The Daily Telegraph MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1882.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3546, 20 November 1882, Page 2

The Daily Telegraph MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1882.

It was whispered in Duuedin on Saturday that telegraphic advices had been received in that city reporting that the freezing apparatus on board the steamer Marsala broke down on the voyage home, and that in consequence ber cargo of meat had to be thrown overboard. This bad news is confirmed in to-day's cablegram from LondoD, by which we leain that the machinery broke down when the

Marsala was near Java. The entire shipment of meat, it is understood at Dunedin, was insured in home offices. This accident to the refrigerating machinery ofthe Marsala is one to which all vessels in the frozen meat trade must inevitably be liable until special precautious are taken to avoid unnecessary risk. The whole value of tbe cargo is dependent on the good working of the machinery, aod, we should think, every vessel carrying frozen meat should be so provided as to be able in the event of an accident, to repair the damage without loss of time. If it be urged that such a thing is impossible on board ship, and that the chance ofthe cargo reaching London in good condition must rest on the one set of machinery, the trade can never be expected to nourish. To regular exporters two successful shipments may more than counterbalance the losses on tbe third, but the casual exporter would never care to undertake the risk of a total loss for the sake of a probably large profit, It is as entirely outside a sheepfarmer's business to run such risks as it would be for him to establish a butcher's shop. It is tolerably clear that the meat export trade, to be a success, must be conducted by public companies that are capable of setting one cargo against another in the estimation of their Drofits.