MEAT FOR BRITAIN

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22352, 25 February 1936, Page 5

MEAT FOR BRITAIN

NEW ZEALAND SUPPLIES GOOD CONDITION ON ARRIVAL " Although the people of Britain are great meat eaters, there is an increasing preference for smaller joints," said Mr. G. Roger, immediate past president of the Glasgow Butchers' Retailers' Association, who is at present in Auckland with his wife and son, in the course of a world tour. They are at the Station Hotel, and will leave for Sydney by the Wanganella on Saturday on their return to Scotland. Mr, Roger has been a year on his tour, spending a considerable time in Africa, Australia and New Zealand, taking every opportunity of getting first-hand know* ledgo of the raising and killing of the meat intended for the Home market. The day of the large joint was over, Mr, Roger stated, the main cause being the popularity of motoring. Lamb end mutton were also becoming increasingly popular for the same reason. In th«J case of beef the preference was for carcases of from four to six hundred* weight. This class of meat was being produced in less than two years in Britain. The distance from the Home market was a handicap to overseas producers, stated Mr. Roger, but at the same time New Zealand frozen and chilled beef, lamb and mutton arrived in excellent condition. In his own business he had three classes of shops. Some handled only home-killed meat, mostly very young beef and lamb and hogget. Others „ dealt solely in imported meats, while in a third class thero was a choice of both classes. " Travelling through New Zealand 1 have been very impressed with the rich growth of feed," Mr. lloger said. " It must be very much to the grazier's advantage to be able to feed his stock in the fields throughout the year, and it should be easy to produce fine young beef here. Naturally all your exported meat must suffer a certain disadvantage in comparison with the home-killed product, but it is the best of all that arrives in Britain from the various parts of the Empire. " New Zealand and other meat producing countries should be indebted to the Glasgow Association for its firm stand when tho British farmers united to secure the prohibition of boneless beef. This arrives in perfect condition and with good taste. Very little New Zealand chilled beof is as yet arriving in Scotland, but what 1 have seen haS been good and has benefited by maturing in transit. "As a largo purchaser of frozen pork," Mr. Roger concluded, " I have been very interested in what it is that gives it its sweetness that is retained even after a long period of storage. This I attribute to the milk feeding that pigs get in this country, and at the time of killing the meat is undoubtedly equal to our own pork. It is in gtrong demand, especially in the lighter weights, say from 80 to 1001b."