The Dominion MONDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1932. JUBILEE OF REFRIGERATION

Dominion, Volume 25, Issue 120, 15 February 1932, Page 8

The Dominion MONDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1932. JUBILEE OF REFRIGERATION

February 15 marks a date in the calendar'that is worthy of being observed as a national anniversary. It is.just'fifty years ago to-day since the little ship Dunedin sailed from'Port Chalmers-on February 15, 1882—with the. first cargo of frozen meat from New Zealand for London. The shipment comprised fewer than 5000 carcases oi mutton and' lamb, and although it took 98 days to reach London by way of Cape Horn, it was completely successful. This daring venture, carried out in the face of unexampled difficulties of which very few to-day can have any conception, marked the beginning of an industry that quickly built up the trade ana prosperity of the Dominion. In 1882, the exports of frozen meat totalled 762 tons, valued at less than £20,000. Last year New Zealand exported more than 200,000 tons of frozen meat, nearly the same ' quantity of butter and cheese, and 1,350,000 boxes of fruit, the total value of all this .refrigerated cargo—notwithstanding the lowest prices realised for many years—being nearly £25,000,000 out of a total export trade of just over £35,000,000, In 1882 the population of New Zealand was lessffhan 500,000; to-day it is more than three times that number. The exports of meat have grown to over ten million carcases a year, and the Dominion s flocks.have‘steadily increased in fifty years from less than 13,000,000 to approximately 30,000,000 sheep. The dairy herds of the country now number about 1,500,000 and the total cattle nearly 4,000,000. The development of refrigeration has not only made this expansion possible but has revolutionised farming methods. Ihe total quantity of refrigerated food'lmported into Great Britain during 1930 was valued at nearly £173,000,000, of which New Zealand supplied 18 per cent. Her contribution of butter was over 24 per cent., and of cheese over 63 per cent, of Britain’s imported dairy produce. How this vast expansion of trade and wealth has been brought about within the lifetime of many of the present generation is told in the special supplement entitled Fifty Years of Refrigeration in New Zealand presented with to-day’s issue of The Dominion. Specially written and, illustrated fittingly to commemorate the jubilee anniversary of the foundation of New Zealand’s great trade in exported foodstuffs, our supplement' covers more fully than has yet been attempted in a daily newspaper the history and development of ‘a trade system of far-reaching economic significance. That the fiftieth birthday of the Dominion’s frozen meat trade falls in a. year of profound economic depression is not without significance and hope. Fifty years ago, as to-day, New Zealand was struggling in the shoals of depression and from it was carried by the development 'of the frozen meat trade into the, calm waters of growing prosperity. “The science of refrigeration is as yet only in its infancy, both technically and as an economic factor,” writes one well-known trade authority in a special article in our supplement. Scientific research is making steady and promising progress'along many avenues. “The range and nature of refrigerated food will certainly develop, and the dependence of manufacturing countries oh food-supplying countries increase accordingly.” Therein lies the hope of New Zealand for the future. The story of the last half-century, together with present-day changes and developments, makes it probable that refrigeration will contribute as much to the Dominion’s future, and more, in the years to come as it has done in the past.