SCIENTIFIC ALLIES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22131, 10 June 1935, Page 8

SCIENTIFIC ALLIES

While Mr. Forbes' chief preoccupation in Britain i'S to secure New Zealand's place in British markets, he has taken the opportunity to visit the Low Temperature Research Station at Cambridge, where scientists are devising improved methods to enable the delivery of produce in , the. best possible condition. His visit was made at the invitation of another New Zealander, Loid Rutherford, who, as chairman of the Advisory Council of the British Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, has influenced the direction of the experiments at Cambridge. The most important advance made there recently has been the demonstration that beef can be held in perfect condition in a chilled state for as long as 60 to 70 days in*an atmosphere containing a percentage of carbon dioxide gas. As is well known, the discovery has been successfully applied to trial shipments from New Zealand, thus opening the way for the development of the chilled beef trade, from which distance had hitherto excluded the Dominion. It may seem ironical that this valuable advance Bhould have coincided with the British Government's move toward import restrictions. New Zealand should decline, however, to regard the situation with pessimism. If at the moment the chances of exploiting the new possibilities of chilled beef export appear slender, New Zealand should continue to work on the method with a view to its perfection against another and more promising day. In the meanwhile gas storage at low temperatures offers opportunities in several other directions, as is shown by the experiments at Cambridge. The exi»ort of bacon instead of pork may be found feasible, a possibility important not only to the pig industry, but also in providing a new avenue of employment. Cambridge is also showing the way with fruit transport, although in this department the station emphasises the need for co-operation at this end in solving particular problems. It may be hoped that as a result of his visit to Cambridge, Mr. Forbes' practical interest will have been engaged, because it is becoming increasingly important to land produce in the best possible condition if the most is to be made of the place retained in British markets. New Zealand should use to the utmost the help of science in overcoming the handicap of distance.