MELBOURNE MEAT EXPORTATION COMPANY.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume I, Issue 2, 17 April 1880, Page 4

MELBOURNE MEAT EXPORTATION COMPANY.

In reference to the telegram which we published in our last issue on this important subject, we find the following in a Victorian contempory: — " A numeroualy attended meeting of gentlemen connected with the Victorian pastoral interest was held in Melbourne at the beginning of the month, with the view of taking measures to form a company to promote the export of meat and other produce under the freezing process. Great enthusiasm was evinced in the matter, and after a long discussion, during which the various points were considered — particularly as regards the respective merits of the two patents for freezing, an adjournment was taken, pending the arrival by the incoming mail of further information on the subject. At the next meeting, Sir James McCulloch, who was in the chair, announced that Mr. G. Fairbaim had received a reply from England to his telegram asking the price of one of Gifford's freezing machines to a capacity of 40,000 cubic feet. The reply gave the cost of such a machine including the engine, at .£I2OO, but in addition to that there was a small annual royalty. The machine could be ready by May. Sir James McCulloch then proceeded to state that from the details received on the previous day by the mail there could be no doubt as to the success which had attended the experiment of shipping frozen meat to England. In a short time he expected that provisions of different kinds would also be shipped, and that they would arrive in a sounder condition than if delivered in any part of this colony. The success of this experiment affected both the agricultural and pastoz-al interests, which would receive an immense impetus, and it behoved them to take an active interest in the development of the movement. He had received a letter f rom Mr. Henry Douglas, who was then in Sydney, in which it was stated that a company with the same object was being formed there, and that the New South Wales Government had promised to assist the company by erecting sheds at several of their railway termini, such as Orange and Wagga Wagga. The Sydney City Corporation had also promised to consider a proposal to convert the old Exhibition building into rooms for freezing and storing various perishable articles of consumption. It would thus be seen that the Sydney people were alive to the importance of the movement. After having read an extract from a Queensland paper as to the merits of Gifford's freezing machinery, he suggested that a company should be formed. Mr. G. Fairbairn then proposed that a company should be formed for the purpose of carrying on the business of exporters of every description of food suitable for human consumption, and which required to be frozen prior to, and in course of, transit, and to act as agents for other companies. This was seconded by Mr. J. Simson, and agreed to unanimously. A committee, consisting of Sir James McCulloch, and Messrs. J. Blackwood, Lloyd Jones, H. Douglas, and G. Faivbairn, was then appointed to go into details, and to present a report to a future meeting."