the availability of this new and interesting refrigerant. FRUIT BOARD. NEW LONDON MANAGER. • f/ftjes* IMOflATlna TBLtaftAU.) WELLINGTON. December 23. Mr H. Turner, of Dunedin, lias been appointed by the New Zealand Fruit Export Control Board as permanent representative in London. Sir Turner, who is a qualified accountant and a member of the New Zealand Society of Accountants, is recognised as a first-elass business in;:n and one well fitted to fill the post. He is on the exeentivo of the Dunedin Chamber of Commerce, and president of the Ota- o Agricultural and Pastoral Association. Another appiJiiitiveitt of importance to the froit industry is also announced. Mr Alf Paynter, of Hastings, has been appointed Government member on the New Zealand Fruit Export Control Board in place of Mr E. H. Williams, who died recently.