NEW ZEALAND FROZEN MEAT AT HOME.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1322, 20 March 1884, Page 4

NEW ZEALAND FROZEN MEAT AT HOME.

Mr Herbert Belfield, lately the proprietor of the Timaru Herald, has sent the following to that paper, addressed from North Tawton, Devon:—

Seeing fay recent papera that a refrigerating company 13 about starting business at Timaru, your readers may like to learn from my own personal experience what the meat is like when it reaches this country, and whether it is of such a character as to command good prices and a ready sale. This day week I received from a Loudon salesman a half-side of N.Z. mutton (per 5.3. lonic), it having been taken ont of the refrigerating chamber at the London Docks the previous day. It wa3 forwarded by rail nearly 200 miles, and I got it in the forenoon of Tuesday. In passing through the village I Bhowed the meat to my butcher, who was perfectly astonished at its qnality, and he pronounced it to be "very pretty meat indeed," and when I told him it had been killed in New Zealand he would hardly believe me. The Bide weighed 341bs, fine plump-looking mutton. It felt excessively cold when it arrived, but the coldne33 gradually disappeared after hanging. Yesterday, the eighth day after the meat left London, we dined off the loin, and I can but say no mutton could be better, very tender and juicy, and only to be equalled by the very beat Southdown. Some of the side 13 yet in the larder, and it i 3 fair to mention (to contradict the assertion that frozen meat won't keep after leaving the refrigeratiug chamber) that although in the middle of the January the weather is by no means January like. Instead of cold and frost, the weather for keeping meat, we have had for the last fortnight foggy and extremely damp weather, with a glass ranging from 45 to 55—atmospheric conditions abhorred by the careful housekeeper. That the meat is firat-clas3 there is not a doubt, and that the prices it fetches are first-class also the subjoined list testifies. These prices, however, though lower than those charged for Home grown meat, are sufficiently high to preclude a very largo class in this country from indulging in the frozen article. The middle-man here in England holds a mighty strong position, and so long as it lies in hi 3 power to do so ho will take precious good care that the food which passes through his hands i 3 not sold at a price which will materially affect the Homo market. The consumer suffers, of course, having to pay a larger price for his meat than he would do could he deal direct with an agent in direct communication with the producers. Under present circumstances, however, the New Zealand grower of mutton is pretty sure of a good price for the carcases he sends over the sea provided they arrive in the condition of 'the lonic's cargo, but ho must not imagine that the mutton goes into the mouths of those who do not usually have butcher's meat on their tables. The following is a copy from a list issued by a dealer in Leadenhall market: — Liet of Prices of New Zealand Mcttox. d. d. Sheep 7i Loins Si sS .- .- 74 Shoulders Si Hindquarters... 9 Shoulders, with Fore quarters ... 7 necks ... /A Legs, with uccki Si Shoulders, with Legs.withbrcasts Si breasts ... 7J LcSs, 10 Necks 7 Saddles ... S.V Breasts- ... 5