FEEDING THE SOLDIER.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 10593, 24 October 1910, Page 6

FEEDING THE SOLDIER.

(By James Long.)

. .Questions have frequently been asked in the House of Commons of those re-, sponsible for the supply of food to the' lArmy why imported meat is purchased; instead of home-grown meat, while numerous complaints have "been made. : •by those engaged in the production and : purveying of British beef and mutton. 1 ■■ Meat is supplied to-the British people ■ • from three sources. AYe have first that, which is grown at home: next, the meat which is produced, from the carcases of cattle slaughtered on arrival on these shores; and lastly, meat which is frozen or chilled, and which is the produce of stock grown ill our colonies or ill foreign countries. For many years past largequantities of meat have been imported, 'both- live and dead ; ■ but, while there is a decrease, although the values for .each, year are somewhat' erratic and inj consistent with each other in the .case of'.live stock slaughtered at the ports of landing, the quantities of beef, mutton, and pig meat imported have increased immensely during the • past twenty years, with the result that tho quantity consumed per head of the peo--pie is.jp uck. .than it was;; theh working' classes, who- formerly? obtained little or no meat at all, now-being able to pbta'in- it at a-price 'within' their njeans.,, > - - ' - A Ith o iigh-.w.e pay large pu ms of. money fbr 'cattlch— nullions-sterlirig we- pay a. very .small sum for live slieep;. and nothing, for/pigs,- whereas - twenty yearsago our expenditure.-for sheep was 15 At that date the thefmeat imported amounted to 2:t .:Jnil- : lions sterling, ?„nd <of mutton less than' . 2 millions!,-but > "of J p'ig meat 9i millions, this chiefly consisting of* bacon 'and hams. •- Last <y,ear, -however;; : we paid the oversea producer* l ll4- millions'-£or "beef, •Si .millions for mutton, aijdyl9Jiinillions for pig meat,' or; inclndn>£r f '-meat of "i.her kinds, -a .sugi r .of 41 millions sterling* J) gnjqst^slightly,'Jess, than 15 mil- I lions twejntv ago.,, i . It:is, purchases from ] other", countries'?would- i-.npt have increased ;?f! (consistently, .-and may we also i sav so persistently, were -this 'class of i fond inferior -ill,-quality and-unfit for the consumption , the people. It is qujte tr.ue.ithat-.in large numbers of in-, -stances; it«liasi been so good,, especially the mutton arriving from -New Zealand and some "of the beef from the United States., that■ both Jiave been sold—and ; :£oldf ivith consummate ease on< account ■ of their really excellent quality—as :- ihomej-grown: pieat, with, the result that some years ago there was an agitation • with ithp= object of inducing the Govern- ' :inent of "the day to prevent what was t- regarded, and, sense: very pro- ' perl v;- as an infringement of "the laws ■ of honest trade. ■ A Committee of the House of Lords i iwas. 'appointed to consider this question,- when evidence was given by the ■ writer ,of these lines,, who pointed out- ; th at" not only - was: tlie practice of ■ substitution common in the extreme, but that it might easily be prevented by thp. adoption of . the stamping or marking the. ioin-fcs on-each carcase, in imita- . tion of -the practice which is adopted in • Denma'rk with tho object of differentiating bet-ween first-class meat and meat ; .wh'cli, though liealthv, was of rntn quality. As we have had the op-'-"ortu'nty of .. -§ecing._.for. ourselves in . Copenhagen,- -all ;,carcases are. examined f by ii'F.pectorF, before they are placed in ' butchers' shops. Meat which is tiint'-d or suspected is rejected, while tb.it,,which is inferior .in any, way,. bu,t believedto..be..healthy bv the 7 !. officers who-examine, it. is stamped on the various joints; the best meat is also stamped. but with a. mark of a .different color. That imported meat is still sold as' . British, although oil; a comparatively small scale, we have little doubt, but the question is whether it is a food of an-iiec.onomi.c!il .character. i

T!i it the ,l:iv>t imported mutton—and? we confine oi!!selves to this psutieular ■ food—is not equal on the palate to the. best home-grown, we are willing to admit, but that it is. superior to the averago British joint, we .believe. iu all sincerity.; It must not }je forgotten that in this country all tlie ewes and rams -nvo-i-eventually slaughtered, generally finding their way to the tables of the rtniddle-el asses, who frequently • have pood reason to complain of the tough-, is ess of their joints. The best imported meat is young and tender, and although its cost is . higher. than it was*, it is still much lower than that of British meat. . ■ ■' '

A fen years .a £o the ..writer received : instructions from the War Office to test the respective values of British and imported '.mutton, legs.being chosen, for the purpose. .Enlisting the assistance of Dr TJcrnfuid Dyer, late president of the :Societv ot Analysts, it was determined to make both- a; practical and a. scientific test." With this object 110 fewer than . thirty legs of wether mutton;, represent-' ing two .English breeds, a' Scotcli variety, New Zealand, Australian and Argentine, were. purchased from thoroughly reliable sources. ... \ • .. . . A-number L of -these . joints .were jiot; only weighed in their natural condition and after cooking, but several were also minced and analysed, with the object of showing the proportions of water, fat, bone, sinew and the like, of dry nitrogenous mattea - , and. ot mineral- -inatter. or ash included in the lean, wliile the real nutritive food —-practically the tat and the lean- devoid of moisture —was also determined;/ This was exclusive ofthe'nutritive matter which was derivable l)v soup-making -fronj the bones and .■smews, tor it .will be remembered by those who understand the composition ot a carcase, .that bone, is riclr ;m , anitrogenous material, which may be de-, scribed' as gelatine...; . - - Fifteen of the- joints were British grown, while fifteen were imported from ■the countries already named. The Britisii grown mutton showed on. the -ayer-j age 1-23 per cent, more bone and' sinewj and in consequence 1.23 per cent, less meat, but the condition ot the meat was oil the-average better, so. that the total nutritive 'matter ill the home •grown.-'meat' averaged 40.5 per cent., as against 39.37 per. cent, in the imported meat,, the: difference being due to the fact' tliat tire rhome-grown -meat wa's fatterr—a, fact .which says very little in its favor, inasmuch as British mutton of lugh quality is almost invariably too fat for the table, a'large portion of the fat being rejected. This fact was especially noticed m- cooking and. plac-. ing oil the table, buti while the British meat , was richer on the palate owing to its tenderness and still more to the fattier condition ,of the ;lean, . it was more wasteful, aild when the waste was to the increase in the cost it lias: found to be considerable more expensive, and in every way less economical; , Of the British meat five legs were of. the Hampshire breed, averaging ( 91b looz each,, while-tlie averager-nutritive value; was 35.6. :-. The weight of thef Shropshire legs averaged 101b 4oz, while the nutritive matter averaged. 40.7. per cent Both lots v ere, however, beaten by the Scotch; here the legs, averaging 111b loz apiece,:, gave a yalue.-:in .putr;- i tive matter of 45.1., . and as will bo .seen this was the;hjghest figure reached,,the New Zealand legs ,< taking, second place, with 41.9, while-tlie, T\hich were much smaller J?gs—7lb 13oz each—fell to 37.2 m nutritive inatter, -and the Argentine, whicli_were slightly larger,' to ,38;8 pex "peni. ? fin4i,th.e.. famous ; Haippslure talcing , -jthe lowest place, which* is easily accounted [ for by the largest ; weight ot bone,;- sinew and water. The Scotch was the fattest meat,; while the New Zealand contained the largestlquajity of. le/iiiXf ilf a general 'Comparison between the homegrown -and. ißlife imported mufcfoftlßWe.vpD-i tain the • following^r.esults'iwhiph,;irepre-; sent the average of-the fifteen joints:— HOME GROWN MUTTON. , HeaL'Nntmtivc Average Matter "(Fat and < Weight- "'Water. v Leaii) "devoid per joint. » moisture, lb. oz. 1 Percent. Percent. 10.7 ' 743.78 - 40.53 ' ViarBORTED 'MUTTON - r 8 8. /■ ' v 46.17- * 39.37 " IPiactically speakiug therrearl r nutritive' matter present infeach lotj of,meat, the home-grown: imported;;;:was identicalj ,-for the' clifference : was -but siightly more. tjhan -1 ;-,per cent. The qimntit-y of rneat in its moist condition was actually" higher in'the imported than..mfthe home grown legs of mutton, but,the at, ..which counts .materially owing to its useful feeding properties, told,: in-favor •of the British meat, al-though,-as we- have already suggested, a large proportion is invariably wasted.