Meat for the Million.

Hastings Standard, Issue 308, 28 April 1897, Page 4

Meat for the Million.

The following is the concluding portion of Mr C'has. Cooper's letter to the Scotsman : So far I have only dealt with the processes for treating such parts of the sheep as could not be used for food. The good, rich, lean mutton which has been cut out of the heavier carcases is sent from the place of cuttingup in the iron trucks on a wire aerial railway to the cooking-house* There it is seized by an army of men' who cut it into smaller "pieces and put it into vats, where it is partly cooked. It is then passed along to packers. They weigh the portion for each can and put it into that can. These filled tins go forward to men who close them. No lead is used for soldering, but a material of which I can say nothing. The cans have all been made by machinery and hand labor on the premises. When they have been filled they are placed in a bath of a chemical compound which develops great heat at a lower temperature than boiling water. A small hole haii been left in the lid of each can, and through this hole the steam of the cooking escapes. When the cooking is completed a drop of solder on the hole closes the tin hermetically,* and the process is completed. I have sometimes heard obections raised against tinned meats on the alleged ground that the meat itself was inferior. Certainly this does not apply to New Zealand mutton. It is altogether choice meat, which no man would reject. It is as good as any mutton that finds its way into the market at Home, fresh or otherwise, and is far better than much of it. Something remains to be said of the freezing of the meat. So far as I know there is a great notion at Home that carcases of sheep in New Zealand and elsewhere are put on board ships fitted with cold chambers and get frozen there. No doubt some people know better ; but I think I have correctly stated the general impression. It is altogether wrong. The carcases are frozen by the meat exporters. When that is accomplished the carcases are put into bags, and are got into the cold chambers of the ships with the least possible delay. Many of the vessels are fitted with chambers capable of holding 20,000 to 50,000 carcases. The freezing process is most interesting. It used to be done by what was known as the dry air process ; it is now mainly accomplished by the ammonia process. I am not a scientist, and cannot hope to describe with accuracy the nature of this process. Generally, it may be said, the ammonia is compressed by the aid of steam. It is passed in a state of liquefaction through pipes. At Ngahauranga those pipes in all their convolutions are seven miles in length. These pipes are treated externally with cold water. At Wellington the sea water is used. At Ngahauranga the water is fresh. This generates intense cold, and when the pipes reach the freezing chambers the temperature is below zero. So cold is the ammonia that when the waste part of it is being returned to a receiver, the pipes even in the engine - house are covered with snow hard frozen. The carcases having previously cooled, are exposed to the low temperature in the freezing chamber, and in a short time they become hard as wood, or even as iron. In this state they are ready for shipment. That the mutton thus treated is the best of mutton I can vouch. No Scottish mutton is or could be better. I am speaking of the mutton frozen by the Wellington Meat Exporting Company ; but there is no room to doubt that the mutton treated by other establishments is equally good. Yet there is a slight ground for the objection some people have to it. The freezing congeals the natural juices of the meat, and when the carcases are thawed for the market some of these juices flow away. When all allowance has been made for this, the fact remains that the nutritive qualities of the meat are little lessened, and better meat could not be desired by the most fastidious. I am informed that at the present time the wholesale dealers at home will not pay more than '2£<l a pound for the meat If they were content with a moderate profit, the meat could be sold at from 3d to 4d a pound less than the price commonly charged for it. What this would mean to thousands of families I need not say. W r hat strikes me most forcibly ic that from this land meat for millions might be drawn, with infinite gain to the people at Home.