N.Z. FROZEN MEAT.

King Country Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 247, 2 April 1910, Page 5

N.Z. FROZEN MEAT.

A young colonial baa just returned from Great Britain has been telling his friends of bis failure to ascertain who eats New Zealand frozen meat. When he arrived in London he, like many other New Zealanders, was more than a little proud of the part played by his country in providing food for the millions of the Motherland. He never doubted that his new acquaintances and friends would recognise gladly the connection between the smiling plains of Canterbury and the laden tables of English homes, and at the first convenient opportunity he asked an hospitable housewife whether she used frozen meat. "It seemed that she woul3 have felt flattered had I asked her whether she ate margerine," he writes. "After a few days 1' learned that one must be very careful about mentioning frozen meat to English people of the better classes. In a London club I was informed that 'no doubt some people used frozen meat,' in a tone which suggested that some a people would do all sorts of odd things. My hostess in a country house said that she had heard that New Zealand meat was excellent but that her servants objected to eating it. The subject suggested Chicago to her, and she expressed that the 'meat people' had improved their methods. *1 choked down my explanations. My confidence was shaken a little when I searched, out some cheap markets and found the Prime Canterbury label attached to joints which I hoped devoutly had come from the Argentine. I did not feel happy about the matter until I had taken an opportunity to visit Smithfield, and had seen splendid New Zealand mutton, apparently in prime condition, on its way to some unknown consumer. A few weeks later I did find a family who used New Zealand mutton and were not ashamed of it. They said that they had no desire at ail to replace it by Home-killed meat." The experience of this New Zealande l ' is not an uncommon one, and it recalls a story told by one of the merchants who conducts a wholesale business in New Zealand meat in London. He changed his place of residence and consequently became a customer of the local butcher, to whom he sent an order for a quarter of "Prime Canterbury" lamb. The butcher replied that he dealt only in English meat, and could not undertake to deliver any inferior quality. He had quite overlooked the fact that the man to whom he was writing was the merchant who supplied his weekly order for New Zealand meat.