NEW ZEALAND MEAT IN SCOTLAND

Otago Witness, Issue 2253, 6 May 1897, Page 14

NEW ZEALAND MEAT IN SCOTLAND

ATTACK AND DEFENCE. (From Our Own Corhvspoxdent )

Lonuom. March 20,

It may perhaps ba taken as a gratifying proof of the progress which New Zealand meat is j making in the cbief Scottish centre of popula- ! tion (Glasgow) that it has encountered a most j bitter attack'at the hands of one of the Giasgow J butchers (Mr James Steele). He begins by ' pointing out that the "frozen foreign meat j sh r 'ps," as he calls them, aro all si'uatcd in the | more densely populated parts of the city, and j expresses surprise that the dealers in frozeu j meat have not opened shops in Iho "fashion-! able" parts of the city. He aHfumes with a ! sneer that thfs is " because the well-to-do classes thoroughly understand that the axticlo in queslion is no 1 ; good enough for them," and I he thinks it is not wonderful that " fcbo elite of ■ society " refuse to patronisa such shop* when ; frczen meat is not allowed to be supplied even to the city poorhouse. As a "practical butcher" ha appeah to " people of common sense." He fays : "It must be evident that the article is without nourishment wheu they consider the ordeal through wh ; eh it has to pass-from the moment it has been killed until its arrival in thin coun- ; try after coming a distance of 13,000 miles anu coming in contact with a mild atmosphere, j When cut up for sale tho thawing process commpnees, and the*e is a continual dripping of the essence or juice. So much is this the case that the shopman, iv order to kpep his counters dry, has to wipe up with si cloth ths purely nutritious pirt of the meat ; therefore, the socalled meat that is sold to the public is void of j nourishment I ask the question, would a ( physician order frozen moat for his patipfeta ? Certainly not ; he would hwe too much re- ' specfc for his reputation as a medical man to do anything of the sort. Scientific men will bear , me ont in all (hat I have said, in the face of the ; fact that the powers that bo will not allow even ! the paupers of the city to eat frozen meat. No ' doubt the reason must be that the meat is detrimental to health. This is my unbiassed opinion of frozen meit, and I sound the clarion ! nots against its use as an article of food." All this twaddle scarcely deserved a reply, but as there are always some people enough to believe any nonsense they may sacs a c in print, I was glad to observe that two corre?pondenls j promotly rushed to the front in defence of j colonial meat. Mr Alexander Bell comis firsb, j and while admitting that it is almo=t " an undeserved honour " to " take him seriously," he asked Mr Steele " if he has not been selling J for years meit, and at that not the finest quality ? " He states that the frozen meat j excluded from the poorhouse is America, and i not New Zealand ; the latter he asserts is j " without doubt the finest that can be reared , anywhere in the world." Mr Bell goes oq to ] propose a test, by having two chops, one Home j grown and one New Zealand, specially coaked ! and submitted to the judgment of: an expert, I who, Mr Bell is confident, would pronounce j New Zealand meat quite as nutritious and-i palatable an the finest Home grown.

"I," Mr Bell says, "am a native oF Sootland, who lefi 30 years ago, aud who returned for the special purpose of xelling New Zealand meats." He states that he is at present supplying some of the hesi; people in the leading residential parts of Glasgow, and that he has received letters from a large number of his customers expressing their "thorough sit;sfaction with it in all respects," and their " opinion that it in qu : ts as good as Home mutton — in fact, better than a considerable quantity of the old ewes which are sold here, aud would ba boiled down for pigs' meat in New Zealand."

Next comes Mr J. T. Critchell who derides Mr James Steele's "clarion note against frozen meat," and brings forward with vary great effect a conclusive answer to Mr Steele's assertion that frozen meat i« without nourishment and would not be ordered by any- physician for his patient. Mr Critchell brings forward the well-known experiments made by " The Hospital," a prominent medical journal, which ifc will be remembered took up the three poinbs : Whether frozen meat was wasteful or not ; nutritious or not ; suitable or not for the preparation of nourishing soup ; in all of which cases the imported article came out triumphant, being equil to the Home-grown in nourishment, and it actually lost in the process of cooking less than the Home-grown ; while as to digestibility and valuable food qualities, both were alike. Mr Critchell denounced the statement of Mr Steele as "a libel upon an article of import from our colonies which has been of substantial benefit to the consuming public of this country, and a means of profit to very many persons in Mr Steele's own cilling."

Now if people will oDly read all these letters honestly and impartially, the correspondpnee ought to do a grsat deal of good to New Zaaland meat, and should extend its consuniDcion in the groat Scot'ish city which now has a population of more thin three quarters of a million. But the vexatious thing in these c*ses is thtt people are apt lo read the attack and not to take the trouble to read, or, at any rate, to gra3p the defence, and iv tbat case mischief may ba done. However, let us hope that tho more sensible course will be generally adopted, in wh'ch case New Zealand meat will receive a " lift."

In this connection I may observe that " Science Sittings" gives the following interestiDg answer to the question which it propounds :—": — " Is frozen meat wholesome ?" '• Certainly ! Most wholesome. It is bub vulgar prejudice, bowel by the farmers and

butchers of this country, to hold that freezing impairs the taste, quality, and nutriment of meat. Australian, American, New Zealand meat, all are excellent. Why, then, should grasping middlemen bo allowed to depress the British poor by keeping up the price of meat ? There is only oue legitimate objection to be brought against the importation of cheap meat — that is, the defective inspection that obtains iti foreign or colonial slaughterhouse?, involving, as it does, much risk of inoculating our frozen meat eaters with disease. When the needfnl sanitary measures are enforced, our poor may be freely encouraged to sustaiu health and strength on a cheap diet of imported meat."