OTAGO MEAT PRESERVING WORKS.

Otago Witness, Issue 987, 29 October 1870, Page 10

OTAGO MEAT PRESERVING WORKS.

It will be gratifying to stock-owners throughout the province to learn that a commencement has been made with the Otago Meat Preserving Works. The site selected for the principal establishment of the Otago Company is situated in the Green Island district, about six miles from Dunedin. It is bounded on the one side by the Main South road, and on the other by Abbott's Creek. Twenty acres of land in English grass adjoining the works are to be used as accommodation paddocks, and a further extent of 600 acres on the Chain Hills has been leased for running stock not immediately required. The situation selected offers peculiar facilities for carrying on a considerable trade ; it is easy of access both from Dunedin and the country districts, and there is an abundant supply of water, coal, and building material on the Company's land. Mr Blair, C.E., has been appointed Engineer of the works, and to him we are indebted for the following particulars.

The portion of the works now contracted for is called the "factory." This is where the business of meat preserving and tallow refining is carried on. The main building is 125 feet long, by 50 feet broad, with a wing 55 feet long by 25 feet broad ; and a boiler house 25 feet by 15 feet. To give an idea of the arrangement of the buildings, it will be necessary to describe the various processes through which the meat passes from the time it leaves the butcher's hands until it is finally deposited in cases for exportation. The carcases of sheep and quarters of beef are carried in on trucks from the slaughter-housp (which will be a separate building), to the boning room. This apartment is 25 feet broad, and extends the [whole width of the main building. One side of this room will be occupied by large tables, at which che flesh is separated from the bones. From these it is carried to the end of the room, where it is weighed and put into tins. A number of small boilers for preparing gravy stand close to the filling table, and the tins are filled up from them. The tins are now placed on a truck and pass into the tinsmith's shop, where the heads are soldered on. This room will contain four furnaces and benches, two for preparing ihe bodies of the tins and the other two for soldering on the heads. From the tinsmith's shop the tins are again " trucked" to the preserving room. This is an apartment 30ft. long by 25ft. broad, and is occupied by four iron preserving pans 7ft. 6in. by 4ft. and 18in. deep, which stand on frames about 2f f. high, and are heated by a steam coil lying in the bottom of each. The tins of meat are placed in these pans and boiled until the operation of preserving is completed. After being preserved, the meat passes in succession through the cooling and testing rooms into the packing room, where the tins are painted, labelled, and packed for exportation. The remainder of the main building is occupied by a. tin store, press room, and carpenter's shop. The bones and refuse flesh from the boning tables are collected into trucks and conveyed to the digester room, where they are thrown into a huge vat 10 feet high by 6 feet in diameter. Heat is applied to this vat or digester by means of steam pipes, and the tallow when melted is run off through purifiers and coolers into the casks that carry it to England or elsewhere. The steam required for the various operations above described is supplied by a 15 horse power boiler, which will also drive a small engine for pumping, and Bawing timber for cases. As has been already stated, the erection of the factory building has been commenced, Messrs Bateman and Staite being the contractors. The drawings for the machinery and plant are now in hand, and tenders for the construction of the principal portion of it will pc called for this week, It ia expected that

the works will be ready to commence operations about the middle of Januarj next.

With respect to agricultural matters in the Lake district, the Queenstown correapondent of tha Dunstan Times writes ••— " The long season of dry weather has broken up at last, and thanks be to Providence, there is every appearance of continued, wet weather. The crops were beginning to look very yellow under the effect of the drought, but a most favourable change has taken place, and the hearts of the farmers are rejoicing in consequence. Oats have gone up to a fabulous price ; they are selling retail at seven shillings and sixpence per bushel ; chaff, potatoes, and all other articles of produce are scarce and dear."

Our Green Island correspondent writes :—: — "For several seasons we have not had a more backward one than this. The copious rain* which fell during the winter and spring months greatly retarded agricultural operations; so much so that little seed was sown until late in the season. The braird, however, is looking strong and healthy, notwithstanding the dry weather. One or two days' rain would at present prove a great boon. The area sown this season in the district is considerably below the average, a great deal of the land requiring to be aowa down in English grasses, on account of it being so heavily cropped for a number of years, while the prices ruling for cereals offer no great encouragement to the farmer to prosecute cultivation vigorously Grass, upon the whole, is looking well ; paßturage is heavily stocked, there being little inducement to dispose of cattle at the present low price. The establishment of a Meat Preserving Company in the district it is to be hoped will give such an impetus to trade in stock as will prove remunerative to both producer and consumer."