BUENOS AYRES NEWS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1834, 14 January 1887, Page 11

BUENOS AYRES NEWS.

(Buenos Ayres Standard, October 10.)

Next year will witness a great development of the meat freezing business in this market. Messrs Terrasson are making arrangements to ship henceforward at the rate of 250,000 sheep from San Nicholas per annum. Messrs Drabble will ship about the same number. Messrs Sansinena's factory at the Boco will export about 200,000, and the new factory spoken of in Zarate will also do a very large business. Misfortunes come not singly. After the recent loss of 20,000,000 or 25,000,0u0 sheep from lung-worm, we have now to record ana excessive mortality among horned cattle, consequent on a heavy snowstorm in the northwestern camps on the 20th ultimo. It snowed for several hours from Rio Cuarto to Rosario, and the poor cattle vainly sought shelter from such Siberian weather. They rushed into the nearest towuß and villages, and wore driven out to die in the snow. Some estancieros have lost 1000, some 5000 cows, and all the population are busily occupied in skinning the dead cattle. It is supposed that 500,000 head have perished, entailing a loss of about £250,000 after deducting the value of the hides.

The sudden development of the frozen meat export trade shows another of the untouched resources of the Plate. The trade may be said to be but of yesterday, and when first started was considered by many to be tooinsiguificantto merit notice. In the second year of its existence, however, a few condescended to ridicule and some to oppose it. The London butchers refused in toto to have anything to do with River Plate mutton ; it was to small aud too thin to bo food for the British public, not even the servants of the middle classes in London would eat such stuff, and so strong were the prejudices of servants and others to our mutton that we have it on record, whilst the master and mistress of the house were quite willing to dine off a River Plate leg of mutton, the servants in the kitchen had to be fed on the very best English beef. To add to the difficulties that surrounded this trade, the pessimists of the Plate ridiculed Mr Drabbles efforts, and tried to injure his establishment in Campaßa- with that description of faint praise, which is even more objectionable than open abuse. The trade, however, grew in spite of every prejudice and every abuse ; new factories sprang up, new lines' of steamers were chartered. The mutton pushed its way in the London market, spite of butchers and servant girls. Every'cargo sold, and sold well; and the British public not only ate our mutton, but paid for it too. Captain Ormiston, commander of the s.s. Meath, who is the pioneer captain in the trade, landed his cargo and then followed it to the market, and found his mutton selling in every butcher's shop, and' at retail prices that left enormous profits to the butchers. That, the tigwie is now fairly launched must be apparent to everyone who scans the following Ksfc of shipments from the middle of last February to the end of September ; and as many of the frozen-meat steamers now take beef, which sells equally well as our muttou, we believe that, at the average rate of progress and growth of everything in the country, next year our shipments will be double. The following table shows the number of frozen sheep exported from February 10 up to date: —

Carcasses. .. Zenobia ... 14,585 ). Borghese ... 19,219 I. Meath ... 13,794 [. Zephyrus ... 15,162 >. Loch Ard ... 11,427 !. Wexford ... 16,229 Carcassei 7. ZenobJa ... 27,366 8. Borghese ... 19,209 9. .Meath ... 12,174 10. Dileberjr ... 12.40 d 11. Loch Ard... 14,466 12. Zephyrae... 22,215 Total ... 201j235