AUSTRALIAN PRESERVED MEATS. [From the Melbourne Argus, May 4]

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume XXVIII, Issue 48, 16 June 1869, Page 4

AUSTRALIAN PRESERVED MEATS. [From the Melbourne Argus, May 4]

It is extremely gratifying to learn that the Australian colonies have at last become important in the eyes of Englishmen, and obtained that high place in the regards of the British householder to which they have long been entitled. And this altered state of feeling is all the more pleasing from the nature of the cause to which the change is due. Our new popularity is not traceable to sudden caprice — to an eccentric ebullition of popular sentiment, for which no sufficient cause can be shown. In that case it would prove but short-lived, and end as abruptly as it began. But no such catastrophe is to be feared, since the respect in which we are now held is owing to our ability, only recently forced upon the attention of Englishmen, to do them a most essential service. The truth is our beef and mutton have come to be understood and appreciated in Great Britain, and we have consequently gained a hold upon the affections of the British people which it will be all but impossible to unloosen. Alimentiveness is a quality that is deep-seated in the Anglo-Saxon character, and so long as we minister effectively to its demands we shall continue to enjoy the favour in which, as we hear from latest advices, we are now held in the British domestic circle. If we fail to do so, it will be our own fault. Already we have the raw material of the preserved meat manufacture in great abundance, and with advancing prices the supply will greatly increase. We have also taught ourselves how Australian meat may be so dealt with as to arrive in Eugland in a sound, wholesome, and palatable condition, and the new trade so successfully initiated cannot fail to grow and increase, unless through gross mismanagement on our own part. It is curious to observe the gradual advauces by which Australian preserved meat . forced its way into the British market, and the perseverance and ingenuity which the agents for its sale were obliged to exercise before they succeeded in carrying their point. ' For several years, Messrs. Smith and Clarke, of this city, manufactured and exported preserved meat of unexceptionable quality ; and the Eamornie Company, of New South Wales, has been supplying the London market with \ the same commodity since the beginning of 1866. But great difficulty was long experienced in disposing of the meat supplied, | and the preserving operations carried on in [ Melbourne had consequently to be kept Avithin narrow limits. More recently, the ' Victorian and the Melbourne Meat-preserving Companies have gone into the manufacture 1 of preserved meats on a larger scale, and \ vigorous efforts have been made to establish their product in the English market. Mr. Tallerman acting for the former, and Mr. M'Call for the latter, pushed the new Aus- " tralian meat in every direction, and literally compelled the public to acknowledge its merits. Meetings of working men and their families were called, that they might be feasted on the Australian meat, and whole schools were treated to a meal of it, that its \ fame might be spread abroad. Another ex- ' cellent mode of advertising it consisted in the making of meat aud vegetable stews, the meat being Victorian beef and mutton, which were offered for sale among the poorer of the population of Loudon at the moderate price of a penny a plateful. This experiment was attended with the greatest success. Thousands who but for it would have been obliged to go altogether without animal food, were privileged to enjoy a good mixed meal through its means, and no doubt the penny messes gave Australian meat a great reputation among the poor of London. And it seems that the penny-plateful arrangement is as profitable to the buyers as it is advantageous to the consumers, so that this peculiar trade may be all but indefinitely extended. There was some talk, too, when the mail left, of a monster banquet, at a low price, to be held under the auspices of the London Working Men's Institute, at which no other meat but our own would find a place. The adoption of our preserved meat as an article of food on board the ships of the British navy is another significant fact, and is in itself sufficient evidence that our new export has fully established itself in the public esteem. Tho British Admiralty is the most conservative institution in the world — the slowest to abandon old abuses and to profit by new discoveries. For several years it has been buying and manufacturing indifferent preserved meat at lid. a pound, when it could have got excellent Australian meat for half the money. Now that a change has at last been submitted to, we may rely upon enjoying its custom for many years to come, and probably ou au extensive scale. But we have a still stronger proof to cite of the favour that has lately been extended to Australian preserved meats, in Great Britain. Englishmen are not naturally demonstrative. It takes a good deal to touch them, and even when touched they are slow to give public expression to their feelings. When they do seek a vent for their pent-up emotions it is generally found in writing to a newspaper, and. when any particular subject is much written about in this way, and public opinion is found to be nearly unanimous in regard to it, the question involved may be fairly held to be definitely settled. On the subject of Australian meat we are happy to say that there have been letters in the newspapers. Fathers of families and other domestic reformers have felt constrained to write of it with commendation, and it has even been publicly mentioned that Young England is already clamorous for it, preferriug it before all other kinds of animal sustenance. Henceforth, then, Australian beef and mutton will have a recognized place in the British cuisine, aud our fat bullocks and wethers can never again be a drug in the market. At first sight it appears somewhat strange that our preserved meats should have become so popular all at once— that, after vainly courting the approval of the British public for years, it should at last have come so suddenly into favour. But the explanation is obvious. So long as the Australian

meat was sent to England in inconsiderable quantities, it was not worth the while of the trading class to have anything to do with it. Importers, wholesale provision merchants, retail shopkeepers — all must have assurance that a new commodity, no matter what its intrinsic merits may he, will continue to be supplied, and in considerable quantities, or they do not caro to undertake the task of introducing it into the market, and forcing it upon the attention of the public. This was the cause of our meat manufacture remaining so long unappreciated by the English public. But now that we are manufacturing preserved meats on a large scale, the difficulty is at once removed. The trading classes in Great Britain are as eager to become agents for, as the general public are to become consumers of, Australian moats ; and a trade has now been fairly launched which promises to attain to great magnitude and importance, to the advantage alike of these colonies and of the British public. [Fom the Argus, May 27.] 11l our Monday's issue we described the sudden demand for Australian preserved meat that had arisen in Great Britain before the last mail was despatched, and congratulated the public on the great impetus which this is sure to give to several of our most important colonial industries. But we doubt whether the facts of the case are properly understood as yet, or the real merits of the impression which our meats have at last made on the minds of English consumers. So rapidly did they leap into favour that the gentlemen engaged iv introducing them were greatly surprised at the success which rewarded their own exertions, and in their letters to their constituents here they cannot find language strong enough to express how urgent is the present demand for Australian meat, or how great the demand is likely to be when the merits of the new import become more widely known. " Suffice it to say," writes one of these agents, " that now you have only to pub up any given quantity of good mutton, and I can sell it at remunerative prices. Literally any quantity can be sold. It is now an established fact, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that the million in the manufacturing and mining districts will eat preserved meat, and prefer it to any other kind of animal food. The foundation is laid of a business such as the wildest flight of your imagination never pictured. I have been taken aback by the sudden demand," &c. This is very impressive language for a business communication, and its warmth goes to prove that the state of affairs which the writer had to describe was altogether unusual — something for which his business experience had not prepared him. And we have still stronger proof of the success of our preserved meats in the English market. The writer from whom we have already quoted supplies some particulars of the new trade which fully justify all the ardour of his descriptive passages, and may well excite in the minds of Australian flockowners an enthusiasm equal to his own. When the demand for the meat began to iucrease, the agent in question, Mr. M'Call, purchased 25,000 6-lb. tins of meat, the manufacture of Messrs. Smith and Clarke, of this city, and disposed of it in the home market — this parcel having been in the market for some time previously without meeting a purchaser. The demand still increasing, Mr. M'Call purchased 6,000 61b.tins of Irish preserved meat, and sent it into consumption. Subsequently, the entire stock of Eamornie beef already to hand, and all that was afloat, were sold at remunerative prices, while orders were booked for 213,000 tins of Victorian meat, nearly all of 61bs. each. For more than a' week before the mail left, Mr. M'Call refused to book any more orders, lest the supply should run short. When the mail left the demand for the meat amounted to 100,000 61b. tins per week, and Mr. M'Call was of opinion that it would soon extend to two or three times that quantity, if an adequate supply was maintained. And this, it is to be observed, is the experience of one agent. There|are other meat-preserving companies here besides the Melbourne Company, and there are other meat salesmen in London besides Mr. M'Call, while there is no reason to suppose that the success which we have been considering was monopolised by one manufactory or one agent. If we had equally full information in regard to the transactions of others engaged in the same trade, the new manufacture upon which we are entering would probably assume a magnitude and importance that would entitle it to a place among Victorian industries only second to its gold mining.

AUSTEALIAN FISCAL CONFEDEEATION. — The COllforence of commercial delegates at Sydney has terminated, and resolutions approving of a fiscal federation between the colonies were arrived at. Beeakfast. — A Successful Experiment.— The Civil Service Gazette has the followiug interesting remarks : — " There aro very few simple articles of food which can boast so many valuable and important dietary properties as cocoa. While acting on the nerves as a gentle stimulant-, it provides the body with somo of the purest elements of nutrition, and at the same time corrects and invigorates the action of the digestive organs. " .These beneficial effects depend in a great measure upon the manner of 1(3 preparation, but of In' te. years such close attention has been given to the growth and treatment of cocoa, that there is no difficulty in securing it with every useful quality fully developed. The singular sueeeess which Mr. Epps attained by his homoeopathic preparation of cocoa has never been surpassed by any experimentalist. Far and wide the reputation of Epps's Cocoa has spread by the simple force of its own extraordinary merits. Medical men of all shades of opinion have agreed in recommending it as the safest and most beneficial article of diet for persons of weak constitutions. This superiority of a particular mode of preparation over all others is a remarkable proof of the great results to bo obtained from little causes. By a thorough knowledge of the natural laws which govern the operations of digestion and nutrition, and by a careful application of the fine properties of well-selected cocoa, Mr. Epps has provided our breakfast tables with a delicately-flavoured beverage which may save us many heavy doctors' bills. It is by the judicious use of such articles of diet that a constitution may be gradually built up until strong enough to resist every tendency to disease. Hundreds of subtle maladies are floating around us ready to attack wherever there is a weak point. We may escape many a fatal shaft by keeping ourselves well fortified with pure blood and a properlynourished frame." 218