NEW ZEALAND MEAT.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1205, 14 August 1911, Page 10

NEW ZEALAND MEAT.

• ■■HANDLING; IN LONDON. Tho following memorandum'tinted London, Juiie. IC,' has been forwarded to the Department of Agriculture by Air. A. Crabbi M.K-.C.V.5.:- . '"In niy annual, report, written under date May 10, 1911, I mentioned that the New, Zealand Shipping Company had under construction some- new machinery for use in.the discharge of meat from 'their vessels .which X considered would bo tho means of preventing some damage. I am pleased to bo ablo to report that, this new machinery has been in use, on a limited scale, (luring the dischnrgo of the last two vessels, and it would appear to (fulfil the intentions' of the designer, (Captain Nonkes), as its use will, undoubtedly be the- menus of lessening damage. As yo\i are a ware, tho Nciv Zealand Shipp'ing Company'raised tho carcasses'to deck-level by. means of an elevator, and then let them slide down zinc-lined shoots to the quay, from the bottom of which shoots they were taken in hand trucks to whatever conveyance was in use—van, cart, or barge. In 1 the new method of discharge the. original elevator by which tho carcasses arc-brought from the hold to,decklevel is still in use,' the new machinery consisting of, first, an inclined carrier by ■which the carcas.«9 aro brought from th'o deck to the quay, and, second,-a systeni of horizontal carriers whicli tako the carcasses frofh the bottom of tho inclined carrier to their respective conveyances. In tho case of the carrier from deck to quay there is an endless belt with horizontal plates of zinc every few feet. Against these plates the lieck of the carcasfos is placed, thus preventing it frani sliding down, and tho friction arising frosi the. use of shoots is done away with. The horizontal carrier. consists of a smooth endless belt of canvas, which convoys • the carcasses from one end to 'the other, 'again without friction. During there movements the carcasses are protected from tho weather, as each carrier is covered in with canvas supported on iron hoops. Kach horizontal carrier is coniploto in itself, is about thirty feet long, and has a solf-confained motor for driving the bolt. Although this systeni has hardly yet cot beyond its experimental stage, it will easily bo seen that by the use of a sufficient number of carriers the carcasses could be nut into their respective conveyances with a minimum of handling and exposure. ■On account of each horizontal carrier having an independent motor, they can l)e used entirely apart from the deck machinery; in fact, I have seen them supplied with carcasses delivered from a poi't hole, this, again, leaving a lot of exposure," '