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New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9180, 9 October 1888, Page 4

That the trade in frozen meat has passed through the infantile diseases incident to young enterprises, is very evident from the steady sale and high prices that are now reported from London. It would be almost impossible to exaggerate the bearing which this industry and trade now established, will have on the future of this country ; and though we in the provincial district of Auckland unhappily cannot in tho meantime benefit in the enterprise to the same extent as our friends in the South, whose flocks and herds are on a thousand hills, it is the bounden duty of our stockowners not only in the public interest but their own, to see to it that every opportunity is availed of for our district being kept in evidence in the meat market in London. Such an opportunity is now afforded in a circular which has just been issued by the New Zealanu Frozen Meat and (Storage Company to the stockowners of the Waikato and other portions of the provincial district, inviting their co-operation in tilling up one or several of the big direct steamers for England to be loaded at our port. Already the despatch of one, the Tainui. in January, is pretty well assured, thanks to the spirit of some of the larger agricultural institutions ; but. for that steamer, as well as for such succeeding ones as may possibly be required, the owners of stock are invited to send in a return before the middle of the present month as to the quantity of sheep and cattle they may be prepared to supply. It may seem a puerile thing to call on men of business in the name of the public good to bestir themselves and make their private arrangements v> square themselves with the geuwfel interest. But in this particular caw our settlers have a most direct personal interest in having the tracte in frozen meat conducted from our port, for it will have a direct arid immediate and a continuous influence, not only on the profits of sheep and cattle farming, but every kind oi rural industry. ii: steamers with frozen mutton are despatched from here at regular and stated periods not only will it give higher profits and value to pastoral property, but it will stimulate the production of various other articles of export, which, if encouraged and developed, may soon double the number, and secure the continuance of the big steamers loading at our port. It our butter and cheese, our apples and oranges, and other perishable cargo, to which we look with such hope of great things in the future, will have to be sent down as best we can to Wellington or Lyttelton, to be placed there in the chilled chambers that are to take them to London, it is to be feared that our prospects of a large development of these industries must be deferred for years to come ; for hundreds of settlers will be deterred from venturing on the production of them by the difficulties and the risks that must so inevitably attend their transmission to England, unless the big steamers themselves are here to receive them. Now such industries as these would be the very best adjuncts that could be applied in assisting the pastoral industry to be developed to the utmost, by the regular transmission of frozen meat to London. Every sheep and cattle owner, therefore, has a very strong interest in having the chilled and frozen chambers of the big steamers brought near to those who are engaged in these —at present—minor industries. And we do not hesitate to say that, apart from their own immediate interest in getting the best prices for their present stock, the owners of pastoral property should make the most strenuous effort to secure regular periodical %-isits of the direct steamers to our port at the present time, for the sake of the multitude of other interests that may by-and - by come to their aid. and assist them in commanding the continuance of this great commercial convenience. On every erround, therefore, this appeal of the Freezing Company should be earnestly and vigorously responded to. Whatever benefit that institution may be to its promoters and shareholders, it may be made of incalculable advantage to our settlers, and to the development and prosperity of the district. Indeed, without it, all the industries from which we hope most, would be heavily and almost hopelessly handicapped ; and in the public interest and their own, we do most earnestly urge that the stockowners of the provincial district will make it a matter of duty to foster this effort to secure the regular periodical visits of the large steamers with their frozen and chilled chambers to our port. Indeed, the sacrifice that is asked is nil, for with frozen mutton selling wholesale in London at tivepence farthing a pound, and frozen beef from fourpence to tivepence farthing a pound, it should require no other stimulus than immediate personal interest to rouse them to action. But there seems such a tendency in country settlement to develop the spirit of laissez faire, and our settlers are so prone to accept the first and easiest way that comes along for getting a fair price for their waies, that they may overlook the invaluable ulterior advantages that are hanging to this export trade. We sincerely trust that our stock-owners will be found to take a wider and more comprehensive view of their interest and their duty in relation to this ; and that they will promptly and energetically come to the aid of the Frozen Meat and Storage Company, and place at their disposal the very largest amount of sheep and cattle for the several shipments that they can possibly bring together. New Zealand has entered on a new era, in which the hopes of the country rest not on visions and chimerical enterprise, but on the teeming wealth of the colony's own magnificent resources ; and we declare, without any hesitation, that one of the principal, if not the very chief factor in the future development and progress of this district, ought to be the presence and the successful operations of our local Frozen Meat and Storage Company.