HOT-WATER ROUTE

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2166, 3 June 1914, Page 8

HOT-WATER ROUTE

\ FROZEN MEAT TRADE AND '■■' PANAMA HEAT ( 'A COSTLY JOURNEY. Although, tho new route from NewZealand to Liverpool via Panama will bo about "900 miles shorter than the present route, roiitid Capo Horn,' shipowners engaged in tho enormous frozen meat trade are reported by • the London "Times" as saying that jtflioy will mako no change. They prefer the colder, and ■ consequently cheaper, water.

At present the ships traverse a long stretch of. cold water from' Now Zealari'd'tb the Horn, stillpass through cool voter coming up the Patagoniau coast, and striko almost vertically across the Equator. Thus, tho ships are. in , hot water, for only ,a.' f.ow xlays.,/ Hut a glance at a map will show, that ships proceeding from Now Zealand to Panama.would cross the Equator slantwise. They would bo. passing through hot wiytiir so long tlidt it.would nob bo un-* fair to call tho new route from New Zealand 'the "Hot-Water Route." And; tho warmer..;tho,.water tho .longor tho refrigerating machines liavo to work and the greater tho cost. \ •

The frozen meat leaves the Now Zea- ; land works as hard as a rock hut soft- \ ens slightly .during the process of'handling at the wharves. 'For, probably, two days after the ships dro laden tho machines aro kept hard, at work driving! out t'lie warmth. , Oniuthis is dono all'that they liavo to do is to prevent warmth ■ leaking in, and so tho greater the temperature outside the snip tho more work they havoto do. A. second important point is'that wh'eio ammonia for iha. refrigerating process is used tho gas has td ' bo' condensed, and the higher the temperature, ,tho ;fliigher.the pressure . required. Higher pressure spells greater £>ower—moro steam, 'more coal, more expenditure'.' >v '■ This difference would be shown,rcry plainly in the engineer's log of : any meat ship. It,is -shown.in the log of a ship which lately arrived in England from Monto Video. When water for condensing purposes was entering the, ship at 84deg. F. tho machines were working for 12, 13J, and 15 hours per day; when water entered'at 66deg. they were working for only 11J hours; and when it entered at o/deg. 'it was necessary only to keep them working for ninq hours. .These are important differences, and .ship-owners say that, as far as they , can see now, the distinctly higher cost of working tho engines for tho longer period, tho Canal dues, and tho timo spent m traversing the Canal would flioro than swamp the saving in mileage