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value to only a little over £19,000. In the following year this amount was increased by close upon £100,000, and the figures for 1887 show that the declared value of frozen meat exported during that year was over £450,000. In the same period the seven companies engaged in the refrigerating business treated 616,565 sheep, representing more than 30,000,0001b. of mutton, and a value of over one million sterling. The prejudice which existed at one time against frozen meat has now very much diminished, if it has not entirely disappeared; and there can be no reason why the export of artificially-preserved meat not only from New Zealand, but from the Australian Colonies as well, should not be largely extended. Some of the impediments that hampered the industry in former times have now been removed, and the opportunity for our graziers to dispose of their surplus stock, which, in the absence of bad seasons, is certain to increase to an almost unmanageable extent, is one which should not be neglected. It is possible that some change in the manner of preserving the carcases may have to be made, as chilled meat seams to bo supplanting frozen meat in public favour in Europe. But what is done in South America can also, it is presumed, be done in Australasia, and if a change is to be made it is better that it should take place forthwith. * In preserved meats the Gear Meat Preserving and Freezing Company of New Zealand (Limited) make a good display in a handsome show-case near the Avenue of Nations. The company was formed in 1882, and carries on its freezing-operations on board a hulk which lies at the company's wharf at Petone, and, when ready to be discharged, is towed into Wellington and moored alongside the steamer. During the year 1887 the company slaughtered more than 170,000 animals of all kinds, of which nearly 100,000 sheep, besides joints of mutton and of beef, were frozen. There were 250,000 tins of preserved meat, weighing over 1,000,0001b., and more than 3,000 casks of tallow, weighing about 1,000 tons, also sent out from the company's works, which manufacture in addition bone-dust, corned beef, and neatsfoot oil. The daily capacity of the company's plant for all these various operations is as follows : Killing, 1,200 sheep arid 30 bullocks ; freezing, 600 sheep ; tallow, 10 tons; preserving, 7,2001b.; bone-dust, 5 tons; neatsfoot oil, 5 gallons; sausages, 1 ton; and fellmongery, 1,200 skms. The exhibits comprise 41b., 21b., and lib. tins of assorted and compressed meats and soups, and some of the casks used in packing tallow and beef for shipment. Messrs. Foster and Gosling, of Blenheim, show a number of tins of beef and mutton, and, in addition, game and other delicacies such as duck and green peas, whitebait and stewed eels. Messrs. Kirkpatrick and Co., of Nelson, also display various kinds of game, among which are tins of roast quail, each containing two whole birds ready for eating, which can be served up hot byboiling for twenty minutes before opening the tin. The New Zealand Frozen Meat and Storage Company (Limited), of Auckland, exhibit, in addition to 354 tins of preserved meats, samples of sulphuric acid, and some chemical manures manufactured by them. The Wanganui Meat-preserving Company (Limited) have also a small display of preserved meats and soups ; and the Western Packing and Canning Company, Patea, exhibit a pyrimidal trophy of canned meats and tierced beef. There are also several exhibits of preserved fish, among which may be noticed some New Zealand grey-mullet, preserved by Messrs. Ewing and Co., of Battley, Kaipara; kippered moki, preserved lobsters, and smoked fish, from Messrs. N. Fernandos and Co., of Wellington ; and canned oysters and other varieties of fish, sent by Messrs Eobertson Brothers, of Stewart Island. Mention has already been made of the admirable exhibit of food-fishes, which is shown in a large case fronting the Victorian Court. In addition to those varieties of sea-fishes, with many of which we are familiar on the coasts of Australia, there are shown on a separate sheet of glass several varieties af the salmon order which have been acclimatised in New Zealand w raters, including the brook-trout, Scotch burn trout, Loch Leven trout, and different kinds of salmon-trout. From Hector's "Handbook of New Zealand," we learn that the fishes found in the seas of that country correspond with the characteristic forms of the southern European coasts, and resemble those met with between Maderia and the Bay of Biscay more than those caught round the coast of Scotland. Of 208 fishes found in British seas only forty are considered to be of any marketable value, while, out of 192 kinds known in New Zealand, 33, or nearly as many, are used for food. Much has been done in New Zealand to encourage the fishing-industry, and already several large establishments for fish-canning and -curing have sprung up on various parts of the coast. Beers. The exhibits of beers and fermented drinks belonging to this court are kept down below in the cellars, where they will probably not be visited by many people except those directly interested in them. The success, however, achieved in New Zealand beers in the competition lately held may serve to direct attention to the brewing-industry of the country. Although, on this occasion, the first prize has gone to Auckland, the chief centre of this industry should be certainly in the south, where the cool climate, together with certain properties in the water found there, render it peculiarly suited for brewing-operations. Owing to the former characteristic, the use of ice-making machines is dispensed with in the Dunedin breweries, and ordinary refrigerators only are employed for cooling purposes. The hops used in the manufacture of the beer are grown chiefly in Nelson, though Bavarian and Kent hops are also occasionally imported. The best barley comes from Canterbury and Nelson, and a Cape barley lately introduced and grown in the North Island is also coming Into favour, as it is not liable to mould on the floor in malting, and so is specially suitable for a hot climate. The quantity of beer brewed annually in New Zealand amounts to about 7,000 hogsheads. Os trick-farming . New Zealand, whose settlers have shown so much enterprise with other live stock, and who have been so remarkably successful in the work of acclimatisation, is not without its ostrich-farm. It might have been supposed that the country would probably be too cold for the birds; but on the 4—H. 23.