FROZEN MEAT

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 74, 28 March 1930, Page 3

FROZEN MEAT

THE JUBILEE YEAR

A NOTABLE DINNER

FEEDING THE WORLD

(From "The Post's" Representative.)

LONDON, 13th February

On Cth February, 1880, a small party | of men lield a luncheon in T<oiulon to celebrate the arrival of the first succcsful shipment of frozen mutton and beef from Australia by the steamship Strathloven. On Thursday of last week, (Gth February, 1930), a groat company of people assembled at the Savoy Hotel to celebrate tho jubilee of that event. There was one man present who sailed on tho Strathleyen on its- epoch-making voyage. This was Mr. Matthew Taylor Brown, B.Sc, who represented the refrigeration engineers, the Bell Coleman Company. It was also appropriate that the very highest standard of frozen meat in the world should be one of-the principal items on the menu. This was prize lamb from the Waikato Show. The dinner of the British Association o. Refrigeration this year was, therefore, a notable event. Lord Kylsant (president) was in the chair, and at his table were: Lord Stanley of Alderley; Senor Dr. Don Diogenes Esealante (Venezuelan Minister); the Hon. J. E. Fenton (Commonwealth Minister for Trade and Customs); Senor Bon Antonio Hunocus (Chilean' Minister); Mr. R. E. MacEachen (representative of the Uruguayan Minister; Senor Haul Regie do Oliveira (Brazilian Ambassador) ; Major-General Sir Granville de L. Ryrie (High Commissioner for Australia) ; Dr. Don Jose Evaristo Uriburu (Argentine Ambassador); and Mr. T. M. Wilford (High Commissioner for New Zealand). Among the 250 guests were the representatives of all the leading meat firms. Some of tho New Zealandors present were Mr. R. S. Forsyth, Major H. L. Deltry, Mr. Hal Williams, Mr. R. Ellison, Mr. R. E. Hcllaby, Mr. G. F. Michie, and Mr. H. T. B. Drew. FEEDING THE WORLD. Lord Kylsant said the developments which had flowed from the great Australian venture of 50 years ago were so far-reaching as to affect every community in the world. The presence of representatives of many nations and tho great. British Dominions at that celebration brought home to them eloquoutly tho universal realisation of the unique position which had been attained by the practical application of tho science of refrigeration to the preservation and conveyance of perishable produce across the oceans of the world. Th marvel of yesterday so quickly became the commonplace of to-day that one could scarcely visualise what the state of the world would be at present if refrigeration had never come into existence. Indeed, our modern civilisation could hardly exist without the supplies of perishable produce from overseas, as the densely populated countries became less and less able to feed themselves and relied more and more upon imports from other lands. Australia might well bo proud of tho fact that on her soil was sown the seed which had flourished to feed the great nations of the earth, and to secure tho world against famine in times of scarcity. •■ The Brazilian Ambassador congratulated the pioneers upon the great developments that had taken place in rofrigeration, and instanced the recent progress of Brazil in exports of meat. Mr. E. J. Fenton1 (Australian Minister of Trade and. Customs) paid a tribute to Mort, whom ho described as one of the greatest Englishmen who ever lived. Ho spoke of the scientiiic developments in progress in Australia in the top-dressing of pastures, new grasses, and new clovers as an indication of the effort that were being made in that Dominion to improve feedingstuffs for supplying greater quantities of foodstuffs for the millions 'in Britain. Mr. Wilford's speech was a notable one. It was simple and brief, but his delivery was impressive, and what was more, he quoted a large number of figures without a single note, a thing that is not often done in. public speeches. NEW ZEALAND'S RECORD. "In New Zealand," he said, "the success of refrigeration changed the whole economic outlook for New Zealand. It opened up new avenues for tho profitable development of her flocks and dairy herds. In 1882, the Dominion's first experimental shipment of mutton and ■ lamb was made in the sailing ship Dunedin, when 4909 carcasses wero landed in Britain in sound condition, after a 98 days' voyage. Only one carcass was condemned. The mutton fetched slightly above 6d a Ib, and some of the lambs over 75d a lb. It was calculated that, whereas tho sheep at the time would only have fetched 11s or 12s each in the Dunedin market, the net return (after paying all shipping and freezing charges, and allowing for rkins and tallow), of the London venture, was £1 Is BJd per sheep. "In 18S3, the following year, New Zealand's export was 120,893 carcasses, doubling Australia's. Ten years later (1893) it was 1,857,598 carcasses; in another 20 years (1913) 5,673,024 carcasses, and in 1928, 7,882,739 carcasses. Tho value of New Zealand's frozen meat output last year, according to a return just received, was no less than £9,111,123. "To-day, New Zealand is Britain's greatest supplier of lamb andmuttou. More than 50 per cent, of tho total importations into Great Britain come from the Dominion, and in the whole period since refrigeration was introduced, including the year 1928, New Zealand has contributed 184,141,324 lamb and mutton carcasses out of a total quantity imported of 375,645,741 carcasses. In other words, New Zealand, since the introduction of refrigeration, has supplied tho Motherland with very nearly as much mutton and lamb as the whole of the rest of the world. Science to-day has discovered new methods in refrigeration. Instantaneous freezing is now the goal, and experiments recently made of its application to young stock have shown such an improvement in landing condition, especially in regard to the retention of the 'bloom' of the meat, that one feels how important it is that every possiblo encouragement should be given to this scientific investigation, covering not only its application to the freezing and sea-carriage of meat,, but all classes of our produce." AN INTERESTING LETTER. Mr. Joseph- Raymond (secretary of the association) told tho story of the Strathleven. But he was able to bring some entirely new light Jo bear upon the inauguration of the great trade. Last week he had received a letter from the Rev. Ernest Mort, who, writing from Frensham, Surrey, said: — "I am the eldest surviving son of Thomas Sutcliffe Mort. I was present at the breakfast table when my father, reading from the "Sydney Morning Herald," came across the short paragraph which gave 'him the idea. It was an account of how a prehistoric animal was found when a glacier in North Europe broke' and disclosed the body in a state of perfect preservation". Ho thumped his first on the table and said: 'I have discovered the secret of how Australia's abundance may

supply Europe's need,' or something to that effect. That was the origin of the freezing industry." Mr. Raymond quoted Mort's words at a luncheon in Sydney in 1875: "I feel," he said, "as I have always felt, that there is no work on the world's carpet greater than this in which I have been engaged. , . Science has drawn aside the veil, and the plan stands revealed. Faraday's- magic hand gave the keynote, and invention has done the rest. Climate, seasons, plenty, scarcity, distance will all shake hands, and out of the ccmingling will come enough for all, for 'the earth ft the Lord's and the fulness thereof.1 "

Mort is supposed to have spent £800,000 in connection with his freezing experiments. His brave heart was almost broken when--a sailing ship, the North am, on which a trial shipment was arranged in IS7O, failed at the start, through a burst ammonia pipe in its freezing plant, and he died in 1878.

But his work lived, and some Queensland squatters cabled to London to Mi. Andrew M'llwraith, of Messrs. M'llwraith, M'Eachani, and Co., who chartered from Messrs.' Burrell and Son, of Glasgow, the s.s. Strathleven.

BRIDGING FIFTY YEARS,

"We all regret," said Mr. Raymond, "tiiat Mr. Andrew M'llwraith finds the weight or! years rather too heavy to allow him to come from his present retreat in Devonshire to the banquet to-night, but I know you will heartily endorse our committee's idea of sending him a special .message of felicitation on this occasion. At least, we have the pleasure of welcoming his son, Mr. Harold M'llwraith. "The story of the fitting out of that trim little vessel, the Strathleven, registering only 2436 gross tonnage, is in itself an episode of an engineering triumph in those early days. Mr. Andrew M'llwraith entrusted Messrs. Bell and Coleman, of Glasgow, with the duty of fitting the ship with dry air compression refrigerating machinery, and iv 1879 she.sailed from Plymouth under the control of Mr. Andrew M'llwraith's father-in-law, Mr. James Campbell, a civil engineer, and Mr. Matthew Taylor Brown, B.Sc, now a much respected vice-president of this association, was on board as representative of the Bell Coleman Company. Mr. Brown is with us here to-night." "The Strathleven arrived in London on 2nd February, 1880," said Mr. Raymond, continuing his story, "berthing, we arc told, in the East India Dock. As to the condition of the meat on arrival, the young produce representative of the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company recorded in his market report that 'on inspection of the meat while the vessel lay in dock, it was found to bo in a perfectly sound state, frozen quito hard, and covered with an artificial rime.' The hand that ■wrote this was that of the late Mr. George Goodsir, past president of this ..association, who lived to be one .;of the greatest and most respected figures in the frozen meat trade. His old friend and partner, Sir Gordon Campbell, we have with us this evening.1 "The meat, which,Jyid cost from ljd to 2d per lb in Australia, was placed in the hands of Mr. J. D. Link, of Smithfield Market, ami realised from 4Jd to 5Jd per lb for the beef, and 5Jd to 6d per lb for the mutton. "A luncheon to celebrate the success of the venture took place on board the Strathleven in dock on 6th February, 1880, and a carcase of lamb was accepted by Queen Victoria, and a sheep by the Prince of Wales (afterwards King Edward VIII.). "Sir Thomas Robinson, a director of Messrs. M'llwraith, M'Eaeham and Co., who regrets his inability to be present owing to absence abroad, writes tor say that a small keg of frozen butter was also carried on this voyage, the first butter to reach England from the Antipodes. At the time the Strathlevcn. arrived in the East India Dock, adds Sir Thomas, Cleopatra's Needle, which had been lost from the tug but found again in the Bay of Biscay, was moored near by in its cigar-shaped envelope. "Of the Strathleven.itself history records that, after her- epoch-making voyage, she was stripped of her refrigerating machinery and insulation, sold, and ultimately lost in the Atlantic in a gale."