Our Industries: No. 5. The Gear Meat Preserving and Freezing Co., Ltd.

Progress, Volume I, Issue 9, 2 July 1906, Page 228

Our Industries: No. 5. The Gear Meat Preserving and Freezing Co., Ltd.

New Ze\i\nd may not have attained the notoriety that the United States of America have in the matter of the meat industry ; she may not have \\ elcomed the visitor to any of her meatworks with the startling intelligence that " Yes sir, we can everything and find a use for everything — except the squeak ' " ; but she certainly prides herself on the fact that canning and the other processes inseparable from modern msatworks are conducted on principles which have always been open to daylight criticism. We are, therefore, unimpelled by events in America in publishing an article of this kind, for its mntif lies solely in the plain treatment of a great concern, whose conditions of carrying on business have always been in the interests of public health and to the credit of New Zealand. The Gear Meat Preserving and Freezing Coy. of N.Z., Ltd., was founded m 1882, to acquire the business previously carried on by Mr. James Gear, and from its inception shows a record of steady progress in all branches. When the directors decided to commence freezing operations they purchased the barque " Jubilee," then lying at Newcastle, N.S.W., and on her arrival in Wellington this vessel was dismantled. In the meantime a contract had been let to Messrs. Coxon & Greenstreet for insulating the hulk and installing machinery, which consisted of a Haslam cold-air machine with a capacity of 45,000 cubic ft., and capable of freezing 250 sheep per diem On May Ist, 1884, the hulk was towed to Petone, where a wharf had been built to run the sheep from the slaughter yards to the hulk. After being frozen the meat was conveyed by hulk to alongside the Home steamers, and there transhipped. In a year or two the trade was found to be expanding so rapidly that it became necessary to duplicate the machinery, and in a short time thereafter the -figures had grown sufficiently to warrant the erection of buildings on shore. A contract was let to Messrs. Carmichael & Son, and a machine of 150,000 cubic ft. was installed on the completion of the new building Further additions to both buildings and plant have from time to time been made, and advantage has been taken of the latest and most economical freezing machinery. The cold-air process has been superseded by carbon dioxide, or C.CO 2. ; and from a modest 250 frozen carcases per day, in former times, 5000 can now be conveniently handled, and storage is found for 180,000 carcases. From wooden buildings covering a small area in the early days the brick additions at the works have now extended to over ten acres. It is appropriate, before proceeding to examine the various departments at Petone, that we make some allusion to the general features with which a visitor is impressed. The Company is fortunate in having a splendid artesian water supply, the natural pressure of which is augmented by pumps, and all departments are supplied with an average total of 2,000,000 gallons per diem. The ventilation throughout is a remarkable feature, and it is quite possible for a visitor to pass through the whole of the works without experiencing any particularly obnoxious odour. Indeed, the evaporation of ammonia added to the decomposition of the pelts, in the fellmongery, is the only local odour to be met with, and even this is considered to be healthful. Scrupulous care is taken in maintaining perfect cleanliness, not to please visitors but to safeguard the meat against taint — a trouble which arose to the cost of all meat companies in the early days ; the mode of inspection by Government veterinary experts is such that once the animal has been killed and examined it is condemned forthwith if found unfit for consumption. If the meat is intended for preserving freezing or the Company's retail shops it must all undergo this rigorous treatment. The fire brigade is a very active branch of the works, and in such an establishment its services are liable to be utilised for the suppression of a fire at any moment. There are twenty members who receive 1/- an hour extra for the period in which they are engaged quelling an outbreak.