FROZEN MEAT DISTRIBUTION.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5500, 27 February 1896, Page 2

FROZEN MEAT DISTRIBUTION.

i Mr M. C. Thompson,, a. director of- the Colonial Consignment and' Distribution Company,, is now paying, a business visit to Christchurch. He ,is a Queensland pastoralist, owning Isome 10,000 head of cattle,, and being ; anxious to get more money for them than :he was receiving, he went to England over twelve months ago at the instance of the ICeatral QueenslandiMeat Export Company :' —the shareholders of which, were filled with a like anxiety— to ■ ascertain- why prices were not more satisfactory. He journeyed vii Canada and the United! States, and spent Bix weeks in-the North American continent, making inquiries us to Kow far that part, of the- world .was to be reckoned with as a competitor with Australasia in .the meat, trade. He came to the .conclusion that these colonies have nothing to fear from North Americana. » regard to either the beef or the mutton trade, as the American winters, : which necessitate the artificial feeding of Htockoduring a con- • 'siderable part of the yeaiy. handicap the producers in that part of the world' out of the race. Mr Thompson » spent twelve ' months in England, and his investigations . into the cause of the low prices k>i. frozen meat confirmed the view that these weredue .to the congestion of. the London market. London, he says, is not as good & > distributing centre for frozen. meat as the exporters of that commodity could desire, ; and the frozen meat Bold there ds-Hearly all . consumed within the .city: . ,Very little; goes out of the.metropolis to other jiarts of England. As the demand is, though in a very wide sense, a local one, the market is comparatively easily glutted. . London, he : says, is not so good a point of distribution 1 as Manchester, for the latter city is more centrally situated, and within: a radius of forty miles of it there is a population of ' ten millions, a number far exceeding.thatr gathered within a similar radius of London, , even including the* metropolis, itßelf . . Again, heavy railway rates . practially prevent the meat being seat l away from London.

The only way to obtain better, prices, Mr Thompsonaffirms.ißto openupother centres of wholesale distribution. Manchester, Glasgow, Hull, Cardifc and Newcastle are all well fitted for this purpose, and in Manchester his company is building a receiving store for 100,000 carcases of mutton, on the canal, so that the meat can .ha.- discharged direct from the ship into the., store, and with a railway line at the rear, , so that it can be sent to any part of.. Great;, Britain with a minimum of Handling; The com-; pany proposes to send Australian- sheep, only to this store, and., will, thus, Mr Thompson contends, .leave .Londbm free for the New Zealand mutton,, which,, ha says, is preferred in the metropolis, where people will have only the best; while thesMan-t Chester folk fancy the somewhat smaller sheep from Australia. Hence the. claim ', of his company on. the consideration.! of New Zealanders. The- importance of Manchester as a distributing/ centre' for frozen .meat is, he points out, shown^ by the determined efforts made by' thV' importere of Argentine mutton, to Bpoil. the sale of the first Australian shipment, sen£ to the inland port,, that by, the* aKipTimaru. They offeraditheir • mutton^thereat a ruinouslj^low price, in order; aa> he. saya, to give the Australians, "a knocK? down blow in the first, round.'.' The Australians, however, are made oft too., sturdy stuff to be knocked out in one> raundi. and', are going to. fight as long as they/cauißtand up. He is going, to Argentine^ shortly mi order to see what, he can of - $he; enemy's, resources. The company which, he.: represents will, if encouraged to do. so,, extend, its operations throughout the Unitedi Kingdom, and even to the Continent;. It does solely a consignment business,, and', purchases nothing.. Mr Thompson, con* siders that Manchester will,, ere.- long;, become a great distributing- centres forwool, on account of its being; so> con--veniently situated: with, ' regard! tk>, the woollen manufacturing, districts, o£ England. Three delegates from: Manchester are about to visit New South- Wales to. ascertain the prospects of direct- steam, trade between Sydney andi tb.ogr.eat city on the canal.