THE NEW ZEALAND MEAT PRE SERVING COMPANY'S WORKS WASHDYKE.

Timaru Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 2770, 9 August 1883, Page 5

THE NEW ZEALAND MEAT PRE SERVING COMPANY'S WORKS WASHDYKE.

While so mu»h is being eaid and written about the importance of tho refrigerating system as a means of converting our surplus ■tock into cash, very little is being laid about the tinning »ystem as a means to the flame end. Seeing that the application of this system has been, and still is, so useful and profitable to the colony, it seems hardly fair or reasonable to practically ignore it m this way, and we propose to remind our reader* of the existence of a tinning establishment m South Canterbury, and, by giving a descrip tion of the nature and amount of work done there, to show that, though the freezing process may presently take the first place m the conversion of oar surplus stock, it bss yet to achieve that position, and that, however its application may be extended, it is quite possible that it will not be able to overtake all the work of conversion that is to be done. A letter from Mr W. Balfour, manager of the New Zealand Meat Preserving Company* works at Wsshdyke, to tbia effect, wbb published m Friday's issue, and will repay reperural m connection with thiß article. Mr Salfour's statement that he has purchased for preserving 37,500 sheep already this season , (the season commencing about the end of January), must have been a surprise to many who had but a vague idea of the number of ■beep such an establishment is capable -of dealing with. Up to the present about 27,000 have passed through the factory, and as the present rate of working is 500 per day, the number purchased so far will have been slaughtered and packed m about three weeks longer. The daily rate was considerably less at tha commencement of the season, and only reached 500 a few weeks ago, which rate will be maintained for Borne time. We believe a pretty full description of the appliances and process of meat-preserving at this factory will be interesting to most of our readers, especially at a timo when the question of the export of meat m another form is being so much discussed, and they, as well as ourselves, will thank Mr Balfonr for the courtesy whioh enables us to present them with such a description. The best way to 'obtain a clear idea of the several processes carried on is to follow a sheep as nearly as possible, m its passage from the yards tbroughjthe factory to the several forms m whioh its constituents are paoked for export or to be otherwise dealt with, and this plan we will adopt. The paddock accommodation at the Waahdyke works is somewhat limited, being only some 300 acres, and care has therefore to be taken to purohase for dolivery at stated dates. The regular working hours are from 7.30 a.m. to 5.30 p.m., and when the morning bell rings the shepherd has a Btnall mob of sheep ready m the yards attached to the slaughtering shed. A portion of the shed is fitted up similarly to a wool shed, with batten-floor catching pens, from which half a dozen botchers take their victims as they require them. Each man ha*.a portion of a grated floor upon which to kill the sheep, and a bay formed bj stout rails with hooks for hanging the sheep on to skin. There is do waiting for a sheep to bleed and die, as several are subjected to the knife before the skinner is ready for them. The blood falls through the grating and flows into a drain, which conveys it some 150 yards to the P'gK erT - This is one point m which some improvement might be effected, es by a suitable process the blood could be manufactured into a convenient and valuable fertiliser. The entrails are thrown into a truck and also sent to the pigs, of which a large number are kept. The six slaughtermen have three assistants, and do the work by contract, one man contracting for the whole work and paying the rest according to their tally. Their task comprises killing, dressing, taking the fat from the intestines, and after the sheep have hung long enough to cool, cutting them down the back and loading on trnoks for carriage to the boning-room. It is not pleasant work, ss everyone knows. One may kill one or two sheep and keep fairly clean, but to spend the day at such work, and be smart about it, one cannot help gathering some trade marks. The slaughtermen at the Washdyke factory wear a good many, trade-marks, or rather a large one enveloping them from head to foot. The ■kins are taken away by a cart and hnng upon wire lines to dry. They are then packed and gent to the same Company's works at Kakanui, where there is a good supply of water for fellmongery purposes. Formerly the skins were treated at the Washdyke, bub the water supply proved insufficient, and it was found better to send the skins away to be deprived of their wool and the latter scoured. Having disposed of these matters, we must now follow the carcases. These are run from the slaughtering shed to the boning-room, where 18 men and youths are busily employed. Four " boners," who work by contract, place half carcases on a strong bench before them, and with surprising quickness cut off all the meat from the bones. They are wonderful carvers, and the way they strip, the neck and leg bones,- a troublesome task at the dinner table, is " a caution." On some days the bones of the legs are thrown into one box to be specially dealt with. At other times these are thrown with the vertebra and ribs into another receptacle, and the flesh of the half- carcase all m one or two pieces, is thrown forward to the four 11 trimmer!." The trimmers separate the fat from the lean and slice up the thicker pieces of muscle, and the dexterity they have acquired is wonderful. The fat goes to the ■ame receptacle with the ribs from the boners, to be sent to the tallow-Tats, and the lean is handed over to the " weighers." These weigh up fragments enough for the tins to be filled, something extra being allowed for lost m cooking, and hand It to three "packen," who make the meat up into rolls so that it can be dropped into the tins, and then lifting the tins tiro or three feet, bang them down on their bench two or three times to tettle the meat down. Three weighers and packers put up 500 sheep per day m 61b tins. When 21b tins are being filled they require assistance. The tins before filling are washed m hot water m this room to tike off any ream that may have been left on by the tinsmiths, and then rinsed m cold water. Ope man attends to thia business, and hands the tins to the packer!. The packers slide the filled tins along tbeir benches to the " presser,'-' who applies a wooden piston to the meat and with a lever forces it down, below the top of the tin, and then slides the tin through an opening m the wall, into the tinsmith's shop to have the top fitted and soldered. In the boning room also two men are engaged m manipulating the tongues. These are trimmed and pnt m pickle for a little while, and then parboiled, to clean them perfectly before they are put into tins. We will postpone our notice of the tinsmith's Bhop at present, and follow the tins of meat as they iisae from that shop, with the top soldered on ready for the cooking, the preserving process. For this the tins are placed m baskets made of hoop iron, with caudle of cord, each holding tea 61b, or twenty-one 21b tins. The tin shop is close to the "bath" house, and the tins are passed through a door, placed on a truck, and carried to the cooking baths. The " baths," of which there are nine, arranged on the two sides of the room, hold 300 of the larger or 800 of the smaller tins. They are provided with covers of iron, hinged at the end next the wall, and lifted by a rope passing over a pulley. Usually plain water is used for the cooking, an exception being made m the case of tins intended for the local market, when soda is added to the water to remove adhering grease, ,so that the tins will take paint. The .water is heated to and maintained at the boiling point by free steam escaping from . perforated pipes oa tho bottom of each batb. Thelargertinsare boiled for aboutßi hours and the smaller for about six hour*. In some factories of the kind a solution of lime is used m the baths, whioh does net boil until it has reached a temperature considerably higher than the boiling point of water, and the meat m the tins being thus oooked at a higher temperature less time was required for the process. This system had some draw- - backs. The pressure famished a test of the . soundness of the tins, but as weak onea are made sometimes, an explosion, with the possible or probable scalding of someone, was a not unfrequent occurrence. A longer exiposnre at the boiling point of water is found •to preserve the meat as well or better, and .tor obtain this . all that is required is plenty .of bath-room. When the tins are made a (imall punotnre is made m the top, which is jfiUtgl with colder when tha top is soldered on. Twice- during the cooking process the baskets

ire lifted from the baths, and place 1 on a grated trunk, and as soon as tbe water haß drained off and the moisture on the cover evaporated by the heat within, a tinsmith goes round with a hot iron and melts the drop of soldrr filling the puncture. A violent outrush of steam follows, carrying with it the air contained m the meat and its interstices when the tin was filled, and the repetition of this process it supposed to get rid oE all the air so contained. Not only steam and air, but melted fat. and some of the fluids of the meat are forced out by the Bteam, often spirting as high as the roof, and tbe consequence is that the floor of the bath-room is tbe greasiest, and most slippery place m the whole factory. When the evolution of steam has somewhat subaided the vent hole is soldered up again nnd'the tins returned to the baths, and after being boiled their allotted time they are carried m the baskets"'and spread out'on a platform out of doors to cool. When taken out of the baths the pressure of the steam within bulges out the ends somewhat, and as the cooling proceeds a partial vacuum is formed. The pressure of the air then forces the ends inward, and an amusing click, click, click, is heard, as one after another the ends of the tins change the direction of their curvature. In a few instances the vacuum within is considerable enough to oause compression of the sides of thejtins, but this does not often occur. Two men attend to the baths, and appear to be so inured to hot water as to bs able to dip their hands into the boiling bath to pick up the cord handle of a banket. (There may be some mistake about this, but we saw it done.) Tbo tins are left out all night to cool, and next day are sent into the stores, passing through the hands of a "tester." The taster is furnished with a plate of iron about an inch thick laid upon a block of wood, on which he tests each tin muoh as one rings a coin to test its genuineness. The good tins give forth a comparatively sharp, the bad onea a duller «ound, easily i ! distinguishable even by the unpractised ear. The failures generally result from some imperfection m the making of the tin, and number about one per cent of the whole. In order to make use of the meat it would be necesßarry to put it through the boiling process again, and this spoils it, so these failures are total, unless the meat be used immediately. The tester has an assistant, and tbe two manage tbe stores. There are at present about 16,000 61b tins and nearly 30.0C0 21b tins m stock, produced this season, — great solid stacks of meat, A small pile of tins present a dull grey appearance, tbe consequence of tbo soda process before mentioned. These are intended for the local market, and will be covered with bright hematite paint, and have the Company's New Zealand label attaohed. The tins intended to be sent Home are greasy, from the exhausting process m the bath - room, and they are sent Home m this state. It was found that if finished here, paint and label wore damaged from the handling of the packages on the way, and therefore tbe giving tbe tins a taking exterior is left to be done after arrival at Home. The packing of the tins will be referred to laUr. In one of tbe twa stores stands a row of cisls m whioh picked legs of mutton are pickled, to be afterwards smoked and dried, and converted into mutton hams. Some hundreds of these bang from beams m the stores, all of which will meet with a ready local market. It is stated above that the bones of the legs, or some of them, are kept separate from the rest by the " boners." In following the tins into the store, we learn for what purpose. In one of the stores is a large " digester," m which the bones are steamed, under considerable pressure, to extract the* gelatine, which is technically termed " stock," a little of which is pnt m each tin of tongues. Steam for the preserving "baths, the digester, and tongue boiler is supplied by a large-Cornish boiler located bard by. A pressure of from 201bs to SOlbs per inch, by gauge, is used, but a steady supply of steam, rather than pressure is the main requirement, there being very little machinery to drive. We have seen how the lean part of the sheep's fl'sh is dealt with, and have now to go back to the boning-room and see what becomes of the fat and bones. These leave tho boning-room m trucks, which convey them to a shed m the floor of whioh the mouths of four melting pots are seen. These are about two feet m diameter, and project but slightly through the floor, bo that they are easily 611ed. The pots are circular, and, by guess, seven feet high and nearly as wide at the widest part, with domed tops, and tapering towards the bottom. They ore very strong, and the top of each is securely fastened down by clamps and screws, and provided with a oock for allowing tbe Bteam to escape when desired. At the bottom is an opening of considerable size to admit of solid matter being raked out, closed m a similar way to the top. The heating is effected by steam supplied by a good sized vertical boiler, stationed m a shed hard by. The material is steamed^ under pressure for from six to nine hours, this being generally done at night. In the morning a large tap, placed about the level at which the melted fat is to ba found, is opened, and a spout leads tbe fat into a tank for purification by skimming. When the level of the tallow m the pot has »nnk to that of the tap, hot water is introduced at the bottom of the vessel to lift tbe tallow higher until all. has been run off. A tap near the bottom is then opened to allew the watery fluid to run out. As this contains some tallow, the whole not having run off the surface before it became necessary to stop the flow on account of impurities mingling with the fat, the liquor is paised through a couple of tanks containing diaphragms with openings at the bottom, so that floating matters cannot pass over, and any fat contained m the liquor is caught. The liquor itself goes to waste. This is a pity, for it would doubtless be an excellent manure, and it is one of the greatest sources of nuisance about the works. The liquor having been drained from a vat, the trap at the bottom is opened, and the bones, "done to death," and other rubbish, is raked out, falling into a trnck. The body of the truok is made to form a press-box, and its load is taken under a strong aorew press and a good deal of fat foroed out of it. The residue is then sent to a store yard, where some hundred tons or so are now collected, to be sold for manure. There is not muoh demand for this by-produofc locally ; the bulk of it is sent to Dunedin and Southland, where it is m request m the Spring for turnip fields. The tallow, having been purified by repeated skimming, is passed into a cooling tank, whence m due time it is passed into casks, each holding about 8001 b. Eight hundred such casks have been filled since January. The filling of the casks is not a perfectly simple matter. It does not answer to fill a cask all at. once, as m such case the different rates of cooling of the interior and exterior portions give the middle a very different " grain " from the outside. Tbe casks are, therefore, filled by degrees. A small sample is taken of each filling, for referenoe m oase of any unusual character being observed when the casks are opened at Home. Some of the fat, that taken from the entrails, for instano*, is not clean when sent to the boilers, and doss not turn out clear tallow. All dirty fat is separately melted and put. up, and marked as of second quality. The processes itj goes through of oourse remove all coarse impurities, and the tallow is praotioally as good as the rest, but of darker color. Now and then one of the vats is brought^ into requisition for treating the "trotters," the manipulation being the same as m the oase of tallow, the product being marketable as neat's foot oil. We have now dealt with the fate of the various parts of the sheep, and have now to turn our attention|to related industries, carried on m connection with and indispensable to the meat preserving business pure and simple. The first of these is concerned with the making of the tins. The. tinsmith's shop at the Washdyke works is probably the busiest place for its size m the whole of South Canterbury, .twenty-teven men and boys working away there as for dear life, working overtime too, and yet being unable to supply the demand for tins. They can keep the factory going by making 61b tins, but the 21b tins are m most demand at Home, and they cannot supply the smaller size fast enough, though working overtime. Two qualities of tin— tinned iron that is to say — are used, a hard coke iron for the sides of tbe tin and a softer charcoal iron for tops and bottoms, the harder material not yielding to the dies so readily as the other. For the sides the sheets are squared and out to the right size by boys with guillotine machines ; one «nd is piased between a pair

of small rollers whioh form a sort of shoulder a little from the edge, against which the other end abuts ; and then they are passed, half a dozen at a time, through s> triple set of rollers which curve, the sheets into perfect oylinders. The tops and bottoms are 'everally cut from the Bbeet, stamped into form, — the bottom to fit outside, and the top inside the oylinder — and the bottom impressed with the Company's initials, and .the top perforated, each at one operation. An American machine driven by steam does this work very rapidly, all the workman has to do being to place the sheet of tin in* readiness for each descent of the die. The shaping operations are carried on m one room, and the soldering m an adjoining one, where four large furnaces are kept going for heating tbo iron?. Boys separate the curved sheet?, pile them up m threes, and carry them to the smiths who are solderiDg the sides. Each man for this work usoi o strong wooden bar projecting from his bench, around whioh he plaoes the cylinder of tin, with the joint resting on the bar. A piece of iron, hinged at the side furthest from the workman, is brought down on the tin and held down by a lever with some force. The bar is Blotted from end to end, the slot allowing the workman to get at the tin, and at the aame time forming a gauge for the width of the soldering, and a channel for the molten alloy to move m. The smith 'dashes a little powdered resin into the slot, picks up a thin flat bar of solder m one hand and a hot iron m the other, presses on the lever with his breast, and before one can say " Jack Robinson " the side is being piled up to be carried to tho next man to have the bottom soldered.'on. Tbia is dono m a peculiar.w ay. On the [top of each furnace is a " hot plate," a thick plato of iron with circular depreesions]in it, which makes it look something like the top of a cooking Btovo. The bottom of tho tin having been clapped m its place, a piece of solder is placed m it, and and the tin put m one of the depreeiions. When the solder is melted, the operator dips a «tick into a pot of reain,' and, holding it to the bottom of the tin outside, rapidly twirls the tin with his fingers. The solder is driven into the space between tha side and bottom byl the (centrifugal force thus generated, and aided by the resin as a flax makes an effectual joint. The tin] is now ready for filling. On a bench m another part of the room a boy haa spread out a number of tops and 'placed over the perforation m eaob, before spoken of, a small piece of tin, whioh a tinsmith rapidly secures m its place with a drop of solder. The function of this fragment is to prevent the meat rising up and choking. the vent when the exhausting process m the bath-room is going on. Sear this bench is the aperture through which the fllled^tins come from the presser, and boys fit m the lids and carry them to smiths to be soldered. The. lids being fitted inside the cylindrical side*, a narrow groove is presented round the top, to { he filled with solder. This workman sits to' his work, and placos the tin on a wheel operated .like a potter's, with his foot, so as to keep the point on which be is working m the most convenient position. As the tins have become greasy from tbo filling, resin is of littlo use as a flux, and a chemical flux —a] solution of zino — has to be used, and aj good deal more care and pabienoe is required to mako this joint good. The value of the tin and solder consumed every season must be very considerable. Other constructive arts are exemplified m the case-making and cooper's shopß.TTThree'^boxmakers are omployed, and they will use Borne 150,000 feet of timber during the season.fgThe boards/are obtained of the proper width for tbo sides, and the top and bottom of the cases, sojlthat there is no trouble m joining. A circular raw, driven by the flywheel of the pumping engine which supplies the factory^is used to cut up the boards to the proper lengths, by gaugo, and the pieces only need nailing together. The cases are all made of the same size, and each holds a dozen 61b tint, or thirty-six 21b tins. Three coopers are employed m another shop, making casks'.for the tallow, and they will probably use 60,000 feet of timber this season. The cooperj use no machinery. All the timber is obtained from Southland, and is brought up by rail. The whole of, the"faotory premises are well arranged, advantage being taken of the varying height of the site to effect all removals by gravity. Tramways are run from shed to shed, and from point to point as required, and the loads always running downhill, tho full- trucks'oro made to pull up the empty ones on the same line. The slaughter-yards are tbo highest part of the works, and meat and tallow moves by its own weight, under direction, down hill through the^ factory to] the stores, and the offal reaches 'its destination m the same way. The only exceptions to this are the water required for the factory, whiohja steam pump lifts from a well near the foot of the hill, nnd the sheep skins, which are carted away. The water ii pumped into a reaevoir, consisting of a dozen 400 gallon tanks raised on a framework to such a height as to give aome pressure m the supply pipes at the highest part of the works. A special pipe has been laid round the main building, with'plugs. at convenient distances, to serve for extinction of fire should oocasion require, and a number of lengths of hose are stored m [a convenient position outiide the building. The, Washdyke Works have |been the subject of many complaints on the score of the nuisance caused by tbe rile smells arising from it, _ but it must be noted that those smells do not arise within the factory but from the waste products deposited at some distance from the works, and have been considerably reduced since the fellmougery business was discontinued. The factory itself is kept as clean and sweet as such a place can be expected to be, the slaughter-yards being cleaner and sweeter than tbe majority of butchers' slaughter-yards, and the factory proper m a proportionately cleaner condition as the circumstances admit.

The following figures will indicate the value of this factory as an employer of labor. Ibe total produot this season is estimated to reach 800 tons (shipping measurement) of preserved meats and 400 tons of tallow. The shipping measurement of the meat makes freights on preserved meat rather heavy, a oubio ton containing only 11521 bof meat, each boa, containing 721 bof meat, measuring 8i cubio feet, or sixteen to tb»ton. At present 600 sheep are being dealt with per day, and the monthly pay-sheet, at that rate, runs up to £600 ond upwards. The men employed at present are one shepherd, nine m tbe slaughter-house, eighteen m the boning and paokiog-room, twenty-seven tinsmiths, two men m the meat store, four m the tallow shed, two m the bath-room, three boxmakers, three coopers, two carters, two timber men, one man looking after skins, a fireman, and two or three laborer*, who help to load drays and do . osld jobs, — about eighty altogether, nearly half of whom are artisans, exeroising constructive skill. The carriage of some 200,000 feet of timber from Sontbland must add something to tbe revenue of the railways. About 400 tons of Westport coal are used m the season, which the railway also carries, to the Washdyke, and the same department will bring from the Washdyke and deliver on the wharf the season's produce. The meat and tallow goes by steamer to Dunedin, for transhipment U> the Albion Company's ships, that Company, having a special oontraot for the carriage Home of the Meat Preserving Company's produce. Turning to Mr Buifour's letter, and noting tbe prices given for sheep by tho Company, together with the expenditure directly and indireotly on labor m the colony, it is evideat that the Washdyke Meat Preserving Works are a very important local industry indeed, m every sense m which local industries are- deemed to be of importance, and, as the products of the industry are nearly all exported, they add to the monetary wealth of the colony.

It may be supposed that any considerable development of tbe frozen meat trade will injuriously . affect the preserving business, but judging -from the carcases we saw hanging m the slaugbter-honse, we should say that it will interfere Tery little with it, if at all. There appears to be room for both. The class of sheep suited for freezing would under scarcely any circumstances find their way to the preserving factories, and the question is whether there will be a sufficient surplus of inferior sheep— old breeding «wes fttted off, and coawe wethers— to keep these factories going. The refrigerating system has not yet reached such a stage of development as to have muoh effeot upon the class of sheep used for preserving, and yet Tery few of the carcases m hand were fit for freezing. Mr Balfour estimates that out of 87,600 sheep purchased this aeatfn up to ths present,

not. m .re than 5000 wero fit for freezing, although ho has been giving current market rates for such ehcep as ho has bought. Moreover, ho informs us that he haa bought a better clasß of cheep this eonß.m than usual, nnd the prices named by him quite corroborate his stalemont. Whether this industry is fiitod to be driven out of the colony by the refrigerator, depends, as we have said, upon whether there will continue to be a sufficient surplus of inferior sheep to keep it going, and it is a question not easy to answer with certainty. In any attempt at an answer, it must be borne m mind that an extensive export of frozen meat will lead to an increased production of Bhoep, among which there muat be come proportion that will not be up to the freezing standard, and for some years, m order to increase the production of sheep, ewes will be devoted longer to breeding, and a greater proportion will be bo devoted, and theso when their time comes to be fatted off, will find their most profitable utilization through the tinning factory. Then there are tho old merino wethers from the stations, which will be unsuited for sending Home m the carcase, but after a run on turnips will bo exportable m tins and tallow casks. At any ratu it is to be hoped that there will bo found room for both methods of preparing mutton for shipment, for while tho freezing process gives good returns to the eheop-owner for his beet sheep, the preserving process gives him a fair price for hid inferior ones, and moreover, gives employment to a very much larger number of persons m proportion to the number of sheep dealt with, than the other. At tho Washdjke, for instance, some eighty men, many of them skilled artizans, find employment directly on the works iv dealing with 500 sheep per day, to gay nothing of those indirectly employed m producing timber and coal, whilst m a freezing establishment a dozen or fifteen would bo all that would be required to handle the same number. The Waahdjke factory has bean a valuable industry to South Canterbury, and wo hopo it will long remain so.