BRITAIN'S MEAT SUPPLY.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2002, 9 March 1914, Page 8

BRITAIN'S MEAT SUPPLY.

EFFECT OF THE "LINLEY" PROCESS. Thoßoard of Trado Returns for 1913 allow a further striking increase in the imports of chilled and frozen beef and mutton into tlio United Kingdom, the (inures of the- total receipts for tho past tlireo years having been 625.233 tons in 1911, 642,537 tons in 1912 and 720,661 tons in 1913. Notwithstanding tho increased imports, tho "man in the street" is beginning to rcaliso that beef is rising in price, and that iiis annual expenditure on meat is higher to-day than it was a fen- years ago. Tho reasons for thi3 are well known to'those engaged in the meat trade; ' Tho "United States of America, formerly by, Hi tho largest supplier of meat to Great Britain, during 1913 sent onl}- 3316 tons as against over 200,000 tons a. few years ago. The population of that country has increased so rapidly, and bo many of the largo cattle ranches in the Southern States have been divided for tho cultivation of cotton and other products, that groat difficulty is now being experienced in supplying beef to meet the local demands of their own people. The result has been to. cut off entirely the "United States as a source of supply of beef to the English market, while, ou the other hand, tho free :;mportation of meat under tho new American tariff has already made that country the keenest competitor for beef from South America and Australasia.

Tho growth of the meat trado in Soutli America, especially in tho Argentine, has been extraordinary, no less than one-fifth of tho total beef consumed in tho "United Kingdom in 1913 having heen imported from tho Hirer Plato. ' This has been made possible by the introduction of improves methods of handling and of transport, in which the "Linley system," tho rights of which are owned by tlio improved Chilliug Company, has played an important part. In the early days of tho frozen meat trade, ail beef imported into Great Britain was frozen hard and required to-be thawed-out before use. With tho dcvelopn'ont of tho trade, improvements wcro introduced for tho carrying of tho boof at a higher temperature and landing it in this country in soft condition, ready for use. This beef is known as "chilled." The "Linloy system" marked a great advance in anything that had hitherto been done in this direction. Under this process tho surf'aco of tlio beef is specially treated, and tho refrigerating chambers of the carrying vessels storilised. In their annual review of the moat trade just issued, Messrs. \V. Wcddel and Co.' , stated:

"Tlio extended use of tho 'Liuley' system for sterilising the surface of tlio meat and the holds of the carrying vessels has been of considerable help as regards condition, 356,433 quarters having, been carried last year from the throe large works in Argentina now "employing that process.. ' ■ ■ •

Already over a million quarters have been, successfully 'brought to tho "United Kingdom from tho Argentine since the system was first used in 1907. The process enables the beef to be kept in a. sound state for seventy to eighty 'days from tho time of killing, and has solved the problem of transporting chilled beef h'pm...cquiitiies!.tnprc distant than the ■Argentine"' Tho value of such a system can bo readily recognised, for it lias made commercially possible tho importation of chilled beef in good condition,from other and more distant countries, such 'as Australia, Madagascar, etc. ■ '