THE NEW MEAT PRESERVING PROCESSES.

Otago Witness, Issue 1958, 30 May 1889, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE NEW MEAT PRESERVING PROCESSES.

It took long centuries, according to the author of " The Task," to bring the original invention of the three-legged stool to the comparative perfection of the sofa. The ages which produced religious and epic poems, crusades and reformations, and the finest sculptures and pictures the world has yet seen, were weak in material or mechanical invention. What may be called the primitive inventions lasted down almost to our own day. The ploughs, for instance, used 80 years ago in Great Britain differed little from the forms with which the Romans drew their furrows before the Christian era; nay, the earth is still ploughed with these old forms in many parts of Italy, as well as in other European countries. The same may be said with regard to many other implements in common use. Indeed, the age of invention did not begin till after the dawn of the present century; and in this respect the nineteenth century, and especially the latter part of it, is certainly entitled to the epithet " glorious." As well in the arrs of war as in those of peace has the spirit of invention exhibited an almost preternatural activity. It is scarcely credible in these days of repeating rifles, and Maxim and Krupp guns, that the battle of Waterloo was fought with flint-locks and clumsy shortrange ordnance. And there are many

people still living who remember long before I the steam whistle was first heard — who remember when there was not even such a thing as a macadamised road ; while the electric telegraph and the telephone are things only of yesterday. Marvellous beyond the dreams of our forefathers are the mechanical inventions of the last 40 or 50 years. It almost looks as if the human mind had acquired a new faculty. Why should invention have made such tremendous strides so soon, so to speak, after beginning its career ? Be this as it may, inventiveness is the most striking characteristic of the age, and the marvel still goes on before our wondering eyes. These remarks have been suggested by the description of two new food-preserving processes which we published yesterday in our London letter. The freezing process which has already placed so much fresh colonial and South American meat in the British market did not exactly startle the world. Something of the kind had been confidently expected for years ; and when the invention was at last made known to the world, it was at once felt that it was only a first imperfect effort. The meat was indeed carried across the ocean in ■ perfect condition— barring accidents, of ! course; but the cost of carriage was, and still is, extremely high — far beyond that of ordinary merchandise. The shipping companies have reduced their rates, as far, or let us say nearly as far, as it is possible to do without sacrificing their profit ; but the freight of frozen meat remains disproportionately high. This, as everybody knows, is owing t > the costliness of the freezing process in use. And just as some method of carrying meat fresh from Australasia to London was eagerly looked for, so also has some material improvement in the existing process been anxiously desired. It yet remains to be seen whether the new chemical process of which we have heard such wonderful accounts during the last month is applicable to the marine transportation of meat. The chief objection which presents itself is that the carcases could not be packed tightly as is now done, but would have to be either hung loosely— in which case the rolling of the ship would probably damage them— or packed in compartments. Our London correspondent, however, states that after a short time the meat subjected to this process becomes hard like frozen meat and if this be the case, there would seem to be no reason why the process should not supersede refrigeration altogether, if, asa mass of evidence assures us, it leaves no taste. The company who are selling the patent rights have sent us a number of extracts from the English press giving accounts of various experiments^ with the process, and it is understood that the birds brought out by the Coptic, after being subjected to it in London, were found excellent in flavour and colour when eaten at Pore Chalmers. Still, it will be wise not to jump at too hasty conclusions as to the practical success of the process when put into operation on a large scale. But even if it cannot supplant refrigeration for sending meat by sea, it should add enormously to the value of the trade by the facilities it offers for storage on land without the expense incidental to refrigeration. In hot countries especially it will be invaluable, and thus add largely to the area of the meat markets of the world. The following letter on the subject appears in Tuesday's Daily Times :— Sir, — Having read your article on the new process for preserving meat, perhaps a few remarks on the subject may not be out of place. It is a subject which very nearly concerns every New Zealander, as ifc affects one of our most prominent exports — one capable of indefinite extension, when the silly prejudices of the Home people are completely overcome ; and it would seem as if this indefinite extension were toon to be accomplished by the brain of the inventor — a class of men to which we civilised people owe a great deal, we may say everything from a needle to a torpedo, from a perambulator to a hearse. But though there is no class to whom we should give greater respect — considering that with the exception of the prizes so often quoted they generally get more kicks than halfpence — we must at the same time accept their results with caution. It is a necessity that an inventor should be a sanguine man, for without strong hope he could never surmount the innumerable difficulties, the overcoming of which forms the work of his life, and consequently it is rare that the reports of the results he obtains are unaffected by the general tone of his mind. True, kindly criticism, however, never hurt any good thing, but on the contrary is invariably beneficial, and, with your permission, I shall endeavour to elucidate the various aspects of the new process for the consideration of your readers. The new process, which might be termed the powder and plate process, has very ambitious aims.. It endeavours to supply by extremely simple means n. method which will render the preservation of animal food au every-day occurrence in every household. If it is as fully successful as reports from London appear to indicate, it will doubtless work a complete revolution in the meat trade and do away with all the expensive machinery at present in use for the freezing process At the same time we must recognise that New Zealand will not possess the sole patent rights, and that every country in the world will have the same method at its disposal. As a natural consequence the competition in the dead meat trade will be largely increased, and many countries at present debarred from thq

principal markets will be enabled to compete in quantity if not in quality with those already engaged in the production of animal food. New Zealand mutton, however, takes the precedence of all imported meats in the home market by the finer qaality of the meat, and a larger competition in this direction will tend to promote a greater discrimination of quality. The new process is, however, quite in its infancy in spite of all reports from the glowing pens of our London correspondents. The decomposition of animal tissue has been largely investigated by Pasteur, and doubtless his results have been made use of by the inventor of this new process. Pasteur, who is well known to us by his proposals for the eradication of the rabbit, is also well known in many other branches of science — his studies and discoveries having ..thrown new light on many strange problems in nearly every department of food and medicine. The tainting and final destruction of butcher meat is brought about bj the instrumentality of microscopic fungi. These consist of tiny plants analogous to the now well-known yeast plant, of which a large number of families are in existence, not only in jeasfc, but also in the blood of animals, and in the very air we breathe. But it is only under certain conditions that these fungi wilt live. Pasteur has been enabled by a life's work to lay down the laws which control their being, and so perfectly have these been determined that it is now a daily occurrence with their master to provide the proper conditions for their cultivation or destruction. He can propagate them indefinitely at will, or destroy them altogether. The family which causes the decomposition of aoim&i tissue probably belong to that class requiring the presence of oxygen to enable them \,o live. Wj may therefore hazard a su^g^'aon that rhe powder and fche airtight box in che aew process are necessary for the "sterilising" of the outer surface of the leg of mutton. By r.-nd^ring this surface " bterile " — or incapable uf proviilititf nutiirneut fur thf' fungi, it m.-iv b possible to prevent r,be tlecOmfioMt'ioM of th<' ine.tr., and it is possible that the inventor m;iy have already accomplished this. But if this has been done another difficulty btares us in the face. What is the effect on the digestive system of the food so preserved ? Dipping in tanuic acid preserves animal food, but at the expense of its quality of being easily digested. This is but the tanning process, and the juices of the stomach are nearly incauable of assimilating leather, aud are injured iv the attempt. Boracic acid and salicylic acid have both been tried with a like result, and have been declared by eminent French chemists to be unsuited for the purpose. These last possess, or rather leave after their use, neither taste nor smell, ard this is the principal advantage held forth by the advocates of the r.ew process. How can we determine the value of this new process, then ? Only by very extensive experiments over a large number of diversified digestive systems. On the other hand, we have a method of controlling the growth of these fungi when we have a means of controlling the temperature. It is impossible for them to live with the temperature below freezing point. The tainting of frozen meat becomes therefore impossible, and all the primary stages of decay are completely arrested by the icy touch of frost. It is Nature's own method of arresting decay, and it is doubtless ! from an observation of the way our great mother works that led Lord Bacon to experiment with a chicken by stuffing it with snow. Almost the ! la-*t words he wrote were in commendation of | this method, for in experimenting with the fowl he met his own death. Taking all these matters into consideration, the freezing method appears to bo the one most theoretically accurate, and any cheapening of the present process must take the direction of improved machinery for the production of low temperatures. — I am, &c, May 25. Arthur Wemyss Hojisbrugh. THE AGNEWS AT WELLINGTON. The Agnews are plying their old trade. Wholly possessed, it would appear, with that most engrossing thing, a grievance, they have for several sessions haunted the lobbies of the House an cl the approaches to the rooms of Ministers, and have made themselves an insufferable nuisance to members generally. It is no uncommon circumstance to find every session, in Wellington, men who hungrily haunt the precincts of the House with a petition in their pocket for the redress of some grievance, much as Peter Plainstanes haunted the Edinburgh Courts. These, however, may be termed single-barrelled nuisances. It is an unique thing to find members subjected to a double infliction, in which a woman's rhetoric, backed up by an umbrella, plays a prominent part. The grievance which originally prompted the Agnews to approach the fountain of political power is almost entirely obscured by subsequent events. Foiled in their first tentative attempt to obtain compensation for some land near Naseby, of which they alleged they had been wrongfully deprived, they resorted to the argumentum, ad hominem, and after repeated offences were at last committed to prison like ordinary offenders against the peace. This added to the list of their " persecutors " — which already included everybody who had been in an 7 way mixed up in the case — the magistrate who committed them, and, very probably, the constable who was the executive officer of the law. Their grievance became an inheritance to the Atkinson Government, and a renewed series of attacks culminated in another incarceration in default of security for good behaviour. They have just been released and have immediately renewed their original tactics. The session will shortly open, and in the meantime they have been whet-

ting their appetites upon the magistrate who committed them the last time. Their pertinacity would be almost pathetic were it not that their manner of giving effect to it is ludicrous. Their grievance has been inquiied into by the Petitions Committee of the House and by Ministers, and all has been given them that they are entitled to, so that evidently they have nothing to hope from the consideration of hon. members. Whether they can extort anything from their fears or out of sheer weariness is problematical, but we do not envy the fate of those who may be exposed to their vituperation. And yet, though they have made themselves so troublesome to so many individuals that something must be done with them, it is difficult to suggest what it shall be. We are so very tolerant in this colony of the liberty of the subject that there must be actual violence or the clanger of it, or of provoking it, before anyone is imprisoned, and even then a promise to abstain, backed up by reasonable security almost always obviates incarceration. And though it must be confessed that the pertinacity of the Agnews— unless it be supposed to* be a case of sympathetic monomania— might raise doubts as to whether they have" after all been fairly treated, and whether it would be humane to imprison thpra for seeking consideration of their alleged claims in this annoying manner, there can be no doubt at all that the cii curnstanccs lwve been fully inquired into, and that nothing, remains for the protection of all those who are nnhappy enough to bo subject to lh,.ir attentions bu l - to take such measure-; ns will put an end to the possibility of their continuance.