The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 62
Frozen Meat
Frozen Meat.
The large increase in 1890 in the value of frozen meat exported placed that article in the second place in the list of exports for value. The growth of this export has been almost phenomenal. Ten years page 7 ago the project of sending fresh meat to England was regarded as impossible of fulfilment, and Mr. Haslam's statement that vessels would be able to carry carcasses of 10,000 sheep was considered visionary. The improvements made by him in refrigerating machinery have enabled his prophecy to be more than fulfilled, as vessels are now fitted to carry four and five times the number of sheep he mentioned. 1882 was the first year in which there was any export of frozen meat from New Zealand, the value of the export being then only 19,339l. In 1890 the value of this export had risen to 1,087,617l., representing the carcasses of 1,330,176 sheep, of 279,741 lambs, and beef weighing 98,234 cwts. The greatly improved prices of sheep, caused by the demand for this export trade, has much encouraged the farmers of the colony, and has caused increased attention to be given to clearing and laying down bushland in grass and otherwise improving holdings in order to increase the bearing capabilities of the land. Notwithstanding the large increase in the numbers of sheep exported in 1890 the sheep returns for May in that year gave an addition of nearly 700,000 on the number in May of the previous year, thus showing that, even with the present flocks, there is a reserve that might supply a much larger export than at present, and the further progressive increase in the number of sheep that may be looked forward to from the extension of clearing and improvements gives promise of a future export of a magnitude possibly manifold greater than the present. The markets of the civilised world are, having regard to the growth of population, without a corresponding increased area for food-production, practically unlimited. This export has had the effect of helping the colony through a period of great depression, and next to the production of wool, with which it is now inseparably connected, may be regarded as the most important factor in our well-being.