The Frozen Meat Trade.

Woodville Examiner, Volume VIII, Issue 807, 27 November 1891, Page 2

The Frozen Meat Trade.

In the course of a letter to a Napier paper, Mr W. Nelson says:— “Mr F. Nelson (who was resident in Hawke’s Bay for twenty years, and now spends the greater part of his time in the interest of the frozen meat trade; writes me;- 1 The market is simply overdone with old ewes and light and heavy weight sheep. Eiver P'ate, Sydney, and Queensland more than supply the requirements for small mutton, and the very heavy New Zealand sheep are simply unsaleable except in very limited numbers, but we can sell any number of sheep weighing from 551 b to 651 bat a good price. Our trade requirements are two-thirds of such weights to one-third of other weights, whereas the proportions are just reversed, and we only get one-third of what must always be first-class weights. I recommend you to send Home no sheep over 701 b if you can possibly avoid it, and old ewes, if sent at all, must be very prime and in limited numbers. I also recommend you to pay more attention to grading; it is of utmost importance that any brand of mutton should be exactly what it purports to be ; light and heavy weights should not be together ; maiden ewes separate from wethers; and no old ewes among the maidens.’ “ The substance of this extract has been written to me several times by our London store manager, and I am so impressed with the necessity of carrying out the trade on these lines that I have decided in future not to ship a single sheep over 751 b, and no old swes over 651 b, and these only of the primest quality. I am also grading our sheep into ten classes, and this standard will be adhered to at every port in New Zealand from which we ship sheep, and I earnestly hope every other company will do the same. New Zealand will then recover the position it once held in the trade, a position which may easily be retained through all time if only the sheepfarmer will render his assistance to the freezing companies by growing the class of animal which is required, viz., a 55 to 651 b sheep of fair quality and good condition. “ We are now killing two large mobs of sheep, sixty per cent of which range from 76 to 1251 b, and the bulk of the balance are over 651 b. I should suggest to the late owners of these sheep that tiny should sell their stock several years younger, thus increasing their own and our profits.”