CONDEMNED NEW ZEALAND. MEAT.

Evening Post, Volume LXVIII, Issue 128, 26 November 1904, Page 9

CONDEMNED NEW ZEALAND. MEAT.

LARGE SEIZURE OF UNSOUND CAECASES. , (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, 14th October. A very unfortunate affair has occurred which will, it is to be feared, revive — however unreasonably — the prejudice against New Zealand meat. For it is only a small minority of meat-consumers who discriminate. On Tuesday, at C'lerkenwell Police Court, Thomas Blake Frost (trading as Messrs. Brewster and Frost) of the Central Meat Market, Smithfield, was summoned before Mr. Baggallay for having deposited for the purpose of sale. at the London and India Docks Company's Coldaii% Stores, in John-street, Finsbury, 372 carcases of mutton which unsound and' unfit for" the' food of man, Mr. Ricketts prosecuted on behalf of the Finsbnry Borough Council, and'Mri Randolph defended. George Billing, sanitary inspector, proved going to the shop of Mr. Harris, in Salmons-lane, Stepney, where he saw ten carcases of mutton which were unsound and unfib for the food of man. They were seized and condemned at the Thames Police Court. The same day he went to. the London and India Docks Company's Cold-air Stores in St. Johnstreet, Finsbury, and saw two piles of carcases of sheep, about 372, spine of them- bearing similar labels to those he found in the Stepney shop. The sheep in the cold-air stores -which had been deposited by the Christchurch Meat Company (N.Z.) were green, black, yellow, mouldy, and evil-smelling. Decomposition had set in, and they were unfit for human consumption.- They had been consigned to Mr. Frost, whom he knew- as selling meat on commission for the" Christchurch Meat Company. The witness seized the carcases and had them condemned. The meat was the property' of the Christchurch Meat Company, and the defendant merely sold on commission. Dr. Newman, medical officer, said the carcases were spotted with mould inside and out. Some were black throughout. Mr. Hooper, clerk to the defendant, said Mr. Frost himself called in a sanitary inspector to examine the meat. Mr. Frost had no a.uthority to deal with the meat except to sell it on behalf of the company. For the defence, Mr. Randolph contended that the case for the prosecution had not been made out, inasmuch as Mr. Frost had not been shown to be the owner of the meat. As a fact, the owners were the Christchurch Meat Company. Mr. Frost was a mercantile agent, wnd was selling it on some one else's premises on a small commission by sample. Surely the proper people to be prosecuted were the Christchurch Meat Company, with offices in London. Mr. Baggallay Said he should take time to consider the case, which -was accordingly adjourned. Mr. Pottinger, of the London office of the Christchurch Meat Company, informs me that certain of the facts are not in accordance with the evidence given, or, rather, that the evidence might be more complete. The goods, he says, were not consigned to Messrs. Bristow and Frost by the Christchurch Meat Company. The mutton, was brought from Bristol to London, and he (Mr. Pottinger) did nob know anything as to its condition. Immediately ha heard that there was anything wrong, however, he appointed two of the most capable expert surveyors on the market to go through it. To these surveyors the meat was transferred, and they were authorised to deal with it in the manner they thought best-. It 'was "anticipated that a certain portion of the consignment might be saved, the rest being boiled down for tallow. Unknown to Mr. Pottinger, however, the meat was sold to a Smithfield firm— not, he says, on behalf of the Christchurch Meat Company, but by the surveyors. So far as the New Zealand company was concerned there was no intention that the meat should be sold for food. Regarding this case, Gilbert Anderson, managing director of the Christchurch Meat Company, on being seen by a representative of the Press, said that the circumstaneca are strange in this respect, that hitherto no one has ever thought , of resisting the Home Health authorities, but the solicitors who were acting for the defendants evidently considered there, was a legal argument involved in selling meat which, in the opinion of the Health Officer, was unfit for the food of man. The Christchurch Meat, Company had. nothing whatever to do with the case*

tion of the people of all external terrors. They have built a thousand miles of road, and a hundred and twenty-five miles of light railway; have sunk an immense number of artesian wells — eight hundred in one district alone — have established a complete postal service, which includes a system of savings-banks, already popular with the people ; and have set themselves to teach improved methods of agriculture, forestiy, and mining, all of which have succeeded. The production of camphor, for instance, has more than doubled, and that of camphor-oil increased fourfold; while the gold, silver, and coal mines have been scientifically worked, so that the output of the first-named metal has increased sevenfold. The general revenue has been enlarged from £275,000 to £1,270,000, and the local rates from £74,000 to £195,000. Great attention is paid to sanitary improvements ; ' hospitals have been seb up everywhere, and two hundred Japanese doctors are now practising in the island ; while the use of ojiium is discouraged, both by taxation and strict police supervision, the idea being to prevent the addition of any new victims to the habit. Finally, 'the Japanese educational system has been introduced, and eighteen thousand natives aye being regularly instructed. The consequence of all this increased work, and of the absence of disorder, has been an increase of the population to three million and eighty-two thousand, partly, no doubt, from ■» considerable Chinese immigration. The Japanese, in fact, are able, even among savage populations, to introduce a pax Japonica which allows of the accumulation of wealth. IN TIBET. The expedition is already retiring from Tibet. It quitted Lhassa on the 23rd September amidst expressions of goodwill, the aged Regeut, in particular, formally blessing Colonel Younghusband for his goodness in sparing tlie monasteries. It is supposed that the Chunibi Valley

I spire its higher votaries, never obtained { the grip of either Christianity or Mahomi medanism, and never perfectly extinguish!ed far older superstitions. Even within tlie Cathedral of Lhassa butter lamps are burning to a terrible goddess crowned with skulls, with three eyes and inother-o'-pearl teeth, who has in Buddhism, which is theoretically the most benign of creeds, no proper place. The correspondent makes, without explaining, the statement that the next Incarnation is to be European, and that both the Russian Emperor and Queen Victoria have been accepted as in some sort deities. We think it all incomprehensible folly; but at this moment Canadian mounted police are out in force to prevent the Doukhohors, who are white men, from marching into the Canadian steppe to worship Lord Minto as the Messiah. There is a worshipping instinct in man which may have strange developments yet. THE AMEER'S ARMY. - Reuter's correspondent at Peshawur forwards a curious piece of intelligence. The Ameer of Afghanistan, he says, has made a speech in full Durbar complaining that, although Afghanistan can supply a million of men, the- people are bei coming enervated, and.it has been necessary to abolish consoription. His Highness intends, therefore, to raise a paid army of thirty thousand men, in which every private Mill receive Rs.lo a month, while every headman mlio brings in a hundred mon will be made tin officer, or if he brings a thousand will become a colonel. Herat is to be fortified with thirty fresh batteries of artillery, and a bridge is to be built over the Helmund at Kandahar. It is not likely that- the Ameer has waived his right in emergency of calling all the faithful to arms,, and we" should imagine the meaning of all these Statements to be this. Lord Kitchener has advised the Ameer to raise a small j and regularly paid standing army, in i addition to the levee en masse, which I

ncr, M'hc-n the Chinese-employing Comet mine drops all its hundred stamps, 145 whites will be employed, or, say, one and a half whites per stamp. This ratio, Mhen applied to the five thousand stamps now dropping, would give 7500 whites. But at- present less than 70,000 Kaffirs create employment for 12,730 ! Next he quotes the South African Mines for particulars as to {he fine work done by Mongolian hand-drill men in a Korean mine controlled by a great Rand financial house, where the" only white men employed are one foreman and four overseers. The deduction is obvious. What the Mongolian hand-drill men can perform for a Rand house in Korea they can accomplish on the Rand itself. In any case, it is obviously premature, even for Lord Milner, to "be " absolutely certain " of what will happen in the future, when tha unskilled Chinese become skilled. Finally, the writer quotes Lord Milner's latest official returns to show that between March and June last, when native employment, for the first time, rapidly decreased, M'hite employment rapidly increased. He thus concludes that white " the natural and beneficial solution of the labour problem was steadily taking place by means of the in-* creased employment of whites and of lab-our-saving machinery, there is nothing as yet to prove tha-t the unnatural means now being adopted will be in the least degree less disastrous to the State than those who opposed it anticipated." In fact, by our disastious Chinese labour policy we have deliberately rejected the opportunity of making the Transvaal " a white man's country " — a place where a white working man can live and bring up a family. A DUTCH APPEAL. Tuesday's Westminster Gazette contains an 'interview with the Rev. P. Van Heerden, of Ladybrnnd, the leader of a deputation from the Dutch Reformed CLureh in the Orance River Colony— the

srbat a story ! Why, he's been making up to me all the tilne, and I've given him no encouragement." Once again, in fact, Punch has in a flash of'iuciferous humour revealed to the country the exact political situation. Not only has no coleftial offer been made, but we note that in some quarters it is now stated that the colonies ought to M'aifc till they see how our preference works, and how much it benefits them, and on such experience to make suggestions as to what can be done for us. We by no means resent such an attitude, but it is a veiy long way removed from the definite offer which we must either accept or reject with fatal' consequences to the Imperial cornection. ENGLAND'S CANALS. In connection wth the conference of the Associated Chambers of Commerce opened at Manchester on Wednesday, interesting articles have appeared in Monday's Times and Wednesday's Daily Mail on the present position and possible development of our inland barge canals. We cannot even summarise all the statistics and facts presented, but may note that, excluding ship canals, there are now 3856 miles of navigable inland water in the United- Kingdom, 2717 miles being controlled by eighty canal companies, and 1139 by sixteen separate railway companies ; and that, as the result of Parliamentary action and inaction, the competi. tion of railways, and tlie absence of uniform gauge, a great and valuable instrument for the promotion of cheap traffic is shorn of its efficiency. As The- Times puts it,.it can be confidently asserted that only very. feM-, if any, of the English barge canals arc now, able to yield a reasonable dividend on the capital expended. The .responsibility of Parliament is so clearly established that it is to Parliament alone that one can look for a remedy. The Times suggests, as the only course for the" adequate development of this neglected national asset, that 'Pariia-