COMMERCIAL ITEMS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1103, 17 April 1911, Page 8

COMMERCIAL ITEMS.

: FROZEN MEATIN EUROPE. •' Jfesfs". AV.' 'Woddel'a'nd'Co'.'scnt a special representative to the Continent of EuroDo to examine az:d report on the prospects of the frozen meat trade, and in a letter to their New Zealand. aEcnts, Messrs. W. Weddel and Co., furnish the following details •- Italy.—The trade in this country may now bo said to be fairly well estaolished on a small scale, particularly in the north. It is, however, capable of very considerable- expansion, as tho northern part of tho country has already become the centre of great industrial activity, and is likely to develop further in , this direction. Regular shipments of .South American beej are now. arriving in the port of Genoa, and contracts have been, catered into by buyers up till-the* end of this year:'.'. Frozen meat is already l being supplied-under. Italian army contracts, and efforts are being made also to got the naval authorities to accept it for navy contracts. The claEB of beef which is desired in Northern Italy is light to moderate weights, stripped of all possible inside fat. The first parcels which arrived,in Genoa, were dressed according to the English ideas, with the .inside fat left in, but it did not meet with a very favourable reception, owing to the quarters' being too large and too fat to suit the Italian.tastes. It must be borne in mind'that the Italians have a method of cooking quite their own. employing oil,, and anions, the wealthier classes butter, where in England beef fat and dripping would bo ■ used! Further, roast beef .a*nd beefsteaks do not figure at all largely in the daily bill of faro of the average Italian, and beef is mostly boiled and stewed, for . which purpose lean meat is required, oil being largely used in these operations. a,r.d taking the place of fat. Firyf. grade meat, according to tho English idea, is. therefore, not. suited for the Italian market, and second and third Qualities, stripped of suet, suit buyers inuch better. The part of Italy served by the port of Genoa comprises a. very active and progressive industrial district, including the city of Milan, with its '600,000 inhabitants largely engaged in the textile industries. Turin, with 3C0.000 inhabitants, and other bu3y towns, * such as . Alexandria, P.ivia. etc. Further afiold. Spozia'(naval station). Pisa, Bologna, Florence, and Verona, have also, received supplies from Gsnoa. Homo has also to some extent drawn its supplies of frozen meat from Genoa up to tho present. Until sow, however, Home has not been an important factor in tho trade. Tho municipality is constructing a cold storo in connection with now abattoirs, and when this store is ready it is not improbable that Rome will participate moro largely in, the frozen meat trade. Naples is tho natural distributing centre for the southern part of Italy, and small importations of frozen meat from Australia have arrived at Naples at. regular intervals for some little time past. A private firm has' constructed a cold store of about 250 ton 3 capacity for its own trade, which, however. , until now, has boen very largely concentrated on ships' stores. No really serious attempt has been made to introduce fro7.cn meat to the retail trado hi Naples. The firm jn question has established two shops in the city where frozen meat is retailed, but it seems that tho prices asked are not such as to popularise tho commodity, up to Is. 3d. per lb. being the prico a?ketl for best parts. Naples is a- large city, and if the proper •steps were taken to favour the sale of frozen meat with the co-operation of the butchers of tho town, there is not the slightest doubt that a good market could be obtained.

Yenicc—The municinality of this eitv has esneriraonted with frozen meat, havins purchased one or two small parcels ol

Argentina beef from Trieste. As, however, thero n not ii oubio inch of cold storage in Venice, it would have be'en necessary, in order to do well, to make such -arrangements ns would ensure a ready sale. The municipality opened two shops for tho tale of the frozen moat only, but, although tho two parcels imported amounted to only about 20 tons in all, the sale was ed slow that part of tho meat went bad, ami had to be destroyed. Tho prices charged ranged from 7d. to 11(1. per lb. The public in Venice did not show any great desire to buy frozen meat, and the municipal authorities state that they intend to abandon their experiment. There does not seem to be a. great opening for frozen meat in this city. To sum up. Italy generally seems to offer a good field for 'the sale of frozen meat, and it is probable that considerable expansion will take place in this respect within the next year or two. Up to the present tho trade has remained in the hands of only a few firms, who have, to a certain cxt"nt, consolidated their interests, and worked together. It is almost inevitable, however, that other interests will claim a share of the trade in future. Austria.-Thc position in this country i-3 very unsatisfactory. The policy of tho Government of the country with regard to the frozen meat question does not' seem to nave taken very" definite shape so far. Under the strong pressure of a very pronounced public opinion, they gave permission for a trial shipment to be imported, the success of which led eventually to further permission being given for tho importation of 2000 tons up to the end of April, 1911. This permission was given originally to only one firm, who entered into contracts with tho Lα Blanca Co. to supply the meat. A further agitation arose, however, on the grounds that the Government had created a monopoly in tho commodity, and the permission was granted to import the quantiv in auestion, also to a new company. This new company was formed on a co-operative basis by_ a number of the municipalities of provincial towns of Austria forming themselves into a corporation for tho supplying of meat to. such towns on the cheapest possible terms, and the idea attracted the attention of tho Austrian towns to such an extent that 77 towns are now members of the association. The company hones by virtue of the huge mass of public opinion which it has at its back to be able to fores the hands of the Government to allow tho importation of meat to a- much larger extent than has hitherto bee;: the case, and it is obvious that, without the assurance that the trade will be put on a more permanent basis, no individual or company will co to tho expense of 'erecting cold stores throughout the country. So far the Government have not extended the perwi-sr-ion to import beyond the month of April this year, nor have they given any indication of their future policy. The, very powerful Agrarian party in Austria, is sparing no pnins to discredit frozen meat in the eyes of the inhabitants of the country. To sum up Hie position in Austria, it nannot be considered 'as other than unsatisfactory, jr. view of the uncertainty which exists as to the future action of the Government. Applications which have been made for T>ormi?sion to import further quantities have eo far met with no. rosnonW Given permanent importation, and suitable arrangements for storing and hardline, there is not tho doubt that the Austrian market would develop info a very valuable one. Wcddel's reprwcniitiTe is to report on Switzerland and other -places, and this will be availablo later on. CUSTOMS. Tho Customs revenue collected at the port of Wellington during the past week totalled £10,890 Cs. sd. Compared with the corresponding periods of last j'ear, tho receipts for -the past eight weeks show as under — 19U. 1910. £ S. . February 25 27,001 10,959 March 4 12.614 11,988 March 11 13.225 18,346 March 18 18.890 10,338 March 25 21,124 13,165 , April 1 10.553 12/25 April 8 23.1<!5 17,314 April 15 10.890 10.325 137.447 104.841 The beer duty for the week totalled £276 Is. 6d., as compared with £241 2s. 3d. for the corresponding week of last year. TRUST AND AGENCY COMPANY OP AUSTRALASIA. : . By Telegraph—l'ress Association—Copyright London, April 14. The Trust and Agency Company of Australasia, Ltd.; has declared a dividend of a shilling per .-sharer.and carried ,to reserve £MCO. . . ■ Messrs. C. C. Ross and Co., of Masterton. have c£F ected an exchange of Messr. , !. Vallanco. and Hosking's property, comprising <000 acres, situated on the Darling Down?. Toowoomba, Queensland, for Jlr. L. Khodos's 2100 acres, situated at Waipawa. This is tho first exchange effected bctweou tho two countries.