THE SYDNEY MEAT TRADE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXXVI, Issue 9609, 30 December 1891, Page 6

THE SYDNEY MEAT TRADE.

Mr W. H. Cooper returned yesterday from a short visit to Sydney, where he had an opportunity to vi-it the markets and to make a thorough inspection of the manner in which the meat trade, wholesale and retail, is conductsd. On Thursday, Dee. 17, the day following his arrival, he attended the bi-weekly stock market nt Homebush, about twelve miles out of Sydney, on which occasion the entry of stock comprised 33,400 sheep and lambs, and 2300 bullocks. These were all sold by auction, and were disposed of in exactly* three hours and threequarters. The sales at Homebush are conducted on very prompt lines, each auctioneer submitting his respective lots iu cider of ballot, and being restricted to time. The first lot of sheep sold on that occasion was 1300 fat merino ewes, shorn very early, which weighed from 38lb to 401 b each. They were offered in lota of twenty-five with the option of taking the line. They were sold at 3s 3d to the wholesale butchers, who would clear a large profit out of them, as the skins were worth from la 9d to 2s each, and the sheep when killed and dressed were sold to the retail butchers at per lb. Of the 33,000 offered, Mr Cooper only saw one small line of cross-bred sheep that would bo looked at in Canterbury for export, but the merino ewes and wethers, which formed the bulk of the entry, were good-conditioned small sheep. Twentytwo out of the twenty-three hundred bullocks were very prime beef indeed, consisting of bullocks from Queensland, Gipp-laud and the up-country districts of New South Wales. They were all over 800ib weight and ranged up to 11001 b They sold from £3 10s to .£4 12a 6d and were mostly bought by the wholesale men, who slaughter them at. their establishments at Glebe Island, and who supply the carcases to the butchers each day as required, at the rate of lls to 12s 6d per 1001 b. Mr Cooper also visited Glebe Island, a place about three miles from Sydney, where the abattoirs’are situated. The abattoirs are Government property, and are lot in sections by tender for a term of years. At the present time four persons are in possession of them, and control the entire market. These persons are the principal buyers of live stock, and have the butchers at their mercy, as they have all the slaughtering apparatus in their own hands. All the refuse offal is Bent from the abattoirs through shoots into barges, and is taken out to sea, where it is emptied. The hides, at the time of Mr Cooper’s vinit, were bringing 4d per lb, consequently they returned on an average <£l 10s each. The animals were killed during the night, and by four o’clock in the morning the greater portion of the meat is removed to the retail shops, from where it is sent out to the customers before six o’clock. During his stay in Sydney, Mr Cooper did not see half-a-dozen sheep at one time in any butcher’s shop during the day time. In some retail shops ice boxes are kept, in which the best joints are put away if not sold, but there are no refrigerating chambers in connection with any of the butchering establishments. There are refrigerating chambers connected with the railway, however, but the charge for storage is prohibitive, something like a halfpenny per pound per day being the charge made. The lambs offered for sale would not be relished iu Canterbury. They are small merinos of little or no value. Mr Cooper also found that pork is the dearest kind of meat, as the price is never less than 4£d per lb, and is frequently s£d per lb wholesale. The abattoirs are under Government inspection, and are well supplied with water, but the animals for slaughter have often to remain, yarded up for a very long time before being killed, and they have neither food nor water provided for them. There is one other slaughtering establishment which supplies the city. The carcases are sent in by rail to the dead-meat market, and the dexterous manner in which the quarters of beef are transferred from the railway trucks is quite a sight to witness.