THE MEAT TRADE.

Otago Witness, Issue 3029, 3 April 1912, Page 18

THE MEAT TRADE.

LARGEST WORLD INDUSTRY. (From Ovu Owx Cour'f.si'oxdent.) LONDON, February 7. Lecturing on the meat industry at the Royal Society of Arts, Mr L. M. Douglas, of the Edinburgh College of Agriculture, said that few people realised that the meat industry was one of the largest in the world. In Europe alone there were 121,000,000 cattle, in North America 80,000,000, in South America 45.000.000, in Asia 97,000,000, in Australia 12,000,000, and in Africa 1,250.000. People in this country were the largest buyers per head of population, and it was remarkable that while meat products from overseas came in increasing supplies from year to year, our own cattle population remained stationary, about 11,250,000, of which we slaughtered something under 3,000,000 per annum. The idea of the packing houses had yet to be developed in this country, and many people were of opinion that it was a feasible proposition. In the United States there were 936 packing houses, which were able to ship their products to Europe, and principally to British markets. Of cattle alone they handled 8,000,000 per annum, but the exports were becoming smaller and smaller owing to increase of population and local demands. While our supplies from North America were dwindling, they had increased from South America. If the United States could 'not supply large quantities of meat products to the United Kingdom, the packers were determined to make a bid for the trade, and one recent step had been to purchase 9,000,000 acres of land in Brazil for ranching purposes, so as to supply the demands of Europe and the British market. Our imports of fresh and imported meat in 1911 amounted to 7,000 : 000cwt, of the .value of £11,000.000. In the markets overseas, where the handling of meat products had been mainly developed, the greatest possible care was taken to utilise the residual parts. The number of products from a bullock was 146 r and under proper manage-

ment it was possible to convert it into a. highly remunerative animal. There were no organised central packing houses in this country, and the abattoirs were not designed to make these products from the the 3,000,000 cattle slaughtered every year. There was no reason why the meat industry should not be raised higher, but the education in the 22 agricultural colleges in the United Kingdom stopped at the very point where the exercise of the meat purveyor's art should begin.