THE New Zealand Times. (PUBLISHED DAILY.) TUESDAY, JULY 30, 1895. CHILLED, MEAT.

New Zealand Times, Volume LVII, Issue 2575, 30 July 1895, Page 2

THE New Zealand Times. (PUBLISHED DAILY.)

TUESDAY, JULY 30, 1895. CHILLED, MEAT.

ffith which are incorporated the Wellington Independent, ■ established 1845, and the ■ NeiuZcaLander. '

An official report received, from the AgentGeneral—an extract'from which;, appears in another column—has i declared that the chilled beef sent Home by-the Gothic, of which we have hoard so much, was riot dressed by any means’in first-class style. Wo cannot say whoso fault this iras. “Probably tke fuU significance of such a verdict is that in the Colony.the .butcher , trade, is very much bolow the London standard. The Londoner kills and dresses with the finest arts his-colonial confrere kills and tomahawks. . That is no doubt the feeling at the bottom of these. pronouncements of the inferior skill of tho colonial workman. The latter is, however, by no means a bungler. He isatraclesman who certainly knows his business. But there is, nevertheless, enough truth in the; London criticism to make it wholesomely . unpalatable to colonists. The fact is that the colonial consumer is by no means as particular as the London custodiers of. the best butchers, A rather more slovenly style of butchering than passes in London does, well enough here, because: no one thinks it necessary: to keep the local batchers up to the best standards of practice. That the difference between the dressing here arid the dressing in London is no Bioro than this we dare say is quite possible.' 1 Probably, indeed, it is the fact. Whether that difference is equal to a halfpenny per pound ,we are riot prepared to say. The Agent-General’s expert says it is. The opinion appears to us reliable. It means that by inferior dressing a value of 33g per head of cattle,-average 6001 b, is taken off j it is decidedly worth regarding. .' ~ .... .... But this question is a. surface question, affecting, everything but'the: root of the matter. At the root ot the inatter is the question whether tho chilling of ,meat was a success in the'. Gothic.'; We have read with: surprise soirie remarks made by Mr Low (of Weddel-and. Co.) at Sydney the‘other day at .the annual conversazione oPtho New Zealand Loari and Mercantile Agency; Company. , His view, expressed: after reading all the published facts, is

that the problem of keeping meat chilled all the way from Nov. Zealand has not been solved. It cannot bo solved, he declares, until meat has been kept chilled (not frozen) for 60 days, whereas the Gothic’s meat was only kept 35 days, and was towards the end of the voyage frozen. It was sold as “ frozen,” he adds. He admits that it realised a very good price, but he suggests that that might have been due to the fact that numbers of butchers wanted to see for .themselves what the new thing was. That is all very well. Hut we cannot forget the high encomiums passed on the condition of the meat. It was declared by competent judges to be nearly equal in condition and appearance to American chilled beef. Upon that point there was no doubt in the minds of any of the witnesses. It is of course well to be careful, but, even if we assume with Mr Low that the chilling (as chilling) was not kept up for even the whole 35 days, the fact tliat the meat was incontostibly superior settles the question. Wo cannot see why, if .meat has been kept sweet for the greater portion of 35 days, it should not be kept sweet for CO days and more. The efforts of the carriers can be directed to that problem, and no doubt will be. But the fact remains that, if they do not manage to better the Gothic experiment, they have proved that meat can be landed in London, under less stringent conditions than are usual in freezing, in far more presentable condition than the frozen meat presents on delivery. The Gothic experiment must therefore be accepted as a great success. far more correct, we think, is Mr Low’s suggestion that the cost of carrying chilled meat must bo more than that of carrying frozen meat. Chilled meat, which requires hanging, requires more space, as he points out, and cannot be carried in the lower parts of the carrying ships, whore there must be more dead weight. Mr Low says that chilled meat will require four times the space that frozen meat requires, and that it will necessitate the employment of twice the tonnage. What his calculations are based on he does not say; and it goes without saying that if_ he had said it his contribution to the discussion of this important subject would have been more valuable. Still he must be regarded. being an expert, as having carried the discussion one step forward in the right direction. We know before ho spoke that the change from freezing to chilling must involve the securing of more tonnage. We know now that in the opinion of an export the tonnage will have to be doubled. That is, to use a slang phrase, a largo order j quite large enough to make us gasp at the prospect of substituting the chilling process for the freezing for carrying all our meat to the other end of” the world. But what is that difficulty compared to the difficulty of finding tonnage for all our moat should we want to send it away alive. You can send out bulls and heifers and horses to tho Colony, says Mr Low, on excellent condition. Why not, ho suggests, send Homo sheep and cattle ? The answer raises the difficulty of tho tonnage. If tho substitution of chilling for freezing is to double the tonnage, what will tho substitution of live for dead meat commit us to ? The calculation has not yet been attempted. But it is easy to soo that wo cannot carry all our meat export alive without getting at least ten times the tonnage we have now. It is also easy to see that as we do not fill tho outward bound ships now, we shall never fill them when we want at least ten times tho number, and probably more. This clearly involves an increase of freights which may bo regarded as prohibitive. On tho whole the chilling offers a bettor result than the carrying of live stock, which, in face of the proportions to which the trade has attained, offers a practical impossibility, Mr Low, we observe, however, is not of opinion that the present freezing process has become impossible. It is a failure for several reasons, (1) Tho stock (sheop as well as cattle) are not properly selected ; (2) some of the freezing processes are antiquated j (3) tho freezing is not always to be relied on, as the prevalence of " bonestint ’’ proves ; (4) the thawing la invariably badly done ; (5) the supplies are irregular i a famine drives away the buyers, and when there is a feast it is. difficult to coax thorn back again. All these defects can, of course, bo remedied, except one. The thawing is a question for tho inventors ; the rest are all matters for arrangement, and present no difficulties. As for the thawing, Mr Low has seen four progossos at work, all on the principle of using dry air to thaw the moat and keep it dry in tho process t and all be declares from experience to be attended with excellent results, the meat being nearly as good as American chilled. Here there is he thinks distinct hope for the meat trade. Certainly his news is good news. We publish elsewhere his recommendations for reorganising the trade. They form, the best argument for concentration that could bo desired for a trade which is suffering .terribly from diffusion, and consequent want of management and inevitable drift which follows lack of gontrol. We commend tho matter to all eoa> cerned. THE SITUATION IN ENGLAND. The following figures show the position of parties in the House of Commons since 1885 ! November, 1885— Liberals ... 331 Conservatives... ~, ... 249 Parnellites 86 Independents 4> ■ August, 1886— Conservatives... ... ... 316 Liberals 192 Unionists ... 77 Parnellites 85 After general election, 1893Liberals 275 Conservatives... ... ... 268 - Unionists ... ... ... 46 I Parnellites 9 Anti-Parnellites 72 November, 1894 Liberals ... •■;. 272 Conservatives 269 Unionists • ... 48 Parnellites 9 Anti, Parnellites ... ... 72 : After general election, 1895* — Conservatives and Unionists 410 Liberals ~, ... 175 Parnellites ... 12 Anti-Parnellites ... 69 ■ * Pour returns yet to come. .