THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 7325, 28 January 1891, Page 2

THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE.

It hns been a puzzlo to sheep owners in the colony why there should be such v gup between the prii'o they got for fro/en mutton in England and that quoted fox- English and Scotoli mutton in the same market. It is known that the best of our N.Z. mutton weighing from 55 to G5 lbs per carcaso arriving Homo in first-class condition 13 sold by the rotuil butchers as " priuio Scd»cli," whilst heavier carcases of equal condition are sold us " best English." 80. tneen the 4Jd, which on an avcrago such frozen mutton brings in England wholesale, and the 8d to lOd it retails for as English or Scotch moat there is a gap which should not exist, and growers hero are ut a loss to understand why they do not get at least 3d per lb for an article that is readily saleable at doublo that price retail. There is a difference, too, jn the price of frozen meal from different paits of the colony, that from Canterbury averaging fully ] A per lb rcore than that from Wellington. Al. together the trade is 111 an eminctlj unsatis* factory state so far as graziers are concorned, and we aro not surpiised to learn that Mr Frederick Battley, Inspector of the N.Z. Loan and Mercantile Agency Company (Limited), has taken the subject in hand, with a view to going thoroughly into the whole of the details from the time the sheep are tilled in Now Zealand until they

are sold by the butchors at Home to their customers, either as a Home-fed mutton or in their character of N.Z. frozen meat. Mr Battley will make an exhauEtivo examination into tho whole business, and bo in a position, when ho has finished, to clearly lay beforo tho numerous clients of the Company tho causes which havo so long prevented them from reaping thoir proper share of tho profits of tho frozen moat trade. Mr Battley will not, of course, rest content with tracing tho damaging causes, but nill devise means to counteract them, and secure to the growers of N Z. frozen mutton something like a fair price for their shipments. Mr Battloy is now busily examining into the freezing, packing, and shipment of tho meat at this end, aud will leave for England in March next, watching the method and oflieacy of treatment during transit and unloading and storage when arrived. When in "England Mr Battloy v, ill scrutinise closely tho different stages the meat has to pass through before finally reaching tho consumers, and disoo\er, if possible, why the latter should pay a price so far 111 excess of that tho shippers get for it. That Mr iiatlIcy will succeed in his difficult task we have tho fullest coniidonco, and feel assured that the Btock owners of New Zealand will ere long havo ample cause to thank him for a greatly improved condition of tho colony's frozen moat trade.