A MODEL'MEAT INDUSTRY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2320, 18 August 1898, Page 14

A MODEL' MEAT INDUSTRY.

THE CHRISTCHURCfI MEAT COMPANY'S ISLINGTON FREEZING WORKS.

(Abridged from the Lytlelton Times.)

Fully 700 people took advantage of tho invitation of the directors of the Chriotchurch Moat Company to visit the Islington works on Friday morning. On the way to the drafting yards, the visitors had an opportunity of noticing the skins from the newlykilled sheep, which were in prime condition, and tho methods by which pig hair and cow's tails were cleaned and prepared for Übe. The visitors were first taken to the yards, in which accommodation for 6000 sheep and 40 head of cattle is provided. The "live" drafting was here scon, by which sheep which are not in condition are rejected and those fit for slaughter passed on, the latter being quietly led to their doom by experienced decoy wethers, the oldest of which was a young sheep when Islington was started. The slaughterhouse, in which 72 butchers a*e employed, was next visited, and the operations of killing and dressing were witnessed. Great interest was taken in the automatic grader, and in the simple though effective system by which each grade is kept separate from the time it passes the grader until it is finally trucked for shipment at Lyttelton. The cooling chamber, in which the carcases undergo a preparatory chilling before being conveyed to the freezing rooms, came next. Here each grade was seen hanging in tiers, the uniformity of weight and quality being most remarkable. The ingenious system of overhead rails, which enables the sheep to be passed right through from the butcher without handling, wa' duly noticed. The freezing rooms were then reached. These aro six in number, two providing accommodation for 1500 sheep apiece, while the ollisr tour are each capable of holding 1000. These rooms are fitted with refrigerating pipes, which can be worked either on the Haslam or the Hercules principle, and here the sheep are frozen solid. From the freezing rooms tho visitors saw the sheep being passed on to the cold storerooms, where they are enclosed in bags, of which more anon, 'liie temperature of the cool rooms on the pre&ent occasion was about 40deg. The sheep from the storerooms are loaded into trucks by means of covered shoots. The bacon cellars and smokehouse were next visited. The eellavs, which have a holding capacity of 500 pigs, are kept cool by the Haslam machine, and the smokehouse is considered to be the largest on this side of the line.

A few steps brought the guests to the engine room, which is a sight in itself. The two great Haslam machines put through respectively 170,000 and 120,000 cubic feet of air in an hour. Tho Hercules is what is known as a 70-ton machine, that is to say, it can turn out 70 tons of ice in 24 hours; it is worked on the ammonia principle, is one of the largest size made, and i 3 driven by a Corliss machine of 75 h. p. The electric lighting system was also explained. Throughout the works light is provided by a " Castle " dynamo, which works with great evenness at a rate of 250 revolutions to the minute. Passing through the engine room, the workshop was reached, and a pumping engine was hero noticed which forces all the refuse water from the building to the irrigation farm, at the rate of 900 gallons a minute. Close by is another engine which, itself 45ft > under ground, pumps up all the water required for ice-making a-nd washing purposes from two welk respectively 300 ft and 250 ft below tho ground surface. In an adjoining shed stand? the Shand-Mason fire-engine which pumps water from tho lake, which in its turn is supplied by a water race from the Waimakariri at the rate of 300 gal per minute. The visitors wore shown a practical exemplification of the workinr; of this engine. The manufacture ol kluQa sizo aiyl ©latine*

j by -products of considerable economical imj porLanco, was next scon. a,nd the preserving ] room \i>-ited, where ]2 muric pans arc uscid I for the cooking of the various tinned meats. I From here to the tinsmiths' room is but a , step or ,two, and the whole process of tini making, in which no fewer than seven machines are employed, was watched with interest. The guests next inspected the manure woiks and tallow engine room. A f Kiulam compound engine of 45 h. p. drl\o3 nil the machinery connected with tho manure drier, the bone mill and the tallow works, in addition lo providing all the steam reJ quired for the preserving room. The iivo j immense digesters used for boiling down j "old crocks'' — or, in other words, thin, , elderly sLoop, and the subsequent conversion , of these into various useful articles — excited i a good dopl of curio&ily. and the subsequent treatment cf the sediment and rubbish by j the drier was even more interesting. A moVi : vnwholoisome looking imuss of " by-product," after being pressed by hydraulic machinery, i.» carried up by a patent lift to the "V.. JJ. ! Anderson No. 2 A. drier," where after poss- \ ing through t-Lc digester and three cylinders, and having been treated wilh steam through- ; (nit the process, it comes out looking some- | thing like sea f-and mixed with broken bits '; of shell, and apparently as clean. The old- | fashioned machine us:ed to put out 3 tons in 13 hours, while the improved machine at s present in use produces from 5i to 6 tone in ' eight hours, the process, which works aufco1 matically throughout, only occupying 15 i minutes with each lot. The largo stores of manure in bulk and bags excited much favourable comment.

The next visit was to the cooperage, where all tho casks and boxes used in the establishment are nianufpcturcd from the plank in an incredibly r,hori space of time. Amony the labour-saving machine^ in this department !hc cJiinmg machine for bevelling the inside edtres of tho staves after the casks have been put together attracted favourable comment. It is the invention of Mr Russell, the fore man cooper, and saves much time and work. The treatment of the pelts not being the cleanest sort of work in the world only attracted the experts, but the very careful classification of the wool and the excellent manner in which the hot-air drying machine did its work were a surprise to many. The fellmongery and wool-washing-, in fact, were to many the most interesting part of the establishment. The capacious stables and fine teams of horses were by no means overlooked. The men's library, with its store of books, was favourably noticed; and the details of the bag-making industry, in which, by the aid of a machine invented by Mr Fisher, who is in charge of the department, liio material is cut to the right length and branded on both sides at the rate of a thousand bags an hour, excited muc"h interest. In this room six girls with sewing machines, driven by steam power, each average one hundred bags an hour.

A magnificent display of roots, grown with the Islington fertiliser, was well arranged, and would be hard to beat anywhere. There was not a second-class sample in the collection.

Of course it was impossible, in so phort a time, for the visitors to see everything in mi establishment of such magnitude, but they were enabled to form a fair general idea of the methods and practice in vogue al lslinglO2l. TWO OF THE SPEECHES AT THE DINNER. Mr W. Iteece, chairman of the Agricultural and Pastoral Association, in proposing "The Frozen Meat Industry, coupled with the Christchurch Meat Company, made hia remarks from the standpoint of the farmer. I'jJioy were all familiar with the enormous incrcxFO in the development of the irozen meat trade, an increase which might well be termed psloimding. It was well to look (jack to tho trials ot the past, but they had also to consider taa JuLure, and that iuture depended

1 lart-oly oil the success of the freezing comi panics.. They all felt that too much difference existed between the price received by the grower hero and that paid by the Home conj Burner, a difference which amounted to about 100 per cent.— (applause)— but tho freezing companies must tackle the matter boldly* Tho question was not an ca&y one lo settle ; but in the first place joint action and unanimity among the various freezing companies wero required. Then came the question of j Oho markets, the question as to whether by j organisation they could drive out the lower qualities of meat from the Home market. As far as the Continent went, his own experience was that the high quality of the continental cookery would disguise even Argentine mutton. — (Laughter and applause.)— -With referonce, however, to tl.e (Jhrotchurch Meat Company, what they had seen that day was a j monument to the industiy and ability witn j which the affairs of that company had been ! conducted. This was the result of sheer hard ' work, and, like the shillelagh of the Irishman, I spoke for itself. — (Laughter and applause.) | He had now to say a few words about the by- ] products. In the early days of Timaru these I had been thrown into the sea, and Mr Andari pon had thus robbed them of the phosphorus j contained in fish foods.— (Laughter.) The ', sale of theso by-products also enabled the farl ners to get their freezing done ot a cheaper j'p.te. — (Applause.) Mr Anderson, in icpponding, eaicl ihal the Ohiibtchuich Meat Company had attained to greater success than iLs promoters had cxi peeled. Tho directors felt themselves greatly honoured by the attendance on that occapion and by the favourable commonis which had been posted on their \;ork. 'Die idea of tha j pre.-ont gathering had originated from the I \ieit to the works of members of tho recent j Agricultural Conference, who were of opinion I that the puL'lii; ought lo know more of Lho , work done at theso e.-.labluhments. Speaking j to the farn.fr. 1 -, ho might tay the w< rks wero > opou lo I hem «\f, all times, and they weto always welcome to come and see their own I sheep treated ond graded, and tho heads of | deparl motile had been instructed to carry | this out. Deeds spoke louder than words, j and he was now speaking 1 not only of Islingi ton, but of what appliej to the Canterbury . freezing companies generally. He was glnd . lo f<ee representatives from the other companies present, but was sorry to mi?s Mr John Jrigg, the chairman of U.e Belfast company, I vA'j; b?/l done so much to establish the renu- , talion of " jpiiin.'j Oanlubuvy." lie had plea.- , sure m inforn'ing them that Wednesday hs*, , with the consent of his directors he had sonl j a cable Home, and had received a reply io , tho effect (hat the first of a series of fhops ! soiiicwh.it phi'ilar lo that in Ca«Lel slreufa ' would phoj'tly be opened in London. The step- the company had taken in Chriptchurch j were not underiulren po much in the direction of opposition to existing tiade as with. | the object of frying- the way and acquiring a knowledge of the rclail as well as tha wholesale burinebs. Tho frozen meat exports ot Now Zealand for last year represented a suia of £2.916,526, out of which Canterbury vnii responsible for £1,520,955, a sum which represented more than half the totnl export; for the whole of New Zealand. Canterbury mutton averaged from 10 to 25 per cent, higher than that from ether pbce=', and with cur lamb, which brought from Id lo 6d per ; lb, Canterbury was responsible for fully fivei oighllirf of the whole Now Zealand Ira do. La I the sou'u mouths oi.ding July last, f'anicri bury had fe'io away a total of 1,121.123 sheei> j.ntf lumb-\ For the la.=t ihree years the expens of jsherp and Limbs, though showing an increase, had been fairly coa-laiit; There had been a slump in tho Home lamb markab last year, whieli vias paralysed by die quantity sent. It has been said that if 3,000,000 lambs «ere font in one season the price would be Jjvi.ii lo that of mutton. • nub this yew things had been better mana^y!, and if Canleitury could f-end double lh»l number they would finJ a good market. Thopo pm.^ent had boon (ating th.\t lamb k>tiay, sad he fit cerely trusted they would experience no bad effects. — (Laughter.) From a factory point of view ho wished (o remark (and Mr Weymoulh would doubtless agree with him) that many of the farmers were this year devoting their attention to wheat. Wheat would not always sell at 5,s per bushel, and yet the sowing of wheat n^a not altogether wrong, as it provided plenty of good e^riy feed lor the. owes and lambo. (Laughter and applause.) He would say jiws one wo-.-d with respect to labour. Tho various freezing companies in Canterbury employed more tlan 1000 men, who were bo well satisfied with their employment that they die! not caie to bo disturbed by any labour bills, though he personally had nothing to say against these. When the present company left, the room the employees would, take chargj of it, and hold a dance and .social. They had no labour tiouble in the factories, and he had always found the men ready an<\ willing to do anything lo promote the interests ot tha company. He might mentioa the fact that during the past year the Railway department had received no less a sinit than £H,314 from the various sidings of the Canterbury freezing companies, on which tho companies did most of their own work. While he did not want to make a point of the latter statement, he would call attention _to the fact that last year the sum of £250 was voted by the He use for the purpose of advertising New Zealand mutton at Home. There wero many lepresentatives of iho preps pvefcent, and he would like to ask them how far, such a sum would go. His, own opinion was that at least £5000 should be spent in such advertise- ments, in the direction of familiarising tho Home buyer with the different New;

Japanese Plums. — The lale&t and best sorts of this valuable class of fruit obtainable itoxo, Nimmo and Blair, Dunecun*

Zealand brands. The Islington works were conducted on the principle that nothing save " the bqueak of tho pig " should be wasted, anil they had even contrived to bottle up some of that.