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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 7, Issue 9 (April 1, 1933)

New Zealand Export — Experimental Shipment of Chilled Beef

page 29

New Zealand Export
Experimental Shipment of Chilled Beef

An interested spectator of the loading operations, His Excellency the Governor-General, Lord Bledisloe.

An interested spectator of the loading operations, His Excellency the Governor-General, Lord Bledisloe.

Frozen mutton has a long and notable success in shipments from New Zealand to the Homeland, but the first shipment of chilled beef was only made on the 2nd February of this year.

The Railway Management made special arrangements for the supply of insulated vans and fast despatch from the Waingawa (Wairarapa) works of Messrs. T. Borthwick and Son to Wellington port, in order that this first shipment, consisting of 330 hindquarters and 270 forequarters of beef, might have the best chance, so far as loading and despatch were concerned, of arriving in good order in Great Britain.

Hitherto, owing to the great distance to be covered, and the length of time taken on the passage, it has not been regarded as practicable to carry chilled beef from New Zealand to Britain. Recently, however, an experimental shipment was taken from Sydney to London in the Port Fairy, on her last voyage. Although the meat was actually in the ship for forty-five days, it was successfully delivered in London and marketed in excellent condition, to the complete satisfaction of all concerned with the venture.

The success of the Australian shipment has induced Messrs. Thomas Borthwick and Sons Ltd. to undertake a similar venture with New Zealand chilled beef.

Every precaution was taken to ensure that only the very best quality beef was selected.

The Port Fairy (a C. and D. Line motor-ship) was also chosen for the New Zealand experiment.

Governor-General Interested.

There was a large gathering of representatives of shipping and meat export interests on board the vessel to watch the loading of the chilled beef. Shortly after the first slings of meat had been taken from the trucks, His Excellency the Governor-General arrived to watch operations. He was received on board by Mr. Warwick Gregory, manager of the C. and D. Line, and Captain F. Farmar, master of the Port Fairy. Lord Bledisloe expressed the keenest interest in the venture, about which he made the fullest enquiries. After taking a number of photographs, His Excellency went down into the ship's hold and watched the stowage of the meat in the cool chamber.

The novel conditions attaching to the handling of the beef necessarily made for slow loading at first, but the stevedores, who were keenly interested in the work, soon speeded up the operations. The hindquarters were hooked direct to the over-head steel bars and the smaller forequarters were hung on lengths of chain to complete the stowage below.

A successful outcome to this venture will provide the Dominion with another valuable outlet for a good national product.

page 30