Fresh Mutton from New Zealand.

Otago Witness, Volume 15, Issue 1562, 15 October 1881, Page 12

Fresh Mutton from New Zealand.

The following additional particular-* to (.bone given in a Hhort extract oubliehwl elsewhere) regarding the ship Dunedin being fitted with refrigerating apparatus are from the Glasgow News of August 20th .— Toe conveyance to this country of refrige* rateil Iwf and mutton by steamer from Avmtr-ilia haft alrosdv bfwn accomplished wiui huccwi, ami an a'/tnu.t is now beinj? unn.' to \ '"a..,; "• hii ra ..it io»* *h" Hme ;rarhc ;n -u ■ New Zealand iv sailing vei-.tcla. Tho exp?ri- I ment ia being made on board tho Danedin, oue of Messrs Patrick Henderson an<J Company's 1

Albion line of sailing ships. A powerful refrigerating apparatus has been fitted up on board that vessel by the Beli-Coleman Mechanical Kefrigeration Company, Glasgow, and the results obtained at the official inspection yesterday demonstrate that, provided no mishap oocurs to the refrigerating apparatus, meat, or indeed any commodity which in ordinary conditions ib perishable, may be preserved tor any length of time. The refrigerating machine on board the Dunedin is capable of circulating about 60,000 cubic feet of air per hour, and being reduced to a temperature of from DU to 70 degrees below zaro in the box. The rei'rigerating chamber on board the Dunedin is one of the largest which has yet been provided on any veasel- Its capacity is 4UU tons ship measurement, and it is lined with a non-conducting substance 12 inches thick. In the refrigerating machine which has bssn deBigned by Mr Ooleman all the improvements which past experience has suggested have been incorporated- It has been partly built by Messrs Denny and Company, Dumbarton, and partly by Messrs B. and W. Anderson, Finnieston; and its prasence on board the Dunedin is due to the New Zealand and Australian Land Company, who have chartered the refrigerating chamber for the first voyage« The results of the official inspection yesterday prove the efficiency of the refrigerator. The temperature at 2.30, when the experiments were commenced, was in the centre of the chamber 122 degrees Fahrenheit, as recorded on a suspended thermometer. At 3 30, at 36 feet from the opening of the chamber, tho temperature was 18 degrees Fahr., while in a thermometer hanging in the bulkhead, the centre of the chamber, the temperature was 50 degrees Fahr., and on the other, suspended a few feet from the opening, the temperature was 5 degrees below zero. At 4.30 the temperature was found to be six degrees below zero, aa recorded by a thermometer suspended in the centre of the chamber, and 27 degrees at the point farthest frpm the aperture giving admission to the refrigerated air. At a distance of five or six feet from the opening the thermometer suspended from the bulkhead gave 12 degrees below zero, while the temperature in the box from which the current enters the chamber was 50 degrees below zaro. The lowest temperature attained during the first series of experiments was 55 degrees below zero, although it is claimed for the apparatus that a temperature of 70 degrees below zero can readily be obtained. The result of the experiment which is being made on board the Dunedin is one which will be watched with much interest on the voyage Home. The refrigerating chamber, of which the carrying capacity is 200 tons, or 7000 sheep, will, as arranged by the Gompany who are making the experiment, be fully occupied. The results of yesterday's experiments are that the tempera cure necessary to preserve the mutton fresh can be continuously maintained ; and the question whether the trade can be so conducted as v to leave a profit for those who are promoting it will be indicated by the result of the first voyage.