WELLINGTON MEAT PRESERVING AND REFRIGERATING COMPANY.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 680, 13 March 1885, Page 1 (Supplement)

WELLINGTON MEAT PRESERVING AND REFRIGERATING COMPANY.

(by our special reporter.)

The above named company has been in existence for a little over a year, and already they have effected a thorough reformation in their plant, and more especially in the slaughtering works of the company, situated at Ngabauranga, which is a most suitable site for the purpose. The buildings are bounded by the hills on the one sjde, and on the other by the Ngahauranga creek, which carries away all the filth and other noxious matter which is, of course, inseparable from a shambles. The establishment, which covers a large area of ground, is entirely new, and advantage has been taken of a fire which burnt down the old and inconvenient buildings which were erected many years ago by Messrs J. and H. Barber and Co., to erect good lofty, welllighted, and large sheds, which would be a , credit to any part of the world. Evidently a practical man must have inspired the architect who prepared the plans, as the various buildings have been so arranged that from the time the beast or sheep is driven in from the stockyard, the work proceeds down hill. There is no lifting or hauling required from the time the ox is slaughtered until the meat is cut up for market, and the refuse, consisting of the fat, heads, horns, skins and hoofs, are finally disposed of. The stock-yards and sheep-pens are placed on the slope of the bill, and, as occasion requires, the animals are driven into the slaughterhouses. .The beef house, as it is technically called, is a welllighted and almost perfectly ventilated wooden shed eighty feet long, twenty-five feet wide, and about twenty feet in height. The killing is speedily accomplished by spearing the beast from a coign of vantage above. The animal falls dead instantaneously, and is then hauled up by a block and tackle by the hind legs to a cross travelling beam, known as a box. The work of skinniDg, dressing, and dividing the body through the back bone occupies but a few minutes, and the carcase is then passed along the travelling box, where it reaches the hands of the cutter-up. The animal, however, is allowed to cool before the last-named process takes place, as otherwise the flesh would be bruised and perhaps mangled. The ox slaughterhouse will hold at least 40 slaughtered bullocks. The blood runs through drains and boxes to the creek, whence it is carried out to sea. .The utmost cleanliness is observable everywhere. The floors, which are laid in 2in kauri planking, are flushed every hour or so, and thus much of the repulsiveness incidental to the work is avoided. The sheep slaughterhouse adjoins the beef shambles, and the sheep are driven from the pens a 3 required by the butchers. The work of killing goes on in much the same manner as in the other portion of the place, but the building is considerably larger than the beef house, and consists of two stories. Provision is made, should occasion require, to hang 1100 carcases at the same time. It may here be mentioned that the company's buyers purchase their stock and sheep principally from the Wairarapa and West Coaßt districts. Since the impetus which the home demand for frozen mutton has occasioned, the company have been obliged to increase their facilities for killing sheep; and therefore it may be readily imagined that this portion of the establishment is regarded as the most important of the works. Greater care has to be exercised in the handling

of the sheep from the time they are penned until they are placed in a frozen state on board the homeward-bound steamers and other vessels, so as to minimise the danger of bruising or in any way injuring the carcases. And here it may be remorked that a smaller and more fleshy class of sheep is required for export. Nor need this be wondered at, as the Home consumer, who has to pay 7d or Sd per pound for his mutton, naturally objects to a large and very fat sheep, as adipose meat is, comparatively speaking, waste to English housewives. Care has therefore to be exercised that the sheep for export are good fleshy animals, and only sufficiently fat to ensure the mutton being nutritious. The average weight of sheep chosen for freezing purposes ranges from 651 b to 701 b each, while the sheep slaughtered for the local market average from 801 b to 901 b, and in some instances 1001 b. Thus it will be seen that, if fat is to be regarded as a criterion of the excellence of the meat, local consumers obtain a better kind than the Home buyers. It must, however, be borne in mind that in no instance is inordinately fat mutton thrust upon the local buyer. The fat mutton intended for the Wellington market is taken into the town shops. There the extra fat is cut off and returned to the Ngahauranga Works, where it is converted into tallow. The company at present are kept very busy in preparing 10,000 sheep for the Home market, which are to be shipped by the Oamaru. Ascending a ladder, the flat over the sheep slaughterhouse is reached, and this apartment is at present devoted to the pickling of beef, the greater portion of which is exported to the neighboring colonies, where it is principally used on stations and on steamers. The beef is first of all placed in large wooden pickling tacks, and, when sufficiently corned, is transferred to tierces. In this room are also pickle tubs, in which the bullock’s heads, minus the bones, are first salted and then cut up for brawD, &c. The heads and feet are first of all passed into a room where they are scalded and the hair is taken off carefully. The flesh is cut from the bone, and after being salted is sent up to town, where it is cut up. In the same room are large vats in which sheeps’ tongues are pickled before they are tinned. Nothing is lost in the company’s works. Every piece of fat is utilised, and is passed on to the boilingdown vats. Every bone not required by the butchers is also thrown into the vats. By a simple contrivance the fat or tallow, after being steamed in the dige3tors, is run into coolers, and after being cooled is run into the casks below, whilst the bones are thrown out at the other side, and are gathered up for manure purposes. The horns and hoofs are also exposed for a time to the air, and are as required sent Home, the shank-bones being utilised by the Home buyers for knife-handles and other purposes. Even the entrails of the sheep and pigs killed are preserved, and furnish skins for sausages, bladders for lard, bolognas, and German sausages. The amount thus saved is by no means inconsiderable, for whereas the company imported skins in days gone by, they are now producers. The boiling department is worked by steam supplied by a couple of multitubular boilers, made by Messrs Robertson and Co., of Wellington. In fact, in every way possible, endeavors have been made to encourage local industry. The success of the company may be gathered from the fact that whereas- last year they exported 4000 barrels of. tallow, their. increased operations this year warrant them in the belieE that they will turn out double that quantity. The piggery, which generally contains about 600, is roofed in, and is furnished with steam pipes as a guard against the cold blasts of winter. The styes are boarded, and, as a reclining couch, the animals are provided with sloping gratings. The piggery is a Dattern of neatness, and is hosed down every morning. The food approximates as nearly as possible to that given to dairy fed porkers. Meal, pollard, and boiled meat are the principal ingredients, and the utmost care is taken to prevent the pigs eating raw meat. They are drafted as weaners from the company’s farm at Petone, which i 3 not only a stud farm, but is also a nursery for the young pias. Directly a bullock or sheep is killed and dressed, a record of the weight is taken, and even the fat taken from the entraih is credited to the animal. The chief feature to be noted in the shop is their extreme cleanliness The slaughterers are paid by results, and this system is found to work admirably, both for employers and employes. The company disburse upwards of £IOO per week, the whole of which probably circulates within the city. It is only within the last two years and a half that the proposition of freezing sheep for the Home market bas come into operation in the Wellington districts, and yet the results obtained, notwithstanding the prognostications of many, have proved conclusively that the companies in existence in the city have not only created a trade with London which will return a payable dividend to the shareholders on the money invested, but have also cheapened the price of meat to the local consumer. The companies claim that this happy state of affairs will last for a long time, and it i d contended that the greater the Home demand for mutton the cheaper will be the meat for local requirements. This may appear rather paradoxical, but a little consideration will show that the statement is quite borne out by facts. Settlers and sheep farmers, in times gone by, grew sheep principally for the wool, the requirements of the local meat market, being only a secondary consideration. Happily, this state of things, owing to local enterprise, has been altogether altered. The local trade assists the export trade, and the two going hand in hand ‘•ogether have built up companies which are financial successes, and which are contributing steadily towards the permanent prosperity of this city, and the whole provincial district. Instead of creating a trade monopoly, the companies in existence have provided labor, have cheapened the supply of meat in the local market, and in addition have already given good returns for the local capital

invested. The meat industry will yet, in all probability, increase the export returns of the* colony to an extent at present little thought of by the general public. The companies la. existence are deserving of every possible encouragement and assistance from the general public. -