HUMMING INDUSTRIES

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 71, 17 December 1917, Page 16

HUMMING INDUSTRIES

MEAT FOR THE MILLION

If Taranaki falls down and worships Her Majesty. % Cow, Hawke's Bay may be 'said to burn many joss-sticks to Her Serene Highness the Sheep. For her are prepared the finest sweeps of softly undulating country that New Zealand knows; for her are the most

■succulent of English grasses sown <» river Hats and hill-top; for her the emerald green fattening paddocks; for her the biggest industrial works in the province. There are three great meat works handy to Hastings—the Wakatu' Meat Company's works, the big works of Thomas Borthwick and Sons at I'akipnki, and Nelson Bros.'s works at Tomoana —works that compare favourably with any of their kind in the country. Take' the Pakipaki works, which are comprised in a block of 278 acres of good pumice land, only four miles out fjoni Hastings. These works have a killing capacity of "50H sheep (or 2000 lambs) and 30 head of cattle per day. During the past \esr the storage capacity of the works has been increased to provide accommodation for another 25.000 carcasses, so that at the present time there is storage for at least 80.000 carcasses. But the Government has receutly issued a decree for this year's "kill." instructing the dili'oivn't works that carcasses must, be cut \m and packed so as lo occupy less storage room, an extreme measure dictated by th" serious shortage of insulatjd freight space. So the meat companies have now to wit off the forpqiiariers of the carcasses and pack them as neatly and tightly as possible between the ribs before freeing, in order that storage space ashore and fre ; ghl space aHoaf may he made Ihe fullest use <-f. This is calculated to increase the storage capacity of all works In- it per cent. Mr. AV. H. Mnitlnnd. the miiuawr of the Pakipaki works, who exhibited a sample of the Cllt-up carcass, picked in its muslin bae;. considered that it would do all that was claimed, if not a little more. The works, which are beautifully kept, have fine stipe wool, snusace casing. and blood manure departments as appendages to the works. An interesting exh.'nt was a. small barrel of "gold-hearer s «kin." which is carefullv prepared fiom the blind gut of the bullock. The resultant material is a soft, thin, silkylike substance of immense value in surgerv and for making a cerj-'in superfine quality of court plaster. The manure business is 'ntcresting and valuable on .'.ceounf of its high nitrogenous virtues. It was en education to visit Ihe Pakipaki works. Most modem meat works are very much alike. They cannot afford to le. behind the times. In addition to ihe works of Thomas Borthwiek and Sons. l,td., Ilaivke's Bay has two splendidly equipped works in the llawko's Bay Farmers' Meat Works at Wakatu (between Hastings and Napier) and Nelson Bros.' old-eslahlished works at Tomoana, which is in the same vicinity, With three such up-to-date works. Hawko's 13av is well able to cone with Ml the lire'stock offering in the district. For the year ended March .'il, 101". building permits were issued by [he Hastings Borough Council representing buildings to the value of £41,062.

Gold Storage. In common with the rest of Now Zealand, Hawke's Bay industries have found it imperative tn provide more cold storage this year than there has ever been the necessity for hitherto. As a producing district for the Dominion's exports trade it has been found impossible to get sufficient bottoms to take the produce away, so it has to be stored until the ships are available to lift the produce in store. The Borthwick Meat Works have added sufficient cold storage to accommodate another 25,000 carcasses; the Hawke's Bay Farmers' Meat Co. has erected additional accommodation for 33,000 carcasses; and the Tomoana Works (Nelson Bros.) have added extra cold storage for another 30,000 carcasses. Fruit culture is a staple industry of the district. In that line the Hawke's Bay Frnit and Cold Storage Company, who have rebuilt, have provided cold storage for 20,000 bushel cases of apples; F. C. White and Co., Ltd., who have installed a new machinery plant, have also accommodation for 20,000 bushel cases; and the Wairoa Farmers' Cooperative Company, have made provision for the cold storage of 25,000 cases of apples.