Meat and Cattle.

The enormous advantage to the sheep-farmer of having a remunerative market for his carcase-mutton is easily comprehended; and the rapid development of the frozen-meat trade has excited the envy and admiration of our neighbours. In 1884 252,422cwt. of New Zealand mutton, worth £342,476, was exported to the United Kingdom, besides l,644cwt. of beef, worth £2,605; and a total export to all countries of 27,71 ½cwt. of potted and preserved' meats, worth £59,224. In 1882 the quantity of frozen meat exported was valued at £19,339, or 15,224cwt.; and 26,016cwt. of canned meat, worth £54,397.

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This will give some idea of the increase since the trade first became established.

To the New Zealand Land Company belongs the credit of first instituting the export of frozen mutton. On the 18th February, 1882, they despatched the "Dunedin," a sailing ship of about 1,250 tons, from Port Chalmers, with a cargo of five thousand frozen sheep, weighing an average of 85lb. each. The greatest care was taken in preparing the sheep, freezing, and packing them. The ship arrived in London on the 24th May, 1882, after a voyage of ninety-eight days; the mutton was landed in excellent condition, and sold readily at 7½d. per lb. Since then the New Zealand Shipping Company have fitted up their steamers for shipment of meat, and so have the Shaw-Savill line.

The New Zealand mutton commands the highest price in the market for frozen meat, and practical proof has been given of the colony's capacity to beat all competition in the production of first-class mutton. There were a good many difficulties to be met with, partly in combatting the reluctance of well-to-do customers to openly prefer imported mutton, and partly in defeating the sharpness of the wholesale dealers in palming off New Zealand mutton as best Welsh and Southdown. But the success of the trial has been so conspicuous and notorious that these difficulties are fast disappearing; but the danger has arisen of a want of reliance to be placed on every shipment, and this has been owing to the failure, or partial failure, of several cargoes. There has been carelessness or accident somewhere—it is difficult to exactly apportion the blame—and not only has heavy monetary loss been incurred, but great damage has been inflicted on the trade generally. As a straw indicates the direction of the wind, so may the following circumstances, which have come under the writer's own knowledge, serve to point out the fault: Sheeps' tongues, tinned, used to be a favourite dish, and they turned out clean, sweet, and so properly cooked that they would peel without the slightest difficulty. Since the firm which supplied them so satisfactorily has been turned into a joint-stock company several tins have been obtained at different times, and they nearly all turned out unsatisfactorily. There were traces of black around the fat; there was a stale flavour about the whole, and the cooking was unequal, some being overdone, some page 56 hardly cooked at all. If any carelessness or want of cleanliness like this occurs in freezing the carcase mutton no wonder there has been failure.

It is said that the method adopted of freezing is not the best, and that the American process has greater advantages. It is described as consisting of a freezing chamber with double walls, between which is a current of air, and also a supply of asbestos haircloths or other non-conductors. Above the chamber is a reservoir of ice, or some other cooling agent, with an adjacent pump. Cylinders are placed at suitable intervals in the chambers. From the reservoir a pipe runs to the nearest cylinder and enters it at the bottom. Another pipe runs from the top of this cylinder to the bottom of the next, and so on throughout the series. A return pipe connects the cylinder with, the reservoir. The cooling liquid follows the course indicated. From the reservoir it is thrown by gravitation, displacing the warmer liquid therein and forcing it up and over into the bottom of the next cylinder, and so on to the last, whence the pump lifts the warmer liquid back into the ice-reservoir. The cylinders being air-tight, there is no contact with the cooling liquid, and the atmosphere in the freezing chamber may be kept at any temperature. Besides the utmost carefulness in having an efficient freezing-chamber, if is necessary that the sheep should be killed while cool, or "with the bloom on;" and that care should be taken in having the wrappers clean and well made, and that the original form of the carcase should be preserved. On arrival in London a proper receiving store is requisite, in order to obtain a gradual thawing of the mutton, and the removal of any unsightly marks or mildewed appearance.

This trade has sprung up with wonderful suddenness, and has been carried on with a wonderful success: it despises questions of protection or free-trade; it has hardened the price of meat within the colony, but it has not increased it to the regular customer; it only requires a continual supply of material to be not only profitable in itself, but to be the means of prolonging the sheep-farming industry of New Zealand on a large scale to an indefinite extent. Still, the trade requires to be watched with care, as the following extract from a London correspondent's letter will show: "The present state of the frozen-meat market is discouraging in the extreme. Never before has page 57 there been a more striking illustration of the necessity for some system in the regulation of the supply. During the month now closing very nearly one hundred thousand carcases of frozen mutton from Australia and New Zealand have been shot into London, with the results that might be anticipated. Besides the two regular fortnightly Orient steamers, the 'Opawa,' 'Oamaru,' 'Wellington,' 'Elderslie,' and 'Lady Jocelyn' have brought in immense cargoes from New Zealand; and, what with the weather—which has been almost semi-tropical in its severity—an unusual abundance of fish at an unusual lowness of price, and these untimely arrivals, the supply is utterly in excess of the demand. The price of mutton has reached 4d. per pound, and the sale even at that has been exceedingly slow. It is evident that much has yet to be done by producers and shippers before this trade is placed on a satisfactory footing: On the other hand, it cannot be denied that New Zealand mutton is continuing to win for itself popularity far and wide in the provinces. I have just heard a little incident that will be of interest to those who anticipate high results in the future of the trade. A prominent medical practitioner in a cathedral town has stated to my informant that he uniformly prescribes New Zealand mutton to his patients, and that he finds they can use it with' safety at an earlier stage of their convalescence than any other kind of fresh meat." Agencies will require to be established in other cities besides London, in order to insure a quick and certain sale, and it will probably be found that closer combination of interest between the ship's owner and the shippers will be necessary to effect the needful change for the better. Instead of depending upon ordinary agents at Home, an extended agency, with powers to extend the ramifications of the business, would help in a great measure to overcome such dangers as at present menace the trade—it is simply a question of good or bad management.

So far, experiments with beef have not been successful, and the trade can be said to be now confined to mutton. This is, from a general standpoint, to be much regretted, and in some parts of New Zealand, notably in Wanganui, a regular market for surplus large stock would be a godsend: the breeding of cattle there at times is overdone, and is therefore unprofitable. There is a danger of unsuccessful attempts being made to establish meat-freezing factories where circumstances do not page 58 warrant it. When cattle have to he brought long distances by sea it is unadvisable to establish freezing factories; and it is not because they have been successful in some parts of the colony where local surroundings are favourable, that every city in New Zealand can maintain the industry. Wellington, Dunedin, Auckland, and Christchurch will each be the headquarters of special industries, and it is useless for them each to attempt, all. Let a generous emulation exist; but let it be guided by knowledge, and a national feeling that the sum of New Zealand's greatness is the aim to be looked to.