THE MORAL OF THE STRATHLEVEN MEAT AND BUTTER SHIPMENTS.

Western Star, Issue 346, 24 April 1880, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE MORAL OF THE STRATHLEVEN MEAT AND BUTTER SHIPMENTS.

Most of pur. readecs ; ! ; have; probably already, noted witb.: great; the news whichvcame do hand about six weeks; ago respecting the complete success of the shipments to England pt s frozen' meats andtinne ; d'rhn.tterby the steamer.' §trathleyeri. For past, as every one is aware, Australian .preserved meats had been forwarded do England and arrived in fair condition. Thesecooked; iheats, however, did not find favor with'the masses of the people. “Ladies and gentlemen tried them, and considered them quite good enough for their own tables. ...But their servants disapproved of them, the laboring .classes generally sneered at them, and even the paupers in workhouses grumbled 1 at them as being Stringy and coarse * They came from Australia, ahd were cheap, and that was a sufficient ground" for; believing that they, could not .be, good. ; By the B§ll and Coleman however* currents Of cold dry air at a temperature a little below freezing point are constantly passed ever the 1 whole joints of beef and mutton, and they have come to hand in London iii as . good order as on the day when they were packed* : Of course, meat in this form could not well be distinguished, by the consumers from British, and accordingly in Smitbfield market, the imported beef fetched the excellent wholesale price of sd. per lb., add the mutton the still better price of 6d. ilhe tinned butter exported slso. arrived in prime condition; and realised 120 per cent. - jdThe importance of this experiment (ban scarcely be over-estimated. The question of the best mode of exporting meat and butter from the Australasian colonies seems to be settled, and a permanent demand for an almost unlimited quantity of our produce established. Over and above what we can send to England, the whole continental market is opened to us, and although in France, Germany, and elsewhere, tii© supply of meat is comparatively greater per head than ip England, the quality is decidedly inferior in general to what either England or these colonies can furnish. It may be said, therefore, that the new discovery is one as important to the pastoral and farming interest ass the boiling down scheme was in Australia some years ago, when mutton threatened to become an almost useless drug in. the local market, the only market then known. • The prosperity of our settlers appears therefore now to be established on a surer basis than it ever was before. It.is quite true that up to the present time one most important item of information respecting the Strathleven shipment has not yet been disclosed. The cost of preserving meat by the refrigerating process has not yet been furnished, so that we are unable to tell With any degree of accuracy what the net returns of the shipments after deducting all expenses will be. This is; the more remarkable and even suspicious, as one gentleman, who styles Moaself 'the/agent for the Bell and Coleman process, has written to the raesa on the subject. Bill! the machinery employed does not

seem to be very complicated, and' even if it were at present,’• so rapid is the march of discovery l applied' science now, that we may alrUpst Calculate to a Certainty that within‘a fe w months the process of refrigeration; ; would: be cheapened so as to add very little to the total cost; of the -Jt is true also that,;so far as New Zealand is concerned, r this colony cannot expect exclusively tp rule the English market for ; imported Australasian meat and butter. ’ It is'said that Nevr South Wales alone, : can at present supply the whole, demand; -There -is, .not the slightest reason, however; for supposing anything of this kind. London, though a-most ‘ gigantic city, ds, nevertheless, not.all England,,''•Livprp6bi,'‘ -ManChes-. ter, : Gl&sgow, &c.,' possess inhabitants in ho small number, who are carnivor-: ous; and outside of the XJuited King/ dom there are plenty of consumers for all the juicy beef and mutton which might be exported from so fine a grazing soil and climate as that of New Zealand.- .

The time seems approaching indeed when the most remote colonies of Great Britain will have to be regarded ho longer as strange far distant countries, only connected with the mother country by, almost imaginary links, but when they must be looked; upon as the rural districts of a compact country, of which the whole of England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, form the city and suburbs. Our notions heed, to ex - pand with the incessantly quicker and quicker personal communication between all parts of the empire by steam, and the yet quicker communication of thought and sentiment by the electric telegraph. XTnder the.new regime, that' of the rising generation, Great Britain may consider that it. will pay her: best to build ships for the carrying trade of the world, and to make use of her vast capital, and unrivalled mechanical skill in manufacturing goods for the needs or comfort of mankind, .and she may then leave to her colonies the more primitive, work of supplying her with grain and meat, wool and hides, and tallow, oil, and wine. -